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":"Aerodynamic control surfaces with excessive free-play can cause limit cycle oscillations (LCO), a sustained vibration of constant amplitude that is caused by a combination of aeroservoelastic effects and free-play. The LCO can impact handling qualities, ride quality and can cause structural fatigue, ultimately leading to structural failure. Due to the negative impacts of free-play induced LCO, very stringent absolute free-play limits have been established for control surfaces on both military and commercial aircraft. Systems Technology, Inc. (STI) and Boeing propose to develop an innovative, robust, and reliable active control concept that alleviates the adverse effects of control surface free-play, relieving costly requirements associated with manufacturing, inspection, and part replacement. The solution involves a novel linear fractional transformation framework for relevance to models of varying complexity and a robust control approach that exploits the piecewise-linear nature of the free-play nonlinearity. To aid in control design and to provide practical real-world relevance, a combined analytical and experimental approach is proposed by the STI-Boeing team. The proposed solution is minimally intrusive, providing for application to a wide array of existing and future aircraft (including both high speed fighters and transport aircraft), ultimately resulting in significant cost savings and increased pilot safety.","benefits":"NASA is a research leader in aeroservoelasticity, including recent advances in innovative experimental excitation mechanisms for more accurate vibration data, signal processing, nonlinear system identification, and robust flutter boundary prediction. The proposed work naturally follows and complements these topic areas. The resulting LCO suppression control solution will benefit the many NASA programs that involve the design, analysis, and test of air vehicles. This includes flight test programs that use aircraft ranging from high speed fighters to low speed transports, encompassing both manned and unmanned platforms. NASA does not develop aircraft; therefore this solution is attractive due to the fact that it is minimally intrusive by design and can be applied to the existing aircraft systems in NASA's fleet. A control solution for free-play induced LCO will result in a reduction in certification requirements, providing for more concentration on the primary objectives of the flight test programs.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":"Aerodynamic control surfaces with excessive free-play can cause limit cycle oscillations (LCO), a sustained vibration of constant amplitude that is caused by a combination of aeroservoelastic effects and free-play. The LCO can impact handling qualities, ride quality and can cause structural fatigue, ultimately leading to structural failure. Due to the negative impacts of free-play induced LCO, very stringent absolute free-play limits have been established for control surfaces on both military and commercial aircraft. Systems Technology, Inc. (STI) and Boeing propose to develop an innovative, robust, and reliable active control concept that alleviates the adverse effects of control surface free-play, relieving costly requirements associated with manufacturing, inspection, and part replacement. The solution involves a novel linear fractional transformation framework for relevance to models of varying complexity and a robust control approach that exploits the piecewise-linear nature of the free-play nonlinearity. To aid in control design and to provide practical real-world relevance, a combined analytical and experimental approach is proposed by the STI-Boeing team. The proposed solution is minimally intrusive, providing for application to a wide array of existing and future aircraft (including both high speed fighters and transport aircraft), ultimately resulting in significant cost savings and increased pilot safety.","benefits":"NASA is a research leader in aeroservoelasticity, including recent advances in innovative experimental excitation mechanisms for more accurate vibration data, signal processing, nonlinear system identification, and robust flutter boundary prediction. The proposed work naturally follows and complements these topic areas. The resulting LCO suppression control solution will benefit the many NASA programs that involve the design, analysis, and test of air vehicles. This includes flight test programs that use aircraft ranging from high speed fighters to low speed transports, encompassing both manned and unmanned platforms. NASA does not develop aircraft; therefore this solution is attractive due to the fact that it is minimally intrusive by design and can be applied to the existing aircraft systems in NASA's fleet. A control solution for free-play induced LCO will result in a reduction in certification requirements, providing for more concentration on the primary objectives of the flight test programs.