The NASA SBIR and STTR programs fund the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that fulfill NASA needs as described in the annual Solicitations and have significant potential for successful commercialization. If you are a small business concern (SBC) with 500 or fewer employees or a non-profit RI such as a university or a research laboratory with ties to an SBC, then NASA encourages you to learn more about the SBIR and STTR programs as a potential source of seed funding for the development of your innovations.
The SBIR and STTR programs have 3 phases:
The SBIR and STTR Phase I contracts last for 6 months with a maximum funding of $125,000, and Phase II contracts last for 24 months with a maximum funding of $750,000 - $1.5 million.
Opportunity for Continued Technology Development Post-Phase II:
The NASA SBIR/STTR Program currently has in place two initiatives for supporting its small business partners past the basic Phase I and Phase II elements of the program that emphasize opportunities for commercialization. Specifically, the NASA SBIR/STTR Program has the Phase II Enhancement (Phase II-E) and Phase II eXpanded (Phase II-X) contract options.
Please review the links below to obtain more information on the SBIR/STTR programs.
Provides an overview of the SBIR and STTR programs as implemented by NASA
Provides access to the annual SBIR/STTR Solicitations containing detailed information on the program eligibility requirements, proposal instructions and research topics and subtopics
Schedule and links for the SBIR/STTR solicitations and selection announcements
Federal and non-Federal sources of assistance for small business
Search our complete archive of awarded project abstracts to learn about what NASA has funded
Still have questions? Visit the program FAQs
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The SBIR and STTR programs have 3 phases:
The SBIR and STTR Phase I contracts last for 6 months with a maximum funding of $125,000, and Phase II contracts last for 24 months with a maximum funding of $750,000 - $1.5 million.
Opportunity for Continued Technology Development Post-Phase II:
The NASA SBIR/STTR Program currently has in place two initiatives for supporting its small business partners past the basic Phase I and Phase II elements of the program that emphasize opportunities for commercialization. Specifically, the NASA SBIR/STTR Program has the Phase II Enhancement (Phase II-E) and Phase II eXpanded (Phase II-X) contract options.
Please review the links below to obtain more information on the SBIR/STTR programs.
Provides an overview of the SBIR and STTR programs as implemented by NASA
Provides access to the annual SBIR/STTR Solicitations containing detailed information on the program eligibility requirements, proposal instructions and research topics and subtopics
Schedule and links for the SBIR/STTR solicitations and selection announcements
Federal and non-Federal sources of assistance for small business
Search our complete archive of awarded project abstracts to learn about what NASA has funded
Still have questions? Visit the program FAQs
","parentProgram":{"ableToSelect":false,"isActive":true,"description":"Catalyst is a portfolio of early stage programs that specialize in different innovation constituencies and mechanisms to push the state of the art in aerospace technology development","programId":92327,"responsibleMd":{"canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":""},"title":"Catalyst","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"Catalyst"},"parentProgramId":92327,"programId":73,"responsibleMd":{"organizationId":4875,"organizationName":"Space Technology Mission Directorate","acronym":"STMD","organizationType":"NASA_Mission_Directorate","canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":"NASA Mission Directorate"},"responsibleMdOffice":4875,"stockImageFileId":36648,"title":"Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"SBIR/STTR"},"description":"The Area-I team has developed and flight tested the unmanned Prototype-Technology Evaluation and Research Aircraft or PTERA (\"ptera\" being Greek for wing, or wing-like). The PTERA flew successfully during Phase I of this program, and stands to enhance the already capable NASA Aeronautics Test Program (ATP) by enabling the low-cost, low-risk, flight-based