UAH Insight

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NASA funds UAHuntsville research into micro-sensors

Sensors to be developed by UAHuntsville might soon help space shuttle astronauts avoid sitting on the runway after landing, waiting as HazMat-suited technicians check that there are no dangerous chemicals clinging to the spacecraft.

Tiny sensors to sniff for hydrazine (a toxic chemical used in some rocket motors) are among the several tiny devices to be studied and developed through a three-year, $748,500 grant recently awarded to UAH by NASA.

"We're trying to take recent advances in nano- and micro-technology and convert them into useful devices, of which there aren't many," said Robert Lindquist, interim director of UAH's Nano- and Micro-Device Center. "NASA has asked us to work on sensors for several specific things, including hydrazine, hydrogen and biological contaminants.

"For the launch vehicle, the hydrazine and hydrogen sensors are critical. All of the water used on the space station is recycled and you want to be sure there's nothing nasty still in it. That is what the biological sensors will do."

The UAH team will work with engineers and scientists at both Alabama A&M University's Center for Irradiation of Materials and the Integrated Sensors and Health Monitoring Sensor Group at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. The grant will be administered through the Alabama Space Grant Consortium.

While there have been advances in nano- and micro-technology in recent years, harnessing those advances is challenging, Lindquist said. The Huntsville team brings together sensor, materials and micro-device capabilities developed at the two schools with unique hardware and software tools developed in UAH's Computer Engineering Department. These tools will be used to integrate micro-sensors into embedded sensor systems, which can be used to provide useful information about the "health" of systems aboard NASA's next-generation space transportation systems to astronauts as well as to scientists and engineers on the ground.