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":"Loop Heat Pipe (LHP) is a high performance heat transport device using capillary forces to circulate the working fluid in a closed loop. Conventional LHPs usually have one capillary pump (evaporator) to acquire waste heat from a heat source. Recent efforts have focused the development of LHPs that contain two or more evaporators. Even though two-evaporator LHPs performed very well, the volume of each compensation chamber (CC) became much larger than that of the single-evaporator counterpart. The reason was that all but one CC would be liquid-filled during normal operation. The one that was not liquid-filled had to be large enough to accommodate the system liquid expansion at maximum temperature. As a result, LHPs with more than 3 evaporators were not feasible for practical applications simply because the CCs became prohibitively large. In the current research, the CCs of a multiple-evaporator LHP were capillarily-linked. In other words, the CCs always contained a mixture of liquid and vapor (two-phase), allowing the loop to operate with a much smaller fluid charge. Consequently the required CC volume was also reduced.","releaseStatus":"Released","status":"Completed","viewCount":742,"destinationType":[],"lastUpdated":"01/27/25","favorited":false,"detailedFunding":false,"projectContacts":[],"programContacts":[{"contactId":206378,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Jason","lastName":"Kessler","fullName":"Jason L Kessler","fullNameInverted":"Kessler, Jason L","middleInitial":"L","email":"jason.l.kessler@nasa.gov","receiveEmail":"Subscribed_User","programContactRole":"Program_Director","programContactId":143,"programId":73,"programContactRolePretty":"Program Director","projectContactRolePretty":""},{"contactId":62051,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Carlos","lastName":"Torrez","fullName":"Carlos Torrez","fullNameInverted":"Torrez, Carlos","email":"carlos.torrez@nasa.gov","receiveEmail":"Subscribed_User","programContactRole":"Program_Manager","programContactId":194,"programId":73,"programContactRolePretty":"Program Manager","projectContactRolePretty":""}],"leadOrganization":{"organizationId":4947,"organizationName":"Goddard Space Flight Center","acronym":"GSFC","organizationType":"NASA_Center","city":"Greenbelt","stateTerritoryId":3,"stateTerritory":{"abbreviation":"MD","country":{"abbreviation":"US","countryId":236,"name":"United States"},"countryId":236,"name":"Maryland","stateTerritoryId":3,"isTerritory":false},"country":{"abbreviation":"US","countryId":236,"name":"United States"},"countryId":236,"zipCode":"20771","projectId":6520,"projectOrganizationId":12462,"organizationRole":"Lead_Organization","canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"Lead Organization","organizationTypePretty":"NASA Center"},"otherOrganizations":[{"organizationId":4947,"organizationName":"Goddard Space Flight Center","acronym":"GSFC","organizationType":"NASA_Center","city":"Greenbelt","stateTerritoryId":3,"stateTerritory":{"abbreviation":"MD","country":{"abbreviation":"US","countryId":236,"name":"United States"},"countryId":236,"name":"Maryland","stateTerritoryId":3,"isTerritory":false},"country":{"abbreviation":"US","countryId":236,"name":"United States"},"countryId":236,"zipCode":"20771","projectId":6520,"projectOrganizationId":12462,"organizationRole":"Lead_Organization","canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"Lead Organization","organizationTypePretty":"NASA Center"},{"organizationId":3593,"organizationName":"TTH Research, Inc.","organizationType":"Industry","city":"Laurel","stateTerritoryId":7,"stateTerritory":{"abbreviation":"VA","country":{"abbreviation":"US","countryId":236,"name":"United States"},"countryId":236,"name":"Virginia","stateTerritoryId":7,"isTerritory":false},"country":{"abbreviation":"US","countryId":236,"name":"United States"},"countryId":236,"zipCode":"20707-3827","dunsNumber":"048983733","uei":"KB3BFJ94EQA3","cageCode":"1MMQ7","congressionalDistrict":"Virginia 10","msiCategories":[],"msiData":{},"setAsideData":["Minority-Owned Business"],"projectId":6520,"projectOrganizationId":20466,"organizationRole":"Supporting_Organization","canUserEdit":false,"locationEdit":false,"organizationRolePretty":"Supporting