evaluation of everything from advanced aerodynamic treatments to control systems and sensor payloads. The PTERA will bridge the gap between wind tunnel testing and manned flight testing to greatly reduce technology development time, cost, and risk. This work seeks to further mature the PTERA system through rigorous flight testing and will begin the integration of the PTERA into the NASA ATP through the delivery of a new PTERA baseline system to NASA. Several core capabilities that the PTERA would bring to the ATP include: 1) A low-cost, low-risk flight test facility that can be used to expand ATP's role in the testing and validation of NASA's physics-based multi-disciplinary analysis and optimization (MDAO) tools 2) The ability to flight test advanced aerodynamic treatments, health management and control systems, and to perform experiments in structures and aeroelasticity for a fraction of the cost of a manned flight test program. 3) The ability to flight test cutting-edge and complex systems whose cost and risk are too high for manned flights. 4) A testbed with modular airframe that enables the evaluation of multiple technologies with the same airframe. 5) A testbed with a large payload capacity that facilitates the inexpensive and risk-mitigating flight test evaluation of a wide array of sensors and payloads as well as the evaluation of flight-test measurement systems before they transition to manned programs. 6) The ability to perform unmanned, autonomous, flight experiments relating to the burgeoning field of autonomous unmanned aircraft, including experiments supporting UAS integration into the NAS.","benefits":"A technology gap exists between well-controlled wind tunnel tests and full scale flight testing where most of the systems integration issues surface. Allocating these system integration activities to a full scale flight test is replete with safety, schedule and performance risks that dominate flight test costs. The PTERA platform serves as the bridge to integrate and flight test advanced aerodynamic treatments, health management, and control systems, and to perform experiments in structures and aero elasticity for a fraction of the cost of a manned flight test program. The PTERA flight test facility offers several distinct advantages to NASA and non-NASA customers. The PTERA configuration is representative of most commercial/transport aircraft and will provide relevant test data for these aircraft. PTERA's reconfigurability also allows cost effective testing of more unconventional designs that would otherwise be too dangerous or costly to test. Finally, PTERA's payload capacity and custom avionics allow it to host a multitude of subsystems for flight tests and in-flight tuning. PTERA's capabilities make it a perfect platform to support SFW, ERA, UAS in NAS, and the AvSP programs and has already begun to generate substantial interest from industry partners, who recognize PTERA's significant potential to reduce development time, cost, and risk of new systems including NextGen technologies.The NASA SBIR and STTR programs fund the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that fulfill NASA needs as described in the annual Solicitations and have significant potential for successful commercialization. If you are a small business concern (SBC) with 500 or fewer employees or a non-profit RI such as a university or a research laboratory with ties to an SBC, then NASA encourages you to learn more about the SBIR and STTR programs as a potential source of seed funding for the development of your innovations.
The SBIR and STTR programs have 3 phases:
The SBIR and STTR Phase I contracts last for 6 months with a maximum funding of $125,000, and Phase II contracts last for 24 months with a maximum funding of $750,000 - $1.5 million.
Opportunity for Continued Technology Development Post-Phase II:
The NASA SBIR/STTR Program currently has in place two initiatives for supporting its small business partners past the basic Phase I and Phase II elements of the program that emphasize opportunities for commercialization. Specifically, the NASA SBIR/STTR Program has the Phase II Enhancement (Phase II-E) and Phase II eXpanded (Phase II-X) contract options.
Please review the links below to obtain more information on the SBIR/STTR programs.
