Advanced Component Technologies (ACT) 2005 ROSES NRA Selections

08/25/2005 – NASA Headquarters, Science Mission Directorate
NASA Research Announcement (NRA) NNH05ZDA001N, Research Opportunity for Space and Earth Science (ROSES-2005)
Program Element A.28 - Advanced Component Technology Program (ACT-2005)

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, has selected proposals, for the component technology development program in support of the Earth Sun System Division (ESSD). The Advanced Component Technology (ACT-05) Program will provide core component and subsystem technology developments that will enable new Earth and Sun science measurements, and visionary concepts.

The ESSD is awarding 14 proposals, for a total dollar value over a three-year period of approximately $12 million, through the Earth Sun System Technology Office located at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The objectives of the ACT program are to research, develop, and demonstrate component and subsystem technologies that:

• Reduce the risk, cost, size, and development time for ESSD observing instruments and platforms and,
• Enable new ESSD observation measurements.

The ACT Program is designed to bring components to a maturity level that allow their integration into other NASA technology development programs such as the Instrument Incubator Program (IIP), missions designed by NASA flight projects, and other technology development programs for further development. The program is envisioned to be flexible enough to accept technology developments at various stages of maturity, and through appropriate risk reduction activities (such as requirement analysis, conceptual design, laboratory breadboards, and pre-engineering models) advance the technology readiness of the component or subsystem for infusion into future science missions.

Ninety-two ACT-05 NRA proposals were received of which 14 have been selected for award. They are:

Betz, Albert: University of Colorado
A Solid-State Terahertz Receiver for Atmospheric Spectroscopy

Coplan, Michael: University of Maryland
Advanced Component Technology for Exploration of the Heliosphere Using Neutral Atom Imaging Arrays

Deiker, Steven: Lockheed Martin Corporation
Aluminum Manganese TES Development for Large Scale Arrays of Microcalorimeters

Edelstein, Wendy: NASA JPL
Adaptive Self-Correcting T/R module for Phase-Stable Array Antennas

Horacek, Steve: Ball Aerospace and Technologies
Lightweight, Low Power, High Speed Digital Signal Distribution Technology for Thinned Aperture Radiometer Application

Im, Eastwood: NASA JPL
High-Precision Adaptive Control of Large Antenna Surface

Imbriale, William: NASA JPL
MEMS Actuated Wave Front Controller

Kangaslahti, Pekka: NASA JPL
Miniature MMIC Low Mass/power Radiometer Modules for the 180 GHz GeoSTAR Array

Lee, Karen: NASA JPL
Ultra Low Noise Radiometers for Tropospheric and Stratospheric Limb Sounding

Papapolymerou, Ioannis: Georgia Institute of Technology
Large Lightweight and Deployable Phased Arrays Using RF MEMS Switches

Piepmeier, Jeffrey: NASA GSFC
Analog Radio- Frequency Interference Suppression System for Microwave Radiometers

Schwemmer, Geary: NASA GSFC
Shared Aperture Diffractive Optical Element (ShADOE)Multiplexed Telescope

Siqueira, Paul: University of Massachusetts
Advanced Performance Two- Channel Ku- and Ka- Band Dual- Downconverters for Interferometric Radar Applications

Yueh, Simon: NASA JPL
Compact Ku-Band T/R Module for Wide-Swath High-Resolution Radar Imaging of Cold Land Processes