Organization","organizationTypePretty":"Industry"}],"primaryTx":{"taxonomyNodeId":11426,"taxonomyRootId":8817,"parentNodeId":11424,"code":"TX14.2.2","title":"Heat Transport","description":"Heat transport enables waste energy to be moved from an element component and/or system for either rejection to the environment or reuse elsewhere in the vehicle. This area includes technologies for thermal management of both spacecraft and electrified aircraft propulsion. The transport of energy is accomplished using active and/or passive capabilities in a thermal control system. Technologies include not only items that can more effectively transfer heat but also methods to advance the robustness, life, efficiency, and temperature range of operability.","exampleTechnologies":"Heat pipes (e.g. constant conductance, variable conductance, diode), capillary pumped fluid loops, loop heat pipes, mechanically pumped fluid loops (e.g., single phase and two phase), thermal straps, forced air cooling (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC)), fans, heat pumps (e.g., thermoelectric coolers, vapor compression systems), vapor cooling, heat switches (e.g. paraffin, coefficient of thermal expansion, shape memory alloys), solid state conduction bars/doublers (e.g. high thermal conductivity composites), loop heat pipe and high heat load transport (500 kW - 1 MW), two phase heat transport and pool boiling","level":3,"hasChildren":false,"selected":false,"isPrimary":true,"hasInteriorContent":true},"primaryTxTree":[[{"taxonomyNodeId":11417,"taxonomyRootId":8817,"code":"TX14","title":"Thermal Management Systems","level":1,"hasChildren":true,"selected":false,"hasInteriorContent":true},{"taxonomyNodeId":11424,"taxonomyRootId":8817,"parentNodeId":11417,"code":"TX14.2","title":"Thermal Control Components and Systems","description":"Thermal control components and systems provide capabilities that enable an element to maintain operational temperature limits. An element uses various components to achieve the primary functions of waste energy acquisition; transport; rejection, storage, and reclamation; and temperature control within hardware limits through various mission environments. These functions are enabled through core capabilities of analysis, performance monitoring via sensors, and V&V to ensure mission success.","exampleTechnologies":"","level":2,"hasChildren":true,"selected":false,"hasInteriorContent":true},{"taxonomyNodeId":11426,"taxonomyRootId":8817,"parentNodeId":11424,"code":"TX14.2.2","title":"Heat Transport","description":"Heat transport enables waste energy to be moved from an element component and/or system for either rejection to the environment or reuse elsewhere in the vehicle. This area includes technologies for thermal management of both spacecraft and electrified aircraft propulsion. The transport of energy is accomplished using active and/or passive capabilities in a thermal control system. Technologies include not only items that can more effectively transfer heat but also methods to advance the robustness, life, efficiency, and temperature range of operability.","exampleTechnologies":"Heat pipes (e.g. constant conductance, variable conductance, diode), capillary pumped fluid loops, loop heat pipes, mechanically pumped fluid loops (e.g., single phase and two phase), thermal straps, forced air cooling (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC)), fans, heat pumps (e.g., thermoelectric coolers, vapor compression systems), vapor cooling, heat switches (e.g. paraffin, coefficient of thermal expansion, shape memory alloys), solid state conduction bars/doublers (e.g. high thermal conductivity composites), loop heat pipe and high heat load transport (500 kW - 1 MW), two phase heat transport and pool boiling","level":3,"hasChildren":false,"selected":true,"hasInteriorContent":true}]],"technologyOutcomes":[],"libraryItems":[],"states":[{"abbreviation":"MD","country":{"abbreviation":"US","countryId":236,"name":"United States"},"countryId":236,"name":"Maryland","stateTerritoryId":3,"isTerritory":false}],"endDateString":"Feb 2009","startDateString":"Feb 2007"}}