Browsing by Author "Skow, Mary Coan"
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Item Development History of the High-Performance Infrared Laser Sensor into NASA Architectures via the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program(50th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/12/2021) Chullen, Cinda; Meginnis, Carly; Graf, John; Mudgett, Paul; Skow, Mary Coan; Vogel, MatthewGas sensing in space is difficult. Current commercial off the shelf (COTS) devices are not qualified to measure multiple gas constituents in space platforms. Vista Photonics, Inc. (VPI) has taken lessons learned from several Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) awards and progressed their innovative technology to a point of infusing into a NASA flight program. Their development progression through the SBIR Program included Phase I, II, and III awards along with program matching-fund awards (Phase II-E and Commercialization Readiness Program). Development goals included increase sensing capability; ensure calibration and system stability were maintained; ensure valid sensor measurements; eliminate complexity, reduce power, volume, and cost; improve response time; and increase the Technology Readiness Level (TRL). The SBIR awards have resulted in several laser based gas sensing prototypes that were designed, built, tested, and delivered for NASA�s evaluation including an Advanced Space Suit Portable Life Support System (PLSS) gas sensor, an In-Flight Contingency Monitor and a Post-Landing Contingency Monitor. VPI leveraged lessons learned from the initial SBIR development of the Multi-Gas Monitor (MGM). The MGM was a technology demonstration onboard the International Space Station. This successful demonstration led NASA to consider the sensor technology as a potential candidate for the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit PLSS. The Orion Program has selected a derivative of VPI�s technology for its Anomaly Gas Analyzer to detect vehicle combustion products. This paper articulates the technology development progression of VPI�s gas sensor through the SBIR Program to increase the TRL and technically infuse into the Orion architecture for gas sensing.Item Seeking the Tricorder: Evolution of the NASA Anomaly Gas Analyzer(49th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2019-07-07) Mudgett, Paul; Skow, Mary Coan; Limero, Thomas; Beck, Steven; Pilgrim, JeffreyNASA requires a gas sensor for monitoring a wide variety of species onboard spacecraft. As a major constituents analyzer the device should measure oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapor with high precision. As a post-event combustion monitor the device should measure carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen chloride and hydrogen fluoride with high sensitivity. As a leak detector the device should measure ammonia and chemical hydrazine with high specificity. The device should be portable, handheld, operate under its own power in a widely variable temperature-pressure-gravity-vibration-radiation environment while reliably reporting gas concentrations as quickly and unambiguously as possible. Alas, the tricorder! A two-year technology demonstration of the tunable diode laser based Multi-Gas Monitor (MGM) on the International Space Station (ISS) for major constituents plus ammonia, combined with extensive ground test of detecting combustion evolved gases led NASA to commission Vista Photonics to develop a device to measure all those species plus chemical hydrazine. Known as the Anomaly Gas Analyzer (AGA) project, the end product will be critical flight hardware for both Orion and the International Space Station. Three AGA engineering development units were delivered to NASA Johnson Space Center and are being subjected to a variety of tests at present. A device similar to the MGM was recently tested by the US Navy on a submarine. A sea trial of a more capable AGA-like device is in the planning stages. The Navy’s interest in testing NASA equipment is in a planned update to submarine environmental monitoring equipment. Vista Photonics is developing a scalable AGA-based architecture for the Navy that expands the target gases to include formaldehyde, ethylene, nitrous oxide, nitrogen dioxide, R12/R134a Freon, and acrolein. The core technology was developed by Vista Photonics through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and expanded using NASA program funding.