Provides an overview of the SBIR and STTR programs as implemented by NASA
Provides access to the annual SBIR/STTR Solicitations containing detailed information on the program eligibility requirements, proposal instructions and research topics and subtopics
Schedule and links for the SBIR/STTR solicitations and selection announcements
Federal and non-Federal sources of assistance for small business
Search our complete archive of awarded project abstracts to learn about what NASA has funded
Still have questions? Visit the program FAQs
","parentProgram":{"ableToSelect":false,"isActive":true,"description":"Catalyst is a portfolio of early stage programs that specialize in different innovation constituencies and mechanisms to push the state of the art in aerospace technology development","programId":92327,"responsibleMd":{"canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":""},"title":"Catalyst","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"Catalyst"},"parentProgramId":92327,"programId":73,"responsibleMd":{"organizationId":4875,"organizationName":"Space Technology Mission Directorate","acronym":"STMD","organizationType":"NASA_Mission_Directorate","canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":"NASA Mission Directorate"},"responsibleMdOffice":4875,"stockImageFileId":36648,"title":"Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"SBIR/STTR"},"description":"The Area-I team has developed and fabricated the unmanned Prototype-Technology Evaluation and Research Aircraft or PTERA (\"ptera\" being Greek for wing, or wing-like). The PTERA is an extremely versatile and high-quality, yet inexpensive flight research testbed that serves as a bridge between wind tunnel and manned flight testing by enabling the low-cost, low-risk flight-based evaluation of a wide array of high-risk technologies. For this work, the team proposes a flight test evaluation of the PTERA platform to assess its effectiveness as a research test bed aircraft within NASA's Aeronautical Test Program (ATP). The PTERA stands to enhance the already capable ATP by enabling the low-cost, low-risk flight-based evaluation of everything from advanced aerodynamic treatments to sensor payloads. Several core capabilities that the PTERA would bring to the ATP: 1) A low-cost, low-risk flight test facility that can be used to expand ATP's role in the testing and validation of NASA's physics-based multi-disciplinary analysis and optimization (MDAO) tools 2) The ability to flight test advanced aerodynamic treatments, health management and control systems, and to perform experiments in structures and aeroelasticity for a fraction of the cost of a manned flight test program 3) The ability to flight test cutting-edge and complex systems whose cost and risk are too high for manned flights 4) A testbed with modular airframe, enabling the evaluation of multiple technologies with the same airframe 5) A testbed with a large payload capacity that facilitates the inexpensive and risk-mitigating flight test evaluation of a wide array of sensors and payloads as well as the evaluation of flight-test measurement systems before they transition to manned programs 6) The ability to perform unmanned, autonomous, flight experiments relating to the burgeoning field of autonomous unmanned aircraft, including experiments supporting UAS integration in to the NAS, sense and avoid, etc.","benefits":"The PTERA will enable NASA to more effectively develop and evaluate the performance of innovative solutions and advanced technologies that improve current and future air transportation by extending the NASA research portfolio to include a low-cost, low-risk flight experiment testbed. Virtually every program within the NASA ARMD can directly or indirectly benefit from the PTERA as it provides the following: -A low-cost, low-risk high quality flight test facility. -A platform that enables testing and evaluations of new technologies that, due to cost and risk, would typically be reserved for wind tunnel tests only. -A platform to investigate the flight performance of technologies such as laminar flow enablers, aeroelastic tailoring, morphing control surfaces/wings, and active flow control. Additionally, the baseline PTERA tooling could be used to enable the fabrication of more exotic designs such a box/joined-wing configuration. -A testbed with which to perform experiments regarding sense and avoid, UAS-manned aircraft interactions, etc. -A platform to perform loss-of-control flight research and to evaluate health management and atmospheric hazard sensing systems under actual flight conditions.The NASA SBIR and STTR programs fund the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that fulfill NASA needs as described in the annual Solicitations and have significant potential for successful commercialization. If you are a small business concern (SBC) with 500 or fewer employees or a non-profit RI such as a university or a research laboratory with ties to an SBC, then NASA encourages you to learn more about the SBIR and STTR programs as a potential source of seed funding for the development of your innovations.
The SBIR and STTR programs have 3 phases:
The SBIR and STTR Phase I contracts last for 6 months with a maximum funding of $125,000, and Phase II contracts last for 24 months with a maximum funding of $750,000 - $1.5 million.
Opportunity for Continued Technology Development Post-Phase II:
The NASA SBIR/STTR Program currently has in place two initiatives for supporting its small business partners past the basic Phase I and Phase II elements of the program that emphasize opportunities for commercialization. Specifically, the NASA SBIR/STTR Program has the Phase II Enhancement (Phase II-E) and Phase II eXpanded (Phase II-X) contract options.
Please review the links below to obtain more information on the SBIR/STTR programs.
