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| Jon D. McCullough | Continuing IV&V
Support for NASA Missions
MATRIC has teamed with NASA and Titan Corporation in support of the software analysis effort for the New Horizons Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission, a mission designed to explore the mysterious worlds at the edge of our solar system. The New Horizons spacecraft has been outfitted with a complete suite of instruments to perform scientific measurements of Pluto and its moon Charon. As part of an extended mission New Horizons will continue its journey into the Kuiper Belt region of our solar system, in hopes of encountering encountering trans- Neptunian objects, or minor planets. Jon McCullough, MATRIC Senior Systems Engineer, is providing software assurance for the fault protection autonomy system onboard the spacecraft. The autonomy system is responsible for detecting and correcting any problems with the spacecraft and its subsystems that could jeopardize the mission. “Pluto is three billion miles from Earth, and it takes approximately four hours for a communications signal from Earth to reach Pluto,” stated Jon. “Therefore, the spacecraft’s fault detection and autonomy system must be rock-solid. At these distances there is simply no time to rely on ground intervention to fix the problem. The spacecraft must be as autonomous as possible; it must be able to assess its own health and make the necessary adjustments so that the mission can continue”. | |||||
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| Dr. Duane Dombek | New Lower-cost
Technology Being Investigated
MATRIC is researching a new approach to convert the ethane contained in natural gas into ethylene, a primary building block of the chemical industry. The main component of natural gas is methane, but minor constituents such as ethane and propane are much more valuable as a source of chemical products than as fuel. Today’s highly capital-intensive technology separates these components from natural gas by a process that cools the gas to very low temperatures. Ethane obtained from this cryogenic separation process is then heated to very high temperatures to “crack” it to ethylene, which is converted into valuable products such as polyethylene and ethylene glycol. The technology MATRIC is pursuing would avoid the difficult separation of ethane from methane, but would contact the entire natural gas stream with a catalyst and some added oxygen, under pipeline pressure. The ethane would be converted to ethylene, which is much more easily separated from the gas mixture. Methane does not react with the catalyst and would be fed back into the natural gas pipeline for fuel use. This technology avoids the energy and capital costs of a low-temperature separation and a high-temperature cracking process.
Tom Maliszewski is leading MATRIC’s current activities on this project. Tom is in the process of developing an analytical model of a commercial plant based on published catalyst results to estimate the capital investment and the operating cost. “My first analysis shows that the new technology can make ethylene with about 10% less ethane raw material, compared to current commercial technology,” reports Tom. Further improvements in the catalyst could drive the cost even lower. MATRIC is just beginning to evaluate the capital cost. Tom notes that “the cost model will help us to identify the catalyst operation to get the best economics for the commercial plant,” which could be operating in 2012. MATRIC and Rampant Technology Partners, LLC are participating in this project led by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with funds provided by the U.S. Department of Energy. | |||||
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| Jason Cooper |
Envision a worst-case scenario for a moment – you are involved in a car accident and rendered unconscious. When the ambulance arrives, the EMTs cannot question you concerning important information about your health – information such as medications that you might be taking, known conditions that you have, or even something as simple as your age. One solution to this dilemma lies in a highly secure, highly interoperable technology designed by a collaborative team led by MATRIC researchers. MATRIC has partnered with an industry leader in smartcard technology, Aladdin Knowledge Systems, to develop software to utilize smartcard storage media for portable healthcare records. This solution would provide individuals with a smartcard which stores their critical health information. Healthcare professionals would use the software and hardware to quickly access this information at the site of the emergency or even during a standard office visit. This new technology relies on both software and hardware encryption to maintain an individual’s privacy and data confidentiality. The software takes advantage of industry standards to remain interoperable and portable. The user interface is easy to use and robust. Additionally, the overall cost to implement this solution is quite low for both healthcare providers and consumers. MATRIC plans to pilot this innovative healthcare information technology very soon in collaboration with local hospitals and universities. | |||||
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| Keith A. Pauley |
Contract Connections, in association with the Charleston Area Alliance and in special cooperation with Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, is organizing the WV Government Procurement Conference on October 11th and 12th, at the Charleston Civic Center. http://contractconnections.org/
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Dr. George
Keller is one of the humblest men I have ever met who has
accomplished so much in his career. Dr. Keller is a member of the 
Dr. Parvez
Wadia has spent his career working at the interface
between science and business. As Vice-President of Research and
Development at 
Dr. Jim Schreck
is the consummate innovator. As one of his colleagues told
me recently, Dr. Schreck can improve any chemical process he takes a
look at. He led the Catalyst Skill Center in 
Mark
Dehlin knows how to implement new technology in the complex
government environment. Mark has worked on computer systems in
fighter aircraft, supported IT-based logistics for naval ships and
created cutting-edge implementations of biometrics in Iraq. He is a
great team-builder and visionary technologist.
Jason
Cooper is bridging the gap between health sciences and
engineering to create new ways to improve the health of people
around the world. A 
