SBIR/STTR Research Award
STUDY OF ARCING ON SPACE STRUCTURES IN LOW EARTH ORBIT (PC-058)
Award amount
$491,438Program and phase
SBIR · Phase IIAward year
1990Award details
- Awarding agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Branch
- Not reported
- Recipient company
- PHYSICAL SCIENCES INC.
- Proposal award date
- Not reported
- Contract end date
- Not reported
- UEI
- RMG1AZ1ZH8Q7
- Solicitation number
- Not reported
- Topic code
- Not reported
Research abstract
ARCING OF PARTIALLY INSULATED SPACE COMPONENTS HAS BEEN OBSERVED WHEN THESE COMPONENTS ARE BIASED NEGATIVELY WITH RESPECT TO THE SPACE PLASMA. ARCING IS DETRIMENTAL TO SYSTEM PERFORMANCE AND MAY CAUSE MATERIAL DETERIORATION AND EVENTUAL FAILURE OF THE COMPONENT. WE PROPOSE TO IDENTIFY THE KEY DESIGN PARAMETERS THAT DETERMINE ONSET OF ARCING ANDTO INCORPORATE THEM INTO AN ARCING MODEL. EXERCISE OF THIS MODEL WILL ESTABLISH LIMITATIONS OF SYSTEM PERFORMANCE DUE TO ARCING. PHYSICAL EFFECTS THAT WILL BE CONSIDERED IN PARTICULAR ARE: FIELD EMISSION, SPUTTERING, OUTGASSING OF SURFACES, ELECTRON IMPACT IONIZATION AND NEGATIVE ION FORMATION. IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT THE RESULTS OF THE MODEL COULD BE TESTED IN A SUBSEQUENT EXPERIMENTAL PHASE II OF THE WORK AND KEY PARAMETERS ESTABLISHED.
Technology keywords
Not reported
Other awards by this recipient
Verified by the same UEI. These are other public SBIR/STTR award pages, not a merged company record.
- Off-axis Laser Event Recorder (OALER)
- TFLN Interconnect for Gigabit-rate Environment Ruggedization (TIGER)
- Advanced Ruggedized Modulators for Onboard Receivers (ARMOR)
- Modular Bypass Valve for Solid Fuel Ramjets
- Bio-inspired Energy Dissipating Structures for Enhanced Airdrop Capabilities
Research funding history
1,763 SBIR/STTR records share this UEI (1983–2026). Reported award amounts total $698,949,224. Reported amounts are not federal obligations.
Phases: Phase I, Phase II, Phase II – Direct to Phase II
Agencies: Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency