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":"This program proposes to design and evaluate novel technology of X-ray navigation for augmentation and increased capability of high data-rate spacecraft communications. NASA's current concept for an integrated radio and optical communications (iROC) system is being developed to provide communication technology that does not constrain the science yield of their deep space missions. iROC requirements include accurate navigation and pointing solutions so narrow optical beams are precisely transmitted directly to their Earth-based reception stations. X-ray source techniques and methods have been successfully demonstrated to determine independent position and attitude solutions for deep space vehicles. Therefore, ASTER Labs proposes to integrate the X-ray sensors directly into the iROC concept, such that the combined radio, optical, and X-ray system, referred to as iROX, can operate over a wide variety of applications and missions, increasing NASA's capability to explore the solar system. The top-level goals are to evaluate the integrated system and design a prototype detector system that augments the existing iROC concept, evaluate the performance of the integrated iROX system, and identify the feasibility and capability of such a system based upon the design architecture. The successful completion of the integrated navigation capabilities into the full iROX program will provide independent km-level position accuracies throughout the solar system and sub-arcsecond pointing capabilities, such that iROX data transfer will achieve high rates (Gbps-level) for NASA's unique deep space missions with improved capabilities over today's techniques.","benefits":"NASA applications for the full iROX system consist of communication of science data to Earth and between exploration vehicles, where high-data rate transmission is desired. This includes high-resolution observations, inter-satellite communications, interplanetary video, and science high-data rate transmissions. For future crewed missions, iROX transmissions will include high-data rate video transmission and health and status monitoring data. The X-ray navigation technology developed here to complement the full iROX communication system can be applied to all deep space missions, and can increase NASA's capability of creating autonomous spacecraft operations, thus reducing the workload on DSN infrastructure. The X-ray navigation components can be used for ranging or relative navigation between vehicles that maintain accurate formations and for automated vehicle rendezvous and docking. The eventual development of an X-ray transceiver initially used for enhanced relative navigation between vehicles can be evolved to include a fully operational X-ray photon-based communication system. The advancement of modulated X-ray photon transmitters and receivers, sensitive detectors, and processing algorithms provides added capability for future X-ray astronomy missions, as well as diffractometry and fluorescence analysis.