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 long lifetime, compact hollow cathode that can be mounted along the axis of a 600 W-class Hall effect thruster. Testing at kilowatt power levels and above has shown that the thruster axis is the optimal position for thruster throttling and plume divergence. It also minimizes the impact of background conditions upon ground based performance measurements, reducing programmatic and technical risk to the end user. The proposed compact cathode will extend these benefits to low power Hall thrusters. The cathode will be compatible with iodine as well as with noble gases. Hollow cathodes are a critical, life-limiting component for Hall effect thrusters and gridded ion engines. Failure mechanisms include degradation, poisoning and evaporation of the electron emitter, keeper and emitter tube orifice erosion, and heater failure. To achieve >10,000 hr lifetime, compact cathode will use a hexaboride (LaB6 or CeB6) electron emitter. Hexaborides degrade more slowly than state-of-the-art barium oxide impregnated tungsten emitters at equivalent current densities. Hexaborides are also resistant to contamination from oxygen and other impurities. The cathode also includes a new, high temperature heater. To minimize keeper and orifice erosion, the design will be optimized through testing and plasma measurements. In Phase I, Busek shall design, built and test the compact cathode. The plasma plume will be interrogated with an emissive probe to determine spot and plume mode operating regimes on xenon and iodine. An integrated cathode-thruster test will also be performed to determine the cathode's performance with a thruster. The Phase II test program will include duration testing of the cathode and thruster-cathode system with a fully modified BHT-600, thermal cycling and plasma modeling. At the end of Phase II a cathode will be delivered to NASA for testing with a 600W-class Hall thruster.","benefits":"Topic S3.02 seeks to mature and demonstrate in-space electric propulsion technologies, specifically calling for long-lifetime hollow cathodes for use with iodine propellant and high specific impulse thrusters. Hollow cathodes are used in Hall Effect Thrusters (HETs) and ion engines, two types of high specific impulse electrostatic spacecraft propulsion that can be used for unmanned planetary exploration and support secondary payload options. The compact cathode directly supports several Hall effect thrusters currently being developed at Busek and NASA, including the xenon fueled Busek BHT-600, an iodine compatible version of the BHT-600 and JPL's experimental MaSMi thruster. These thrusters may propel NASA Discovery, New Frontiers and Explorers Class science missions. Traditionally, these mission classes would use xenon propellant; however, iodine propellant would expand the mission envelope without increasing the mission cost. Iodine yields performance comparable to xenon but provides many additional benefits at the system level. In addition, a fully fueled, non-active system may be stored on the ground or on orbit for long periods of time, which facilitates spacecraft spares and minimizes down-times in the event of a failure. This program will ultimately lead to flight hardware to support iodine-fueled missions.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 long lifetime, compact hollow cathode that can be mounted along the axis of a 600 W-class Hall effect thruster. Testing at kilowatt power levels and above has shown that the thruster axis is the optimal position for thruster throttling and plume divergence. It also minimizes the impact of background conditions upon ground based performance measurements, reducing programmatic and technical risk to the end user. The proposed compact cathode will extend these benefits to low power Hall thrusters. The cathode will be compatible with iodine as well as with noble gases. Hollow cathodes are a critical, life-limiting component for Hall effect thrusters and gridded ion engines. Failure mechanisms include degradation, poisoning and evaporation of the electron emitter, keeper and emitter tube orifice erosion, and heater failure. To achieve >10,000 hr lifetime, compact cathode will use a hexaboride (LaB6 or CeB6) electron emitter. Hexaborides degrade more slowly than state-of-the-art barium oxide impregnated tungsten emitters at equivalent current densities. Hexaborides are also resistant to contamination from oxygen and other impurities. The cathode also includes a new, high temperature heater. To minimize keeper and orifice erosion, the design will be optimized through testing and plasma measurements. In Phase I, Busek shall design, built and test the compact cathode. The plasma plume will be interrogated with an emissive probe to determine spot and plume mode operating regimes on xenon and iodine. An integrated cathode-thruster test will also be performed to determine the cathode's performance with a thruster. The Phase II test program will include duration testing of the cathode and thruster-cathode system with a fully modified BHT-600, thermal cycling and plasma modeling. At the end of Phase II a cathode will be delivered to NASA for testing with a 600W-class Hall thruster.","benefits":"Topic S3.02 seeks to mature and demonstrate in-space electric propulsion technologies, specifically calling for long-lifetime hollow cathodes for use with iodine propellant and high specific impulse thrusters. Hollow cathodes are used in Hall Effect Thrusters (HETs) and ion engines, two types of high specific impulse electrostatic spacecraft propulsion that can be used for unmanned planetary exploration and support secondary payload options. The compact cathode directly supports several Hall effect thrusters currently being developed at Busek and NASA, including the xenon fueled Busek BHT-600, an iodine compatible version of the BHT-600 and JPL's experimental MaSMi thruster. These thrusters may propel NASA Discovery, New Frontiers and Explorers Class science missions. Traditionally, these mission classes would use xenon propellant; however, iodine propellant would expand the mission envelope without increasing the mission cost. Iodine yields performance comparable to xenon but provides many additional benefits at the system level. In addition, a fully fueled, non-active system may be stored on the ground or on orbit for long periods of time, which facilitates spacecraft spares and minimizes down-times in the event of a failure. This program will ultimately lead to flight hardware to support iodine-fueled missions.