Nonintrusive Diagnosis of Ejecta Cloud from Plume Surface Interactions using High-Speed Digital Holography

The main objective of the proposed Phase II effort is to build a deliverable high-speed digital holography (DH) instrument that can be adapted to a NASA ground test facility to perform diagnosis of plume-surface interaction (PSI) events of interests to NASA scientists, and further, build a PSI facility at MetroLaser that can replicate similar PSI events and can deploy MetroLaser’s DH and other advanced diagnostics, such as focusing schlieren and photogrammetry, to interrogate and obtain 3D ejecta particle trajectories, velocities and size distributions and crater profiles that will help NASA scientists understand the physics of the PSI problem, and provide benchmark-worthy datasets for validation of modeling and simulation (M&S) tools. The understanding obtained from these studies will be used by MetroLaser to develop and build another prototype DH instrument that can provide preliminary information for a future onboard space lander deployment that can perform measurements on ingested ejecta particles. Further this prototype will be tested at these PSI facilities to characterize its capabilities in real-life applications scenarios as a pathway towards onboard deployment in future NASA lander missions. The Phase II funding will be used to build a state-of-the-art PSI facility at MetroLaser with custom-built optical access ports to perform large scale physics focused ground tests akin to those performed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Further, we will deploy DH and other diagnostics in a systematic manner at different radial and longitudinal locations from the regolith bed and obtain a map of 3D particle velocities, trajectories and sizes around the jet impingement site. This parametric study will consist of different regolith simulants, jet velocities, mass flow rates, ambient pressures, and different jet heights. The findings will be used to build a deliverable DH instrument for NASA’s ground test facility and another onboard DH sensor for lander deployment.

The compact and rugged high-speed digital holography (DH) instrument that will be designed and developed under this NASA program will have a much smaller footprint and ability to work in harsh extraterrestrial environments making it suitable for multiple applications in aerodynamics and atmospheric science, and in space environments. This coupled with the ability to perform 3D particle measurements will have direct applications to several NASA missions planned in the future. The instrument can be installed on Lunar and Martian rovers to investigate particle size distributions, velocities and trajectories in a three-dimensional volume during descent and extraterrestrial touchdowns. This will be important to understand the physics of turbulence, boundary-layer development and high-speed impacts during plume surface interaction events that will enable NASA to develop better hardware damage mitigation measures and understand extraterrestrial environments. After touchdown, the instrument can be used to provide information about weather conditions, especially in Martian storms about how particle densities, 3D velocities and particle size distributions fluctuate on a hourly or daily basis. The instrument can also determine the particle shape characteristics with an adequate optical resolution. Other NASA applications include understanding and developing better Whipple shield mechanisms by deploying DH instruments to measure ejecta and debris clouds characteristics created by hyper velocity impacts in space environments which create a plethora of small fragments and particles that can accelerate to high orbital speeds and become an impact hazard to the international space station and all other satellites. The DH instrument can also investigate particle field size, velocity and trajectory dynamics both inside and outside the space station. Research indicates that 3D particle field investigations are critical for understanding various physical processes including combustion, mixing, diffusion and turbulence among many other phenomena. A vast number of industrial applications and research activities experiencing these processes require non-intrusive diagnostics that can provide three-dimensional characteristics of the particle field. In this regard, the digital holography (DH) instrument will also be very relevant to the aerospace companies and universities who are actively pursuing 3D particle field measurements in fuel injectors, industrial nozzles, bubble chambers, sprays and aerosol velocity fields for the purpose of developing more efficient combustion engines, spray devices, mixing chambers and chemical manufacturing processes. In addition to low-speed aerodynamics, the technology and instruments will also find multiple applications in atmospheric and life sciences. The characterization of airborne particles in terms of particle size distributions is extremely valuable inside hospitals, commercial kitchens and residential homes for detecting hazardous respiratory environments. The device can also be installed at weather stations to provide 3D airborne particle characteristics in determining the pollution index. With regards to the direct industrial impact of the high-speed digital holography instrument, several US government agencies including the Navy, Air Force, Army and other branches of DOD are actively interested in three-dimensional particle field characterization in the aero breakup process of raindrops and snow, and hypervelocity impact events. Studies measuring the ejecta/debris size and velocity distributions from the impact of a hypersonic vehicles with solid targets and rain drops in ground testing facilities are needed to model and assess defense lethality and develop improved shielding measures.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.