TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT OF ATMOSPHERIC BALLOONS AND GOSSAMER STRUCTURES, NASA REQUIRES A CAPABILITY FOR REAL…

Public award description

TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT OF ATMOSPHERIC BALLOONS AND GOSSAMER STRUCTURES, NASA REQUIRES A CAPABILITY FOR REAL-TIME, DYNAMIC STRAIN MEASUREMENT IN THIN POLYMERIC MEMBRANES DURING DEPLOYMENT AND FLIGHT. THIS CAPABILITY WILL PROVIDE QUANTITATIVE TEST DATA TO INFORM BALLOON DESIGN EFFORTS, AS WELL AS ENABLE REAL-TIME MONITORING OF MATERIAL STATE DURING FLIGHT. EXISTING TECHNOLOGIES INCLUDE WIRED OR WIRELESS ELECTRICAL OR FIBER-OPTIC STRAIN GAUGES, IMPRACTICAL TO IMPLEMENT ON A THIN MEMBRANE; PHOTOGRAMMETRIC TECHNIQUES THAT REQUIRE MULTIPLE CAMERAS, DETAILED KNOWLEDGE OF NOMINAL BALLOON GEOMETRY, AND SIGNIFICANT POST-PROCESSING COMPUTATION; AND EXOTIC OPTICAL TECHNIQUES THAT ARE UNSUITED FOR LARGE SCALE, DYNAMIC BALLOON TESTING AND FLIGHT. WE WILL DEVELOP A COMPLETELY NOVEL MEASUREMENT SYSTEM BASED ON AN OPTICALLY-INTERROGATED THIN-FILM ELASTOMER STRAIN GAUGE THAT WILL PROVIDE SENSITIVE, REAL-TIME, TWOCOMPONENT STRAIN MEASUREMENT IN BALLOON GORES. A LARGE NUMBER OF THE LOW MODULUS, THIN-FILM SENSORS DISTRIBUTED ACROSS THE BALLOON WILL BE INTERROGATED REMOTELY AT HIGH FREQUENCY WITH A SINGLE CAMERA THAT CAN BE MOUNTED ON THE PAYLOAD.