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Chemical and physical properties of various plastics used for plastic abrasive applications are presented. All testing is done in compliance with MIL-P-85891 (AS), “Plastic Media for Removal of Organic Coatings”. Density and heavy density particle contamination are particularly important tests relative to aerospace applications.

Experimental results obtained with a continuous culture system for the cultivation of Hydrogenomonas eutropha for waste management in a life-support system indicate that a reliable and stable system can be designed under the present state-of-the-art. The present system provides for control of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, pH, cell density, temperature, urea, and ammonia during growth. The culture system design is adaptable to operation in a zero-gravity field, and should be adaptable to integration with proposed water electrolysis and product recovery systems for waste management in an overall life support system.

Experimental research on an integrated Bosch reactor and water-vapor electrolysis unit for oxygen recovery from carbon dioxide is described. A principal feature of the integration is the use of regenerable solid absorbent for periodic water-vapor transfer in a gravity-independent manner to avoid gas-liquid separation problems. The carbon dioxide reduction subsystem was based on batch-wise operation of two Bosch reactors to permit periodic shutdown for carbon removal. Experimental results are presented on operation of the Bosch reactor which include catalyst activation, recycle rate, recycle gas composition, reactor temperature, catalyst consumption, packing density of carbon and life of reactor materials during extended operation. Experimental data are presented on the solid-absorbent unit with silica gel and synthetic zeolites for removal of water vapor from the Bosch reaction and for water-vapor feed to an electrolysis unit.

The process for certifying an existing aircraft for flight into known icing is well defined and must follow specific guidelines and meet specific milestones. As UAVs are still a relatively recent development, guidelines for icing flight certification of a UAV have not yet been developed by the FAA, and no UAVs have yet been certified for FIKI under the FAA. As part of a research program, engineers at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, OH USA worked with partners to integrate its ice protection system, HeatCoatTM, onto an existing UAV platform as a retrofit with the ultimate goal of flying in icing conditions. This research program was funded by the US Government with intent to integrate HeatCoat on the TigerShark-XP UAV. The integration on the TigerShark was demonstrated to present challenges specific to the nature of this UAV that had to be overcome.