Provides an overview of the SBIR and STTR programs as implemented by NASA
Provides access to the annual SBIR/STTR Solicitations containing detailed information on the program eligibility requirements, proposal instructions and research topics and subtopics
Schedule and links for the SBIR/STTR solicitations and selection announcements
Federal and non-Federal sources of assistance for small business
Search our complete archive of awarded project abstracts to learn about what NASA has funded
Still have questions? Visit the program FAQs
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","infoText":"Transitioned To Other NASA Program or Directorate","infoTextExtra":"Other NASA Program or Directorate (Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate)","isIndirect":false,"infusionPretty":"","isBiDirectional":false,"technologyOutcomeDateString":"Jan 2016","technologyOutcomeDateFullString":"January 2016","technologyOutcomePartnerPretty":"Other NASA Program or Directorate","technologyOutcomePathPretty":"Transitioned To","technologyOutcomeRationalePretty":""},{"technologyOutcomeId":92761,"projectId":12847,"project":{"projectId":12847,"title":"Prototype-Technology Evaluator and Research Aircraft","startDate":"2013-01-02","startYear":2013,"startMonth":1,"endDate":"2016-01-01","endYear":2016,"endMonth":1,"programId":73,"program":{"ableToSelect":false,"acronym":"SBIR/STTR","isActive":true,"description":"The NASA SBIR and STTR programs fund the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that fulfill NASA needs as described in the annual Solicitations and have significant potential for successful commercialization. If you are a small business concern (SBC) with 500 or fewer employees or a non-profit RI such as a university or a research laboratory with ties to an SBC, then NASA encourages you to learn more about the SBIR and STTR programs as a potential source of seed funding for the development of your innovations.
The SBIR and STTR programs have 3 phases:
The SBIR and STTR Phase I contracts last for 6 months with a maximum funding of $125,000, and Phase II contracts last for 24 months with a maximum funding of $750,000 - $1.5 million.
Opportunity for Continued Technology Development Post-Phase II:
The NASA SBIR/STTR Program currently has in place two initiatives for supporting its small business partners past the basic Phase I and Phase II elements of the program that emphasize opportunities for commercialization. Specifically, the NASA SBIR/STTR Program has the Phase II Enhancement (Phase II-E) and Phase II eXpanded (Phase II-X) contract options.
Please review the links below to obtain more information on the SBIR/STTR programs.
Provides an overview of the SBIR and STTR programs as implemented by NASA
Provides access to the annual SBIR/STTR Solicitations containing detailed information on the program eligibility requirements, proposal instructions and research topics and subtopics
Schedule and links for the SBIR/STTR solicitations and selection announcements
Federal and non-Federal sources of assistance for small business
Search our complete archive of awarded project abstracts to learn about what NASA has funded
Still have questions? Visit the program FAQs
","parentProgram":{"ableToSelect":false,"isActive":true,"description":"Catalyst is a portfolio of early stage programs that specialize in different innovation constituencies and mechanisms to push the state of the art in aerospace technology development","programId":92327,"responsibleMd":{"canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":""},"title":"Catalyst","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"Catalyst"},"parentProgramId":92327,"programId":73,"responsibleMd":{"organizationId":4875,"organizationName":"Space Technology Mission Directorate","acronym":"STMD","organizationType":"NASA_Mission_Directorate","canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":"NASA Mission Directorate"},"responsibleMdOffice":4875,"stockImageFileId":36648,"title":"Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"SBIR/STTR"},"description":"The Area-I team has developed and flight tested the unmanned Prototype-Technology Evaluation and Research Aircraft or PTERA (\"ptera\" being Greek for wing, or wing-like). The PTERA flew successfully during Phase I of this program, and stands to enhance the already capable NASA Aeronautics