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“SBIR”
NASA Awards Accelerate Small Business Tech for Earth and Space
Awards under NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program will support technologies for lunar science and exploration. (Credits: NASA)

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. (NASA PR) — NASA has awarded six U.S. small businesses funding to continue work on technologies poised to make a significant impact in key areas, from wildfire readiness to sustained lunar exploration. Collaborating with small businesses is a crucial part of developing the novel ideas needed for NASA’s ambitious goals.

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  • August 19, 2022
REI Systems Awarded $8M PETS Contract to Advance Innovation at NASA

STERLING, Va. (REI Systems PR) — REI Systems, a leading provider of technology solutions, was awarded the NASA Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Platform Engineering and Technology Services (PETS) contract. The NASA SBIR/STTR Program funds the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies with significant potential for commercialization. The program empowers small technology businesses, including underrepresented groups such as women and minority-owned businesses, to participate in federal Research and Development (R&D) efforts to drive NASA missions, provide societal benefit, and grow the U.S. economy.

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  • August 16, 2022
SCOUT Wins Phase II AFWERX SBIR to Advance Space Domain Awareness
Real-time position and orientation analysis of a CubeSat using a SCOUT fly-by digital twin. (Credit: SCOUT Space)

FRL/RIE and Space Force Delta 2 will work with SCOUT to advance SDA metric observation tasking and catalog augmentation using space-based sensing

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 22, 2022 (SCOUT Space PR) — SCOUT Space Inc., a spaceflight hardware, software, and data provider developing solutions for improved safety and transparency in space today announced they have been granted a Phase II SBIR contract through AFWERX, the Technology Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the innovation arm of the Department Air Force. SCOUT will work with AFRL/RIE (Intelligence Systems Division) and the Space Operations Command (SpOC) Delta 2 to advance classical space domain awareness (SDA) metric observation tasking and catalog augmentation using space-based sensing.

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  • July 27, 2022
CAPSTONE Launches to Test New Orbit for NASA’s Artemis Moon Missions
An image of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, launching aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from the Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand Tuesday, June 28, 2022. (Image Credit: Rocket Lab)

WASHINGTON (NASA HQ PR) — NASA’s CubeSat designed to test a unique lunar orbit is safely in space and on the first leg of its journey to the Moon. The spacecraft is heading toward an orbit intended in the future for Gateway, a lunar space station built by the agency and its commercial and international partners that will support NASA’s Artemis program, including astronaut missions.

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  • June 28, 2022
The Small Businesses Behind CAPSTONE Are Paving Our Path to the Moon
CAPSTONE in orbit around the moon. (Credit: NASA)

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. (NASA PR) — The upcoming Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission will be the first spacecraft to fly a unique orbit around the Moon that will be used for Gateway, NASA’s future Moon-orbiting outpost. Gateway is an international collaboration working with commercial partners to establish a long-term human presence in deep space. Similarly, CAPSTONE – a mission owned and operated by Advanced Space, LLC in Westminster, Colorado – is made possible by collaborations with small businesses across the country, showing how NASA works with innovators in its future exploration endeavors.

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  • June 25, 2022
NASA Selects Small Business Award to Advance Microgravity Research & Manufacturing

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

NASA has selected four projects focused on advancing microgravity research and manufacturing in Earth orbit for funding under its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

The Phase I awards, which are worth up to $150,000 apiece, were for projects proposed by: DSTAR Communications of Woodland Hills, Calif.; Sachi Bioworks of Louisville, Colo.; GOEPPERT of Philadelphia, Pa.; and Nanoarmor of Los Angeles, Calif.

DSTAR Communications is developing space-enhanced crystals that could be commercially manufactured on ISS.

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  • June 19, 2022
Continuous Composites Selected by NASA for Additive Manufacturing of Low CTE Open Isogrid Composite Structure

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (Continuous Composites PR)Continuous Composites, a pioneer of advanced® composite 3D printing technology, has been chosen by NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program to additively manufacture low Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) open isogrid composite structures for space applications, using its patented Continuous Fiber 3D Printing technology, CF3D®.

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  • June 16, 2022
NASA Selects Masten Space & Spectral Energies for Funding to Develop Rotating Detonation Engine Technology
An RDE operates via a continuous detonation wave that propagates around the inside of a cylindrical combustor. (Credit: Aerojet Rocketdyne)

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

NASA has selected projects for funding by Masten Space Systems and Spectral Energies that are focused on developing technology for advanced rotating detonation rocket engines (RDE).

The space agency selected the companies for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I awards that are worth up to $150,000 apiece. Masten and Spectral Energies are both working on high-performance injector systems.

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  • June 15, 2022
NASA Funds R&D Projects to Improve Small Satellite Performance

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Small satellites are increasingly being used for missions in Earth orbit and deep space. Although they are easy to launch, their size limits their capabilities and usefulness to scientists. NASA has selected a pair of research and development (R&D) projects designed to address some of these limitations for continued funding under the space agency’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

The space agency selected Flight Works for a Phase II award to continue developing a high-performance, pump-fed transfer stage for Venture Class cislunar and deep space missions. The space agency also selected Nanohmics of Austin, Texas, for a SBIR Phase II award to continue working on adaptive optics for low-cost CubeSat optical systems. Each award is worth up to $750,000 over 24 months. Both companies received smaller SBIR Phase I awards.

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  • June 4, 2022