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 proposed innovation is a Lunar CubeRover specialized as a 2 kg payload to evaluate lander ejecta and to characterize small-rover trafficability. This CubeRover and its roles are specific to the RFP though broadly more general and impactful for exploration enterprise. The proposal offers the prospect for standardization, democratization and broad applicability of CubeRover analogous to the way that CubeSats transformed the domain of Earth orbit and SmallSat enterprise. For the specific context of this proposal, CubeRover is specialized to address III-C-2 In-situ Lunar Surface Trafficability (topic III-C-2) and Descent Engine Blast Ejecta Phenomena (topic III-D-4).","benefits":"CubeRover opens the prospect for a class of light, affordable, frequent and standardized planetary surface deployments. This is transformational in its own right.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 proposed innovation is a Lunar CubeRover specialized as a 2 kg payload to evaluate lander ejecta and to characterize small-rover trafficability. This CubeRover and its roles are specific to the RFP though broadly more general and impactful for exploration enterprise. The proposal offers the prospect for standardization, democratization and broad applicability of CubeRover analogous to the way that CubeSats transformed the domain of Earth orbit and SmallSat enterprise. For the specific context of this proposal, CubeRover is specialized to address III-C-2 In-situ Lunar Surface Trafficability (topic III-C-2) and Descent Engine Blast Ejecta Phenomena (topic III-D-4).","benefits":"CubeRover opens the prospect for a class of light, affordable, frequent and standardized planetary surface deployments. This is transformational in its own right.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":"CubeRover is a robust miniaturized rover for built for lunar science and exploration. With its 2-kg mass, the robot would be the smallest (and likely the least costly) planetary rover ever deployed. CubeRover’s mobility, power and sensing enable 0.5 km traverses, or greater, even over challenging lunar terrain. The rover is based on a highly-integrated single board computer (rover-on-a-board) with reliable flight software, has integrated lander stowage and deployment capability, and uses WiFi for teleoperation and shared computation between rover and lander. The system incorporates a flexible thermal design and includes mass and power allocation for small science instruments, opening up a range of novel applications, landing sites, and mission concepts. Finally, the design offers an approach toward standardization and commercialization of CubeRover parts and designs.This proposal describes a detailed plan for the development, testing, and delivery of flight hardware by the end of the contract in 2020. Phase II work will mature the Phase I design and retire risks in pursuit of developing and delivering a flight-ready CubeRover. The proposed program consists of five technical objectives that address the key challenges of small size and mass, the harsh lunar environment, and broad applicability and flexibility for future missions and payloads. Work will mature subsystems to develop the final flight configuration to environmental specifications, build flight hardware, and perform qualification and acceptance testing. The key artifacts that will result include: a flight-qualified version of the single board computer, several prototype rovers for testing, and a flight-qualified CubeRover that can survive the trip to the Moon and perform its mission.","benefits":"CubeRover is designed for robustness and could be infused into any NASA mission to the Moon. To date, the team has identified six Lunar SKGs that could be studied using CubeRover and small, relevant scientific instruments with a clear path to flight. Due to its relatively low deployment and development cost, CubeRovers will be excellent platforms for technology demonstration missions. Specific technologies that might be tested include rover batteries that could withstand high temperatures, space computing, novel materials or sensors, motors, power systems, or dust mitigating technologies. CubeRover will allow developers an affordable route through which to increase the Technology Readiness Level of their technology, and lower a barrier to technology development (and, while these technologies will be demonstrated on CubeRovers, the components that are validated and developed are likely to be relevant to rovers of all sizes). Additionally, small rovers will allow engineers, entrepreneurs, and scientists to test novel, exciting, and high-risk concepts of operations. CubeRovers will be the first to demonstrate recharging from a centralized power source in a regolith environment, repair of surface assets, and establish a local communication infrastructure network. Demonstrating these concepts will be critical to enabling the establishment of long-term habitats on the Moon, but they are neither relevant nor economically feasible for investigation with a larger rover.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 proposed innovation is a Lunar CubeRover specialized as a 2 kg payload to evaluate lander ejecta and to characterize small-rover trafficability. This CubeRover and its roles are specific to the RFP though broadly more general and impactful for exploration enterprise. The proposal offers the prospect for standardization, democratization and broad applicability of CubeRover analogous to the way that CubeSats transformed the domain of Earth orbit and SmallSat enterprise. For the specific context of this proposal, CubeRover is specialized to address III-C-2 In-situ Lunar Surface Trafficability (topic III-C-2) and Descent Engine Blast Ejecta Phenomena (topic III-D-4).","benefits":"CubeRover opens the prospect for a class of light, affordable, frequent and standardized planetary surface deployments. This is transformational in its own right.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":"CubeRover is a robust miniaturized rover for built for lunar science and exploration. With its 2-kg mass, the robot would be the smallest (and likely the least costly) planetary rover ever deployed. CubeRover’s mobility, power and sensing enable 0.5 km traverses, or greater, even over challenging lunar terrain. The rover is based on a highly-integrated single board computer (rover-on-a-board) with reliable flight software, has integrated lander stowage and deployment capability, and uses WiFi for teleoperation and shared computation between rover and lander. The system incorporates a flexible thermal design and includes mass and power allocation for small science instruments, opening up a range of novel applications, landing sites, and mission concepts. Finally, the design offers an approach toward standardization and commercialization of CubeRover parts and designs.This proposal describes a detailed plan for the development, testing, and delivery of flight hardware by the end of the contract in 2020. Phase II work will mature the Phase I design and retire risks in pursuit of developing and delivering a flight-ready CubeRover. The proposed program consists of five technical objectives that address the key challenges of small size and mass, the harsh lunar environment, and broad applicability and flexibility for future missions and payloads. Work will mature subsystems to develop the final flight configuration to environmental specifications, build flight hardware, and perform qualification and acceptance testing. The key artifacts that will result include: a flight-qualified version of the single board computer, several prototype rovers for testing, and a flight-qualified CubeRover that can survive the trip to the Moon and perform its mission.","benefits":"CubeRover is designed for robustness and could be infused into any NASA mission to the Moon. To date, the team has identified six Lunar SKGs that could be studied using CubeRover and small, relevant scientific instruments with a clear path to flight. Due to its relatively low deployment and development cost, CubeRovers will be excellent platforms for technology demonstration missions. Specific technologies that might be tested include rover batteries that could withstand high temperatures, space computing, novel materials or sensors, motors, power systems, or dust mitigating technologies. CubeRover will allow developers an affordable route through which to increase the Technology Readiness Level of their technology, and lower a barrier to technology development (and, while these technologies will be demonstrated on CubeRovers, the components that are validated and developed are likely to be relevant to rovers of all sizes). Additionally, small rovers will allow engineers, entrepreneurs, and scientists to test novel, exciting, and high-risk concepts of operations. CubeRovers will be the first to demonstrate recharging from a centralized power source in a regolith environment, repair of surface assets, and establish a local communication infrastructure network. Demonstrating these concepts will be critical to enabling the establishment of long-term habitats on the Moon, but they are neither relevant nor economically feasible for investigation with a larger rover.