Test Program (ATP) by enabling the low-cost, low-risk, flight-based evaluation of everything from advanced aerodynamic treatments to control systems and sensor payloads. The PTERA will bridge the gap between wind tunnel testing and manned flight testing to greatly reduce technology development time, cost, and risk. This work seeks to further mature the PTERA system through rigorous flight testing and will begin the integration of the PTERA into the NASA ATP through the delivery of a new PTERA baseline system to NASA. Several core capabilities that the PTERA would bring to the ATP include: 1) A low-cost, low-risk flight test facility that can be used to expand ATP's role in the testing and validation of NASA's physics-based multi-disciplinary analysis and optimization (MDAO) tools 2) The ability to flight test advanced aerodynamic treatments, health management and control systems, and to perform experiments in structures and aeroelasticity for a fraction of the cost of a manned flight test program. 3) The ability to flight test cutting-edge and complex systems whose cost and risk are too high for manned flights. 4) A testbed with modular airframe that enables the evaluation of multiple technologies with the same airframe. 5) A testbed with a large payload capacity that facilitates the inexpensive and risk-mitigating flight test evaluation of a wide array of sensors and payloads as well as the evaluation of flight-test measurement systems before they transition to manned programs. 6) The ability to perform unmanned, autonomous, flight experiments relating to the burgeoning field of autonomous unmanned aircraft, including experiments supporting UAS integration into the NAS.","benefits":"A technology gap exists between well-controlled wind tunnel tests and full scale flight testing where most of the systems integration issues surface. Allocating these system integration activities to a full scale flight test is replete with safety, schedule and performance risks that dominate flight test costs. The PTERA platform serves as the bridge to integrate and flight test advanced aerodynamic treatments, health management, and control systems, and to perform experiments in structures and aero elasticity for a fraction of the cost of a manned flight test program. The PTERA flight test facility offers several distinct advantages to NASA and non-NASA customers. The PTERA configuration is representative of most commercial/transport aircraft and will provide relevant test data for these aircraft. PTERA's reconfigurability also allows cost effective testing of more unconventional designs that would otherwise be too dangerous or costly to test. Finally, PTERA's payload capacity and custom avionics allow it to host a multitude of subsystems for flight tests and in-flight tuning. PTERA's capabilities make it a perfect platform to support SFW, ERA, UAS in NAS, and the AvSP programs and has already begun to generate substantial interest from industry partners, who recognize PTERA's significant potential to reduce development time, cost, and risk of new systems including NextGen technologies.The NASA SBIR and STTR programs fund the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that fulfill NASA needs as described in the annual Solicitations and have significant potential for successful commercialization. If you are a small business concern (SBC) with 500 or fewer employees or a non-profit RI such as a university or a research laboratory with ties to an SBC, then NASA encourages you to learn more about the SBIR and STTR programs as a potential source of seed funding for the development of your innovations.
The SBIR and STTR programs have 3 phases:
The SBIR and STTR Phase I contracts last for 6 months with a maximum funding of $125,000, and Phase II contracts last for 24 months with a maximum funding of $750,000 - $1.5 million.
Opportunity for Continued Technology Development Post-Phase II:
The NASA SBIR/STTR Program currently has in place two initiatives for supporting its small business partners past the basic Phase I and Phase II elements of the program that emphasize opportunities for commercialization. Specifically, the NASA SBIR/STTR Program has the Phase II Enhancement (Phase II-E) and Phase II eXpanded (Phase II-X) contract options.
Please review the links below to obtain more information on the SBIR/STTR programs.
