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    • By NASA
      On the left, the Canopee transport carrier containing the European Service Module for NASA’s Artemis III mission arrives at Port Canaveral in Florida, on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, before completing the last leg of its journey to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center’s Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout via truck. On the right, NASA’s Pegasus barge, carrying several pieces of hardware for Artemis II, III, and IV arrives at NASA Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39 turn basin wharf on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Credit: NASA From across the Atlantic Ocean and through the Gulf of Mexico, two ships converged, delivering key spacecraft and rocket components of NASA’s Artemis campaign to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
      On Sept. 3, ESA (European Space Agency) marked a milestone in the Artemis III mission as its European-built service module for NASA’s Orion spacecraft completed a transatlantic journey from Bremen, Germany, to Port Canaveral, Florida, where technicians moved it to nearby NASA Kennedy. Transported aboard the Canopée cargo ship, the European Service Module—assembled by Airbus with components from 10 European countries and the U.S.—provides propulsion, thermal control, electrical power, and water and oxygen for its crews.
      “Seeing multi-mission hardware arrive at the same time demonstrates the progress we are making on our Artemis missions,” said Amit Kshatriya, deputy associate administrator, Moon to Mars Program, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We are going to the Moon together with our industry and international partners and we are manufacturing, assembling, building, and integrating elements for Artemis flights.”
      NASA’s Pegasus barge, the agency’s waterway workhorse for transporting large hardware by sea, ferried multi-mission hardware for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, the Artemis II launch vehicle stage adapter, the “boat-tail” of the core stage for Artemis III, the core stage engine section for Artemis IV, along with ground support equipment needed to move and assemble the large components. The barge pulled into NASA Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39B Turn Basin Thursday.
      The spacecraft factory inside NASA Kennedy’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building is set to buzz with additional activity in the coming months. With the Artemis II Orion crew and service modules stacked together and undergoing testing, and engineers outfitting the Artemis III and IV crew modules, engineers soon will connect the newly arrived European Service Module to the crew module adapter, which houses electronic equipment for communications, power, and control, and includes an umbilical connector that bridges the electrical, data, and fluid systems between the crew and service modules.
      The SLS rocket’s cone-shaped launch vehicle stage adapter connects the core stage to the upper stage and protects the rocket’s flight computers, avionics, and electrical devices in the upper stage system during launch and ascent. The adapter will be taken to Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building in preparation for Artemis II rocket stacking operations.
      The boat-tail, which will be used during the assembly of the SLS core stage for Artemis III, is a fairing-like structure that protects the bottom end of the core stage and RS-25 engines. This hardware, picked up at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, will join the Artemis III core stage engine section housed in the spaceport’s Space Systems Processing Facility.
      The Artemis IV SLS core stage engine section arrived from NASA Michoud and also will transfer to the center’s processing facility ahead of final assembly.
      Under the Artemis campaign, NASA will land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the lunar surface, establishing long-term exploration for scientific discovery and preparing for human missions to Mars. The agency’s SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, and supporting ground systems, along with the human landing system, next-generation spacesuits and rovers, and Gateway, serve as NASA’s foundation for deep space exploration.
      For more information on NASA’s Artemis missions, visit:
      https://www.nasa.gov/artemis
      -end-
      Rachel Kraft
      Headquarters, Washington
      202-358-1600
      Rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov
      Allison Tankersley, Antonia Jaramillo Botero
      Kennedy Space Center, Florida
      321-867-2468
      Allison.p.tankersley@nasa.gov/ antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov
      View the full article
    • By European Space Agency
      The two new Galileo satellites launched in April have entered service, completing the second of three constellation planes. With every addition to the constellation, the precision, availability and robustness of the Galileo signal is improved. The next launch is planned in the coming weeks and the remaining six Galileo First Generation satellites will join the constellation in the next years.
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      4 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      The Dash 7 aircraft that will be modified into a hybrid electric research vehicle under NASA’s Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration project is seen taking off from Moses Lake, Washington en route to Seattle for a ceremony unveiling its new livery. The aircraft is currently operating with a traditional fuel-based propulsion system but will eventually be modified with a hybrid electric system. NASA / David C. Bowman Parked under the lights inside a hangar in Seattle, a hybrid electric research aircraft from electric motor manufacturer magniX showed off a new look symbolizing its journey toward helping NASA make sustainable aviation a reality.  
      During a special unveiling ceremony hosted by magniX on Aug. 22, leaders from the company and NASA revealed the aircraft, with its new livery, to the public for the first time at King County International Airport, commonly known as Boeing Field.  
