NASA Invests $105 Million for Small Business Technology Development in US

NASA has a long tradition of assisting America's entrepreneurs in bringing technology from concept to commercialization. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) initiative of the agency is building on its tradition by awarding 140 new Phase II grants to 127 U.S. small companies to help them get their innovations to market.

The grants equal $105 million and are distributed to small businesses in 34 states and Washington, D.C. NASA's small business initiative is committed to identifying the most useful technologies for the agency and the commercial marketplace, and to sourcing, those innovations from a diverse group of entrepreneurs of varying viewpoints and experiences.33 women-owned, minority-owned, and veteran-owned small businesses have been selected for Phase II grants.

In 2020, the awardees will all be given initial SBIR Phase I contracts to highlight the merits of their inventions and how they will help NASA with human exploration, space technologies, science, and aeronautics. They will also receive up to $750,000 in Phase II awards to help them develop their technologies toward commercialization. The businesses will spend up to two years developing, demonstrating, and completing the projects they have proposed.

InnoSys Inc., a woman-owned small business in Salt Lake City, Utah, created a prototype for a camera that can work in intense heat – perhaps even on Venus, where the surface temperature can exceed 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Its breakthrough replaces glass envelopes in traditional imaging tubes with other materials that can survive extreme conditions, such as quartz or sapphire. Aside from space missions, the company plans to develop cameras for inspecting nuclear reactor cores and imaging fires or high-temperature furnaces up close.

NASA aims to assist small businesses like InnoSys in their commercialization efforts. If small businesses' Phase II work is successful, the program will provide extra support to assist them in finding clients outside of the agency.

Micro Cooling Concepts, based in California, has been working with NASA's SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs on various thermal management innovations since 2004. NASA awarded the company a Phase II contract this year to develop a lightweight, compact heat exchanger with possible applications in electrified aircraft propulsion. Micro Cooling Concepts will advance its clean energy technology to theoretically benefit new aircraft configurations for NASA, the military, and the commercial sector, based on the progress and lessons learned during Phase I.

Tietronix Software Inc., a Houston-based minority-owned small business, was chosen to develop a virtual medical "expert" that combines artificial intelligence and augmented reality. Tietronix Software recognized the need to seamlessly combine medical resources, knowledge, training, procedural guidance, and diagnostic assistance while working on its concept during Phase I. The system could provide astronauts medical autonomy during long missions, as well as support the military or other entities in areas where medical professionals are limited.