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":"It is increasingly recognized that the Arctic is a bellwether for climate change. As the Arctic region responds to climate forcings, monitoring how aerosol distributions respond and modify their impact on radiative transfer will become increasingly important in refining climate models and predictions. NASA, along with other agencies, has launched several programs such as ARCTAS to increase observations of the region and incorporate findings into large scale climate models. In order to supplement satellite observations and given the difficulty of ground-based observations in the Arctic, instrumented Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) represent one means to efficiently monitor large areas. Measurement of the vertical profile of atmospheric aerosol optical properties can provide new data crucial to understanding climate change in the Arctic. New instrumentation is required to enable routine, widespread measurements with good precision from unmanned aircraft. These new observations will have important implications for global climate change modeling and, ultimately, international energy policy making. In the Phase I program, we will develop a complete conceptual design for a flight-worthy, compact, eye safe lidar that will enable vertical profiling of aerosol optical extinction and scattering and that will be deployable on a compact unmanned aircraft system like the SIERRA or ScanEagle. In the Phase II program, we will fabricate, test, and field demonstrate a prototype sensor.","benefits":"The proposed airborne lidar will enable measurements of aerosol optical extinction on a wider scale and at higher frequencies than are possible now. This is especially important in monitoring climate change in the Arctic. The larger database from more frequent studies will directly benefit the goals of NASA's climate change research efforts. One future NASA program that might benefit from the proposed airborne lidar is the GEOstationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) mission. Although a satellite-based program, the program might benefit from airborne corroborative observations of aerosol optical depth and aerosol absorption optical depth, much as was done for the Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) program by manned aircraft. The basic sensor platform will be adaptable to applications requiring measurement of aerosols where sensor robustness and size are critical to performance, such as monitoring networks for boundary layer meteorology, as well as hazardous volcanic ash clouds.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":"It is increasingly recognized that the Arctic is a bellwether for climate change. As the Arctic region responds to climate forcings, monitoring how aerosol distributions respond and modify their impact on radiative transfer will become increasingly important in refining climate models and predictions. NASA, along with other agencies, has launched several programs such as ARCTAS to increase observations of the region and incorporate findings into large scale climate models. In order to supplement satellite observations and given the difficulty of ground-based observations in the Arctic, instrumented Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) represent one means to efficiently monitor large areas. Measurement of the vertical profile of atmospheric aerosol optical properties can provide new data crucial to understanding climate change in the Arctic. New instrumentation is required to enable routine, widespread measurements with good precision from unmanned aircraft. These new observations will have important implications for global climate change modeling and, ultimately, international energy policy making. In the Phase I program, we will develop a complete conceptual design for a flight-worthy, compact, eye safe lidar that will enable vertical profiling of aerosol optical extinction and scattering and that will be deployable on a compact unmanned aircraft system like the SIERRA or ScanEagle. In the Phase II program, we will fabricate, test, and field demonstrate a prototype sensor.","benefits":"The proposed airborne lidar will enable measurements of aerosol optical extinction on a wider scale and at higher frequencies than are possible now. This is especially important in monitoring climate change in the Arctic. The larger database from more frequent studies will directly benefit the goals of NASA's climate change research efforts. One future NASA program that might benefit from the proposed airborne lidar is the GEOstationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) mission. Although a satellite-based program, the program might benefit from airborne corroborative observations of aerosol optical depth and aerosol absorption optical depth, much as was done for the Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) program by manned aircraft. The basic sensor platform will be adaptable to applications requiring measurement of aerosols where sensor robustness and size are critical to performance, such as monitoring networks for boundary layer meteorology, as well as hazardous volcanic ash clouds.