      The aircraft is a De Havilland Dash 7 that was formerly used for carrying cargo. Working under NASA’s Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) project, magniX will modify it to serve as a testbed for hybrid electric aircraft propulsion research.    
      The company’s goal under EPFD is to demonstrate potential fuel savings and performance boosts with a hybrid electric system for regional aircraft carrying up to 50 passengers. These efforts will help reduce environmental impacts from aviation by lowering greenhouse gas emissions. 
      This livery recognizes the collaborative effort focused on proving that hybrid electric flight for commercial aircraft is feasible. 
      “We are a research organization that continues to advance aviation, solve the problems of flight, and lead the community into the future,” said Robert A. Pearce, associate administrator for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. “Through our EPFD project, we’re taking big steps in partnership to make sure electric aviation is part of the future of commercial flight.” 
      Lee Noble, director for NASA’s Integrated Aviation Systems Program (right) and Robert Pearce, associate administrator for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (middle) chat with an AeroTEC test pilot for the Dash 7. Battery packs are stored along the floor of the cabin for magniX’s hybrid electric flight demonstrationsNASA / David C. Bowman Collaborative Effort   
      NASA is collaborating with industry to modify existing planes with new electrified aircraft propulsion systems. These aircraft testbeds will help demonstrate the benefits of hybrid electric propulsion systems in reducing fuel burn and emissions for future commercial aircraft, part of NASA’s broader mission to make air travel more sustainable.  
      “EPFD is about showing how regional-scale aircraft, through ground and flight tests, can be made more sustainable through electric technology that is available right now,” said Ben Loxton, vice president for magniX’s work on the EPFD project.  
      Thus far, magniX has focused on developing a battery-powered engine and testing it on the ground to make sure it will be safe for work in the air. The company will now begin transitioning over to a new phase of the project — transforming the Dash 7 into a hybrid electric research vehicle.  
      “With the recent completion of our preliminary design review and baseline flight tests, this marks a transition to the next phase, and the most exciting phase of the project: the modification of this Dash 7 with our magniX electric powertrain,” Loxton said.  
      To make this possible, magniX is working with their airframe integrator AeroTEC to help modify and prepare the aircraft for flight tests that will take place out of Moses Lake, Washington. Air Tindi, which supplied the aircraft to magniX for this project, will help with maintenance and support of the aircraft during the testing phases.  
      The Dash 7 that will be modified into a hybrid electric research vehicle under NASA’s Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration project on display with its new livery for the first time. In front of the plane is an electric powertrain that magniX will integrate into the current aircraft to build a hybrid electric propulsion system.NASA/David C. Bowman Creating a Hybrid Electric Aircraft   
      A typical hybrid electric propulsion system combines different sources of energy, such as fuel and electricity, to power an aircraft. For magniX’s demonstration, the modified Dash 7 will feature two electric engines fed by battery packs stored in the cabin, and two gas-powered turboprops.  
      The work will begin with replacing one of the aircraft’s outer turboprop engines with a new, magni650-kilowatt electric engine – the base of its hybrid electric system. After testing those modifications, magniX will swap out the remaining outer turboprop engine for an additional electric one. 
      Earlier this year, magniX and NASA marked the milestone completion of successfully testing the battery-powered engine at simulated altitude. Engineers at magniX are continuing ground tests of the aircraft’s electrified systems and components at NASA’s Electric Aircraft Testbed (NEAT) facility in Sandusky, Ohio.  
      By rigorously testing these new technologies under simulated flight conditions, such as high altitudes and extreme temperatures, researchers can ensure each component operates safely before taking to the skies. 
      The collaboration between EPFD, NASA, GE Aerospace, and magniX works to advance hybrid electric aircraft propulsion technologies for next-generation commercial aircraft in the mid-2030 timeframe. NASA is working with these companies to conduct two flight demonstrations showcasing different approaches to hybrid electric system design. 
      Researchers will use data gathered from ground and flight tests to identify and reduce certification gaps, as well as inform the development of new standards and regulations for future electrified aircraft. 
      “We at NASA are excited about EPFD’s potential to make aviation more sustainable,” Pearce said. “Hybrid electric propulsion on a megawatt scale accelerates U.S. progress toward its goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, benefitting all who rely on air transportation every day.”
