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Roberta Ross
NASA Dryden Flight
Research Center
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May 6, 2005 |
RELEASE: 05-25
| Harford Technology Firm Receives NASA Research
Grant
A
high-technology firm in Harford, N.Y., has won a NASA research
grant under the aerospace agency's Small Business Technology
Transfer (STTR) research program to develop computational
models for nonlinear aeroelastic systems such as flexible
aircraft wings.
Clear Science Corp., working with Duke
University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, will
receive one of two grants that will be awarded by NASA's
Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, Calif., under an
STTR Phase II research and development proposal in late May.
The firm's proposal was one of 27 funded by NASA under the
agency's 2003 STTR program, and is valued at up to $600,000
over a two-year performance period.
"This proposal
would develop novel computerized methods and tools that could
result in significant reduction of the time and effort
required for analysis of aircraft designs, traditionally a
lengthy and expensive process. The company proposes to improve
the efficiency of this process by using less complex models
that are computationally simpler, while retaining their
accuracy to yield results more quickly at less cost," said
Rodney Bogue, STTR program manager at NASA Dryden. "The code
resulting from this effort is expected to streamline and
integrate the results for a broad range of engineering
disciplines, which could reduce the number of certification
flight tests required for both current and future aircraft."
Clear Science's principal investigator Henry Carlson
said flexible aircraft wings interact with the air flowing
around them in ways that are often hard to predict and
sometimes dangerous. The computational models will enable
engineers to predict the complex, coupled responses of the
wing and flow, facilitating the design of aircraft that are
safe and reliable.
Bogue said Clear Science’s proposal
was chosen based upon technical merit and innovation, value to
NASA, commercial potential, company capabilities, and the
firm’s performance under an earlier Phase I STTR grant.
“Phase I awards are for the purpose of proving a
proposed concept, and are funded up to a maximum of $70,000
for a six-month period,” Bogue explained. “Phase II selections
are made from high-performing Phase I projects, and are
oriented to development of a marketable product. Between 40
and 50 percent of Phase I contracts are selected for the Phase
II follow-on."
Overall, 24 small, high-technology
firms in 15 states will share in about $16 million in STTR
Phase II grants awarded by NASA this year, with a couple
receiving more than one contract. The 27 projects funded were
selected from 41 proposals submitted by firms completing STTR
Phase I projects. Each proposal was evaluated to determine if
it met STTR Phase I objectives and if it was a feasible
research innovation to meet the aerospace agency's needs.
The NASA STTR program is intended to stimulate
technological innovation, increase the use of small business –
including women-owned and disadvantaged firms – in meeting
federal research and development needs, and increase private
sector commercialization of innovations derived from federally
funded research. The program is managed at NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., with oversight from
NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, Washington,
D.C. Individual STTR projects are selected and managed by each
of NASA's 10 field centers.
NOTE TO EDITORS:
Further information about Clear Science Corp. and its NASA
STTR project can be obtained by contacting Henry Carlson at
(607) 844-9171. The firm is located at 663 Owego Hill Road,
Harford, N.Y. 13784-0233.
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