Provides an overview of the SBIR and STTR programs as implemented by NASA
Provides access to the annual SBIR/STTR Solicitations containing detailed information on the program eligibility requirements, proposal instructions and research topics and subtopics
Schedule and links for the SBIR/STTR solicitations and selection announcements
Federal and non-Federal sources of assistance for small business
Search our complete archive of awarded project abstracts to learn about what NASA has funded
Still have questions? Visit the program FAQs
","parentProgram":{"ableToSelect":false,"isActive":true,"description":"Catalyst is a portfolio of early stage programs that specialize in different innovation constituencies and mechanisms to push the state of the art in aerospace technology development","programId":92327,"responsibleMd":{"canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":""},"title":"Catalyst","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"Catalyst"},"parentProgramId":92327,"programId":73,"responsibleMd":{"organizationId":4875,"organizationName":"Space Technology Mission Directorate","acronym":"STMD","organizationType":"NASA_Mission_Directorate","canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":"NASA Mission Directorate"},"responsibleMdOffice":4875,"stockImageFileId":36648,"title":"Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"SBIR/STTR"},"description":"The Area-I team has developed and flight tested the unmanned Prototype-Technology Evaluation and Research Aircraft or PTERA (\"ptera\" being Greek for wing, or wing-like). The PTERA flew successfully during Phase I of this program, and stands to enhance the already capable NASA Aeronautics Test Program (ATP) by enabling the low-cost, low-risk, flight-based evaluation of everything from advanced aerodynamic treatments to control systems and sensor payloads. The PTERA will bridge the gap between wind tunnel testing and manned flight testing to greatly reduce technology development time, cost, and risk. This work seeks to further mature the PTERA system through rigorous flight testing and will begin the integration of the PTERA into the NASA ATP through the delivery of a new PTERA baseline system to NASA. Several core capabilities that the PTERA would bring to the ATP include: 1) A low-cost, low-risk flight test facility that can be used to expand ATP's role in the testing and validation of NASA's physics-based multi-disciplinary analysis and optimization (MDAO) tools 2) The ability to flight test advanced aerodynamic treatments, health management and control systems, and to perform experiments in structures and aeroelasticity for a fraction of the cost of a manned flight test program. 3) The ability to flight test cutting-edge and complex systems whose cost and risk are too high for manned flights. 4) A testbed with modular airframe that enables the evaluation of multiple technologies with the same airframe. 5) A testbed with a large payload capacity that facilitates the inexpensive and risk-mitigating flight test evaluation of a wide array of sensors and payloads as well as the evaluation of flight-test measurement systems before they transition to manned programs. 6) The ability to perform unmanned, autonomous, flight experiments relating to the burgeoning field of autonomous unmanned aircraft, including experiments supporting UAS integration into the NAS.","benefits":"A technology gap exists between well-controlled wind tunnel tests and full scale flight testing where most of the systems integration issues surface. Allocating these system integration activities to a full scale flight test is replete with safety, schedule and performance risks that dominate flight test costs. The PTERA platform serves as the bridge to integrate and flight test advanced aerodynamic treatments, health management, and control systems, and to perform experiments in structures and aero elasticity for a fraction of the cost of a manned flight test program. The PTERA flight test facility offers several distinct advantages to NASA and non-NASA customers. The PTERA configuration is representative of most commercial/transport aircraft and will provide relevant test data for these aircraft. PTERA's reconfigurability also allows cost effective testing of more unconventional designs that would otherwise be too dangerous or costly to test. Finally, PTERA's payload capacity and custom avionics allow it to host a multitude of subsystems for flight tests and in-flight tuning. PTERA's capabilities make it a perfect platform to support SFW, ERA, UAS in NAS, and the AvSP programs and has already begun to generate substantial interest from industry partners, who recognize PTERA's significant potential to reduce development time, cost, and risk of new systems including NextGen technologies.The NASA SBIR and STTR programs fund the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that fulfill NASA needs as described in the annual Solicitations and have significant potential for successful commercialization. If you are a small business concern (SBC) with 500 or fewer employees or a non-profit RI such as a university or a research laboratory with ties to an SBC, then NASA encourages you to learn more about the SBIR and STTR programs as a potential source of seed funding for the development of your innovations.
The SBIR and STTR programs have 3 phases:
The SBIR and STTR Phase I contracts last for 6 months with a maximum funding of $125,000, and Phase II contracts last for 24 months with a maximum funding of $750,000 - $1.5 million.
Opportunity for Continued Technology Development Post-Phase II:
The NASA SBIR/STTR Program currently has in place two initiatives for supporting its small business partners past the basic Phase I and Phase II elements of the program that emphasize opportunities for commercialization. Specifically, the NASA SBIR/STTR Program has the Phase II Enhancement (Phase II-E) and Phase II eXpanded (Phase II-X) contract options.