      Facebook logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Instagram logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Linkedin logo @NASA Explore More
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      Last Updated Sep 03, 2024 EditorJim BankeContactMichael Jorgensen Related Terms
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    • By NASA
      5 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      Sonifications of three images have been released to mark the 25th anniversary of Chandra’s “First Light” image. For Cassiopeia A, which was one of the first objects observed by Chandra, X-ray data from Chandra and infrared data from Webb have been translated into sounds, along with some Hubble data. The second image in the sonification trio, 30 Doradus, also contains Chandra and Webb data. NGC 6872 contains data from Chandra as well as an optical image from Hubble. Each of these datasets have been mapped to notes and sounds based on properties observed by these telescopes.NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida) A quarter of a century ago, NASA released the “first light” images from the agency’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. This introduction to the world of Chandra’s high-resolution X-ray imaging capabilities included an unprecedented view of Cassiopeia A, the remains of an exploded star located about 11,000 light-years from Earth. Over the years, Chandra’s views of Cassiopeia A have become some of the telescope’s best-known images.
      To mark the anniversary of this milestone, new sonifications of three images – including Cassiopeia A (Cas A) – are being released. Sonification is a process that translates astronomical data into sound, similar to how digital data are more routinely turned into images. This translation process preserves the science of the data from its original digital state but provides an alternative pathway to experiencing the data.
      This sonification of Cas A features data from Chandra as well as NASA’s James Webb, Hubble, and retired Spitzer space telescopes. The scan starts at the neutron star at the center of the remnant, marked by a triangle sound, and moves outward. Astronomers first saw this neutron star when Chandra’s inaugural observations were released 25 years ago this week. Chandra’s X-rays also reveal debris from the exploded star that is expanding outward into space. The brighter parts of the image are conveyed through louder volume and higher pitched sounds. X-ray data from Chandra are mapped to modified piano sounds, while infrared data from Webb and Spitzer, which detect warmed dust embedded in the hot gas, have been assigned to various string and brass instruments. Stars that Hubble detects are played with crotales, or small cymbals.
      Another new sonification features the spectacular cosmic vista of 30 Doradus, one of the largest and brightest regions of star formation close to the Milky Way. This sonification again combines X-rays from Chandra with infrared data from Webb. As the scan moves from left to right across the image, the volume heard again corresponds to the brightness seen. Light toward the top of the image is mapped to higher pitched notes. X-rays from Chandra, which reveal gas that has been superheated by shock waves generated by the winds from massive stars, are heard as airy synthesizer sounds. Meanwhile, Webb’s infrared data show cooler gas that provides the raw ingredients for future stars. These data are mapped to a range of sounds including soft, low musical pitches (red regions), a wind-like sound (white regions), piano-like synthesizer notes indicating very bright stars, and a rain-stick sound for stars in a central cluster.
      The final member of this new sonification triumvirate is NGC 6872, a large spiral galaxy that has two elongated arms stretching to the upper right and lower left, which is seen in an optical light view from Hubble. Just to the upper left of NGC 6872 appears another smaller spiral galaxy. These two galaxies, each of which likely has a supermassive black hole at the center, are being drawn toward one another. As the scan sweeps clockwise from 12 o’clock, the brightness controls the volume and light farther from the center of the image is mapped to higher-pitched notes. Chandra’s X-rays, represented in sound by a wind-like sound, show multimillion-degree gas that permeates the galaxies. Compact X-ray sources from background galaxies create bird-like chirps. In the Hubble data, the core of NGC 6872 is heard as a dark low drone, and the blue spiral arms (indicating active star formation) are audible as brighter, more highly pitched tones. The background galaxies are played as a soft pluck sound while the bright foreground star is accompanied by a crash cymbal.
      More information about the NASA sonification project through Chandra, which is made in partnership with NASA’s Universe of Learning, can be found at https://chandra.si.edu/sound/.  The collaboration was driven by visualization scientist Kimberly Arcand (CXC), astrophysicist Matt Russo, and musician Andrew Santaguida, (both of the SYSTEM Sounds project), along with consultant Christine Malec.
      NASA’s Universe of Learning materials are based upon work supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
      More about Chandra
      Chandra, managed for NASA by Marshall in partnership with the CXC, is one of NASA’s Great Observatories, along with the Hubble Space Telescope and the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope and Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. It was first proposed to NASA in 1976 by Riccardo Giacconi, recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize for Physics based on his contributions to X-ray astronomy, and Harvey Tananbaum, who would later become the first director of the Chandra X-ray Center. Chandra was named in honor of the late Nobel laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his work explaining the structure and evolution of stars.
      Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here:
      https://www.nasa.gov/mission/chandra-x-ray-observatory/
      https://cxc.harvard.edu
      News Media Contact
      Lane Figueroa
      Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
      256-544-0034
      lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov
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      Last Updated Sep 03, 2024 LocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related Terms
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    • By NASA
      A NASA-developed material made of carbon nanotubes will enable our search for exoplanets—some of which might be capable of supporting life. Originally developed in 2007 by a team of researchers led by Innovators of the Year John Hagopian and Stephanie Getty at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, this carbon nanotube technology is being refined for potential use on NASA’s upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO)—the first telescope designed specifically to search for signs of life on planets orbiting other stars.
