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NASA Langley Supports Small Businesses to Advance Science, Exploration and Technology

Last month, NASA selected 363 proposals from American small businesses and research institutions, representing 41 states, to help advance space technology. These selections have an estimated value of more than $45 million and are part of NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.

U.S. businesses will help NASA land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024, establish a sustainable lunar presence and then go on to explore Mars. The space agency’s SBIR and STTR programs invest in small companies in order to support research, development and demonstration of technologies needed for future missions.

NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, will manage 57 of the new selections relating to aeronautics, human space exploration and operations, science, and space technology.

“The SBIR program was established to benefit both U.S. small businesses and the government. It delivers innovation that benefits society and the economy,” said Kim Cannon, Langley’s technology transition lead who manages SBIR at the center. “At NASA, we’re increasingly looking for partnership opportunities and SBIR stands out. Langley has already received great benefit from the program, and I’m excited about all that’s ahead of us.”

SAGE IV telescope
Quartus Engineering of San Diego designed and built the SAGE IV Pathfinder telescope hardware that it will leverage in its recent SBIR award. Credit: Quartus Credits: Quartus

Quartus Engineering of San Diego was selected for their first NASA SBIR contract, which will be managed by Langley. The company is working to reduce risks associated with harsh environments of space by validating analytical models of those environments. This work differs from current projects that typically test hardware to meet the requirements of a particular design. Quartus will leverage work on NASA’s Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) IV Pathfinder telescope.

SAGE IV Pathfinder is the next-generation, CubeSat version of Langley’s SAGE series of instruments that monitor ozone and aerosols in Earth’s atmosphere. Quartus will develop a test station to verify both the telescope’s design and the analytical tools used to predict the performance of systems in space, which could accelerate timelines and reduce costs of future science missions.

“NASA’s SBIR program provides this funding vehicle to develop tools and validated models for the use by many programs going forward,” said Alexander Cheff Halterman, an engineering manager at Quartus. “This way one program does not need to shoulder the financial burden in the future.”

Another example is a company based in Hampton called Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc. (AMA). Their Sunflower Array project uses a collapsible boom to deploy and retract a solar array as opposed to a more rigid structure. This technology, which is more portable than traditional booms, could be used at the Moon’s poles to generate power for surface operations. With the Phase I contract the company will mature the design of the array. This effort could guide the construction of a prototype during a potential future Phase II SBIR.

“NASA’s SBIR program is enabling detailed design and systems level trades of structural and mechanical features of the array,” said Matthew Duchek, senior aerospace engineer at AMA. “Without the SBIR program it is highly possible that the Sunflower Array design would never be matured past initial conceptualization.”

SBIR Phase I contracts last for six months and STTR Phase I contracts last for 13 months, both with a maximum funding of $125,000. Proposals were selected according to their technical merit and feasibility, in addition to the experience, qualifications and facilities of the submitting organization. Additional criteria included the effectiveness of the work plan and commercial potential.

NASA’s SBIR and STTR programs encourage small businesses and research institutions to develop innovative ideas that meet the specific research and development needs of the federal government. The programs are intended to stimulate technological innovation in the private sector, increase the commercial application of research results, and encourage participation of socially and economically disadvantaged persons and women-owned small businesses.

The NASA SBIR and STTR programs are conducted in three phases:

  • Phase I is the opportunity to establish the scientific, technical, and commercial merit and feasibility of the proposed innovation. SBIR Phase I contracts last for six months and STTR Phase I contracts last for 13 months, both with maximum funding of $125,000. The 363 selected proposals announced in this release are all in Phase I.
  • Phase II is focused on the development, demonstration and delivery of the innovation. Phase II contracts last for 24 months with maximum funding of $750,000. Only small businesses awarded a Phase I contract are eligible to submit a proposal for a Phase II funding agreement. SBIR program Phase II selections were announced in mid-May.
  • Phase III is the commercialization of innovative technologies, products, and services resulting from either a Phase I or Phase II contract. Phase III contracts are funded from sources other than the SBIR and STTR programs.

The SBIR and STTR programs are managed for the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) by NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. STMD is responsible for developing the transformative new technologies and capabilities needed by the agency to achieve its current and future missions. 

For more information about the SBIR and STTR programs, including the selection list, visit:

https://sbir.nasa.gov/

For more information about NASA’s investment in space technology, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/spacetech