NASA Funds Suborbital Flight Test Demonstrations

Thirteen emerging technologies are scheduled for flight testing on five types of platforms ranging from high-altitude balloons to reusable spacecraft in 2013-14 under NASA’s Flight Operations Program, bolstering U.S. efforts to foster a commercial market in the suborbital realm.

The flight opportunities initiative, introduced by NASA in 2010 and currently funded within the agency’s $188 million a year cross-cutting space technology line, enables researchers to expose promising advanced technologies to brief periods of spaceflight as part of a measured development strategy. Nine investigations have been designated for parabolic flight, two for high-altitude balloons, one on a suborbital launch vehicle and one on a high-altitude balloon as well as a suborbital launch vehicle.

“These payloads represent more real progress in our goal of fostering a viable market for American commercial reusable suborbital platforms — access to near-space that provides the innovation needed for cutting-edge space technology research and development,” said Michael Gazarik, director of NASA’s Space Technology Program, in a Jan. 21 statement.

• On the Performance of a Nanocatalyst-based Direct Ammonia Alkaline Fuel Cell (DAAFC) under Microgravity Conditions for Water Reclamation and Energy Applications, Carlos Cabrera, University of Puerto Rico;