      As shown in the figure below, carbon nanotubes look like graphene (a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice) that is rolled into a tube. The super-dark material consists of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (i.e., nested nanotubes) that grow vertically into a “forest.” The carbon nanotubes are 99% empty space so the light entering the material doesn’t get reflected. Instead, the light enters the nanotube forest and jiggles electrons in the hexagonal lattice of carbon atoms, converting the light to heat. The ability of the carbon nanotubes to eliminate almost all light is enabling for NASA’s scientific instruments because stray light limits how sensitive the observations can be. When applied to instrument structures, this material can eliminate much of the stray light and enable new and better observations.
      Left: Artist’s conception of graphene, single and multiwalled carbon nanotube structures. Right: Scanning electron microscope image of vertically aligned multiwalled carbon nanotube forest with a section removed in the center. Credit: Delft University/Dr. Sten Vollebregt and NASA GSFC Viewing exoplanets is incredibly difficult; the exoplanets revolve around stars that are 10 billion times brighter than they are. It’s like looking at the Sun and trying to see a dim star next to it in the daytime. Specialized instruments called coronagraphs must be used to block the light from the star to enable these exoplanets to be viewed. The carbon nanotube material is employed in the coronagraph to block as much stray light as possible from entering the instrument’s detector.
      The image below depicts a notional telescope and coronagraph imaging an exoplanet. The telescope collects the light from the distant star and exoplanet. The light is then directed to a coronagraph that collimates the beam, making the light rays parallel, and then the beam is reflected off the apodizer mirror, which is used to precisely control the diffraction of light.  Carbon nanotubes on the apodizer mirror absorb the stray light that is diffracted off edges of the telescope structures, so it does not contaminate the observations.  The light is then focused on the focal plane mask, which blocks the light from the star but allows light from the exoplanet to pass.  The light gets collimated again and is then reflected off a deformable mirror to correct distortion in the image.  Finally, the light passes through the Lyot Stop, which is also coated with carbon nanotubes to remove the remaining stray light.  The beam is then focused onto the detector array, which forms the image. 
      Even with all these measures some stray light still reaches the detector, but the coronagraph creates a dark zone where only the light coming from the exoplanet can be seen. The final image on the right in the figure below shows the remaining light from the star in yellow and the light from the exoplanet in red in the dark zone.
      Schematic of a notional telescope and coronagraph imaging an exoplanet Credit: Advanced Nanophotonics/John Hagopian, LLC HWO will use a similar scheme to search for habitable exoplanets. Scientists will analyze the spectrum of light captured by HWO to determine the gases in the atmosphere of the exoplanet. The presence of water vapor, oxygen, and perhaps other gases can indicate if an exoplanet could potentially support life.
      But how do you make a carbon-nanotube-coated apodizer mirror that could be used on the HWO? Hagopian’s company Advanced Nanophotonics, LLC received Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding to address this challenge.
      Carbon nanotubes are grown by depositing catalyst seeds onto a substrate and then placing the substrate into a tube-shaped furnace and heating it to 1382 degrees F, which is red hot! Gases containing carbon are then flowed into the heated tube, and at these temperatures the gases are absorbed by the metal catalyst and transform into a solution, similar to how carbon dioxide in soda water fizzes. The carbon nanotubes literally grow out of the substrate into vertically aligned tubes to form a “forest” wherever the catalyst is located.
      Since the growth of carbon nanotubes on the apodizer mirror must occur only in designated areas where stray light is predicted, the catalyst must be applied only to those areas. The four main challenges that had to be overcome to develop this process were: 1) how to pattern the catalyst precisely, 2) how to get a mirror to survive high temperatures without distorting, 3) how to get a coating to survive high temperatures and still be shiny, and 4) how to get the carbon nanotubes to grow on top of a shiny coating. The Advanced Nanophotonics team refined a multi-step process (see figure below) to address these challenges.
      Making an Apodizer Mirror for use in a coronagraph Credit: Advanced Nanophotonics/John Hagopian, LLC First a silicon mirror substrate is fabricated to serve as the base for the mirror. This material has properties that allow it to survive very high temperatures and remain flat. These 2-inch mirrors are so flat that if one was scaled to the diameter of Earth, the highest mountain would only be 2.5 inches tall!
      Next, the mirror is coated with multiple layers of dielectric and metal, which are deposited by knocking atoms off a target and onto the mirror in a process called sputtering. This coating must be reflective to direct the desired photons, but still be able to survive in the hot environment with corrosive gases that is required to grow carbon nanotubes.