Please review the links below to obtain more information on the SBIR/STTR programs.
Provides an overview of the SBIR and STTR programs as implemented by NASA
Provides access to the annual SBIR/STTR Solicitations containing detailed information on the program eligibility requirements, proposal instructions and research topics and subtopics
Schedule and links for the SBIR/STTR solicitations and selection announcements
Federal and non-Federal sources of assistance for small business
Search our complete archive of awarded project abstracts to learn about what NASA has funded
Still have questions? Visit the program FAQs
","parentProgram":{"ableToSelect":false,"isActive":true,"description":"Catalyst is a portfolio of early stage programs that specialize in different innovation constituencies and mechanisms to push the state of the art in aerospace technology development","programId":92327,"responsibleMd":{"canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":""},"title":"Catalyst","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"Catalyst"},"parentProgramId":92327,"programId":73,"responsibleMd":{"organizationId":4875,"organizationName":"Space Technology Mission Directorate","acronym":"STMD","organizationType":"NASA_Mission_Directorate","canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"","organizationTypePretty":"NASA Mission Directorate"},"responsibleMdOffice":4875,"stockImageFileId":36648,"title":"Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer","manageGaps":false,"acronymOrTitle":"SBIR/STTR"},"description":"The Area-I team has developed and fabricated the unmanned Prototype-Technology Evaluation and Research Aircraft or PTERA (\"ptera\" being Greek for wing, or wing-like). The PTERA is an extremely versatile and high-quality, yet inexpensive flight research testbed that serves as a bridge between wind tunnel and manned flight testing by enabling the low-cost, low-risk flight-based evaluation of a wide array of high-risk technologies. For this work, the team proposes a flight test evaluation of the PTERA platform to assess its effectiveness as a research test bed aircraft within NASA's Aeronautical Test Program (ATP). The PTERA stands to enhance the already capable ATP by enabling the low-cost, low-risk flight-based evaluation of everything from advanced aerodynamic treatments to sensor payloads. Several core capabilities that the PTERA would bring to the ATP: 1) A low-cost, low-risk flight test facility that can be used to expand ATP's role in the testing and validation of NASA's physics-based multi-disciplinary analysis and optimization (MDAO) tools 2) The ability to flight test advanced aerodynamic treatments, health management and control systems, and to perform experiments in structures and aeroelasticity for a fraction of the cost of a manned flight test program 3) The ability to flight test cutting-edge and complex systems whose cost and risk are too high for manned flights 4) A testbed with modular airframe, enabling the evaluation of multiple technologies with the same airframe 5) A testbed with a large payload capacity that facilitates the inexpensive and risk-mitigating flight test evaluation of a wide array of sensors and payloads as well as the evaluation of flight-test measurement systems before they transition to manned programs 6) The ability to perform unmanned, autonomous, flight experiments relating to the burgeoning field of autonomous unmanned aircraft, including experiments supporting UAS integration in to the NAS, sense and avoid, etc.","benefits":"The PTERA will enable NASA to more effectively develop and evaluate the performance of innovative solutions and advanced technologies that improve current and future air transportation by extending the NASA research portfolio to include a low-cost, low-risk flight experiment testbed. Virtually every program within the NASA ARMD can directly or indirectly benefit from the PTERA as it provides the following: -A low-cost, low-risk high quality flight test facility. -A platform that enables testing and evaluations of new technologies that, due to cost and risk, would typically be reserved for wind tunnel tests only. -A platform to investigate the flight performance of technologies such as laminar flow enablers, aeroelastic tailoring, morphing control surfaces/wings, and active flow control. Additionally, the baseline PTERA tooling could be used to enable the fabrication of more exotic designs such a box/joined-wing configuration. -A testbed with which to perform experiments regarding sense and avoid, UAS-manned aircraft interactions, etc. -A platform to perform loss-of-control flight research and to evaluate health management and atmospheric hazard sensing systems under actual flight conditions.