Grant For Research NNC04GA81G

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded a $124,899.00 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program Phase I contract to Busek Co., Inc. to develop the Compact High Performance Plasma Propulsion System (CHPPPS). CHPPPS is an electric propulsion system designed for 12U and 27U CubeSats that requires high specific impulse, high reliability, and radiation tolerance for high-value science missions. The contract will fund the detailed system design and a proof-of-concept...

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded a $400,000.00 cooperative agreement to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to develop a strategy for using CubeSats equipped with electrospray thrusters to achieve the delta-V required for deep-space missions, particularly to near-Earth asteroids. The goal is to enable more frequent and lower-cost deep-space exploration using small satellite platforms. MIT will design, manufacture, and test the propulsion system,...

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded a $497,894.49 grant to the Regents of the University of Michigan's Office of Research and Sponsored Projects to develop an engineering design tool for electrospray thruster arrays, a key enabling electric propulsion technology for small spacecraft. The goal is to create new modeling and simulation capabilities to address critical systems-level challenges and facilitate the implementation and flight infusion of this promising...

This is a $124,890 firm-fixed-price SBIR Phase I contract awarded by the NASA Shared Services Center to Busek Co., Inc., a small business manufacturer of spacecraft propulsion systems. The contract is for the development of a compact electrospray propulsion system with unprecedented capability, providing more thrust than available gridded ion engines at lower power and without greatly penalizing specific impulse. The system will be scalable to higher capacity and capable of over 700 grams of...

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has awarded a $497,007.70 grant for research to Exoterra Resource LLC, a solar electric propulsion company based in Littleton, Colorado. The NIMPH project aims to develop a micro in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) system to produce liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid hydrogen (LH2) propellant for sample return missions, which are significantly more expensive than traditional exploration missions due to the increased delta-V requirements. By...

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded a $125,000.00 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I contract to Busek Co., Inc., a manufacturer of spacecraft propulsion systems and components, to develop a novel, universal, modular, 2.5kW discharge converter for Hall Effect Thruster (HET) Power Processing Units (PPUs). The proposed system aims to provide a universal solution for aerospace systems with different bus voltages by supporting a wide input voltage range...

Streamline Automation LLC, doing business as C3 Propulsion, has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to further develop its novel Hybrid Propulsion System (HPS) technology. The HPS is non-toxic, stable, and has energy management capabilities, making it suitable for robotic science missions to Mars and outer planet moons. In Phase I, C3 Propulsion demonstrated the proof-of-principle, and now in Phase...

This is a $124,897 firm-fixed price purchase order awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Shared Services Center to Exoterra Resource LLC, a for-profit limited liability company based in Littleton, Colorado, under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program Phase I. The contract is for the development of Exoterra's modular xenon micro electric propulsion system, which provides 4-33 millинютонов of thrust and 48-73 kilонньютон-seconds of impulse at an...

This is a $124,927 firm-fixed-price SBIR Phase I contract awarded by the NASA Shared Services Center to Busek Co., Inc., a small business manufacturer of spacecraft propulsion systems and components based in Natick, Massachusetts. The contract requires Busek to develop an innovative hybrid direct-drive power processing unit (HDD PPU) for CubeSat electric propulsion systems. This technology will directly feed the solar array's raw high voltage into the propulsion system's PPU, minimizing...

This is a $2,763,940.00 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract awarded by NASA's Glenn Research Center to ATK Space Systems LLC, a division of Northrop Grumman Corporation, to develop a high-performance concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) solar array system for spacecraft electric propulsion missions to outer planets. The contract is divided into three phases, with the base phase focused on conceptual design and prototype development, option 1 increasing hardware fidelity and environmental testing, and option...