      Then a material called resist that is sensitive to light is applied to the mirror and a pattern is created in the resist with a laser. The image on the mirror is chemically developed to remove the resist only in the areas illuminated by the laser, creating a pattern where the mirror’s reflecting surface is exposed only where nanotube growth is desired.
      The catalyst is then deposited over the entire mirror surface using sputtering to provide the seeds for carbon nanotube growth. A process called liftoff is used to remove the catalyst and the resist that are located where nanotubes growth is not needed. The mirror is then put in a tube furnace and heated to 1380 degrees Fahrenheit while argon, hydrogen, and ethylene gases are flowed through the tube, which allows the chemical vapor deposition of carbon nanotubes where the catalyst has been patterned. The apodizer mirror is cooled and removed from the tube furnace and characterized to make sure it is still flat, reflective where desired, and very black everywhere else.
      The Habitable Worlds Observatory will need a coronagraph with an optimized apodizer mirror to effectively view exoplanets and gather their light for evaluation. To make sure NASA has the best chance to succeed in this search for life, the mirror design and nanotube technology are being refined in test beds across the country.
      Under the SBIR program, Advanced Nanophotonics, LLC has delivered apodizers and other coronagraph components to researchers including Remi Soummer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, Eduardo Bendek and Rus Belikov at NASA Ames, Tyler Groff at NASA Goddard, and Arielle Bertrou-Cantou and Dmitri Mawet at the California Institute of Technology. These researchers are testing these components and the results of these studies will inform new designs to eventually enable the goal of a telescope with a contrast ratio of 10 billion to 1.
      Reflective Apodizers delivered to Scientists across the country Credit: Advanced Nanophotonics/John Hagopian, LLC In addition, although the desired contrast ratio cannot be achieved using telescopes on Earth, testing apodizer mirror designs on ground-based telescopes not only facilitates technology development, but helps determine the objects HWO might observe. Using funding from the SBIR program, Advanced Nanophotonics also developed transmissive apodizers for the University of Notre Dame to employ on another instrument—the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) Upgrade. In this case the carbon nanotubes were patterned and grown on glass that transmits the light from the telescope into the coronagraph. The Gemini telescope is an 8.1-meter telescope located in Chile, high atop a mountain in thin air to allow for better viewing. Dr. Jeffrey Chilcote is leading the effort to upgrade the GPI and install the carbon nanotube patterned apodizers and Lyot Stops in the coronagraph to allow viewing of exoplanets starting next year. Discoveries enabled by GPI may also drive future apodizer designs.
      More recently, the company was awarded a Phase II SBIR contract to develop next-generation apodizers and other carbon nanotube-based components for the test beds of existing collaborators and new partners at the University of Arizona and the University of California Santa Clara.
      Tyler Groff (left) and John Hagopian (right) display a carbon nanotube patterned apodizer mirror used in the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center coronagraph test bed. Credit: Advanced Nanophotonics/John Hagopian, LLC As a result of this SBIR-funded technology effort, Advanced Nanophotonics has collaborated with NASA Scientists to develop a variety of other applications for this nanotube technology.
      A special carbon nanotube coating developed by Advanced Nanophotonics was used on the recently launched NASA Ocean Color Instrument onboard the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission that is observing both the atmosphere and phytoplankton in the ocean, which are key to the health of our planet. A carbon nanotube coating that is only a quarter of the thickness of a human hair was applied around the entrance slit of the instrument. This coating absorbs 99.5% of light in the visible to infrared and prevents stray light from reflecting into the instrument to enable more accurate measurements. Hagopian’s team is also collaborating with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) team to apply the technology to mitigate stray light in the European Space Agency’s space-based gravity wave mission.
      They are also working to develop carbon nanotubes for use as electron beam emitters for a project sponsored by the NASA Planetary Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of Solar System Observations (PICASSO) Program. Led by Lucy Lim at NASA Goddard, this project aims to develop an instrument to probe asteroid and comet constituents in space.
      In addition, Advanced Nanophotonics worked with researcher Larry Hess at NASA Goddard’s Detector Systems Branch and Jing Li at the NASA Ames Research Center to develop a breathalyzer to screen for Covid-19 using carbon nanotube technology. The electron mobility in a carbon nanotube network enables high sensitivity to gases in exhaled breath that are associated with disease.
      This carbon nanotube-based technology is paying dividends both in space, as we continue our search for life, and here on Earth.
      For additional details, see the entry for this project on NASA TechPort.
      PROJECT LEAD
      John Hagopian (Advanced Nanophotonics, LLC)
      SPONSORING ORGANIZATION
      SMD-funded SBIR project
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