Purchase Order FA864921P0653

This is a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I contract awarded by NASA's Shared Services Center to American GNC Corporation for the "Real-Time Integrated Navigation System for Planetary Exploration" (RT-INSPEX) project. The $124,998 firm-fixed-price contract is focused on developing an autonomous navigation solution for planetary rovers and other mobile robots that can operate without access to global navigation satellite systems. The proposed technology aims to provide...

This federal contract award to Astrobotic Technology Inc. is for the development of novel methods to improve cooperative localization and navigation for planetary exploration robots. The $124,830 Phase I SBIR contract, funded by NASA, aims to enable more accurate localization of multiple robots without requiring high-end sensors and powerful computing. This research supports the use of more minimalist yet coordinated robots for planetary surface operations, leveraging techniques like...

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC) awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I contract valued at $124,997.00 to Physical Optics Corporation (POC) to develop a Robotic Autonomous Navigation and Orientation Tracking System (RANOTS). This system will supplement vision-based navigation and wheel odometers to improve precision, location awareness, and orientation tracking for lunar and Mars exploration rovers, extravehicular...

This is a STTR Phase II contract awarded by NASA to Astrobotic Technology Inc., a Pittsburgh-based space robotics company. The $1,174,266 fixed-price contract is focused on developing autonomous exploration capabilities for robotic probes to access and analyze extreme terrain features on the Moon and Mars, such as recurring slope lineae, methane plumes, and permanently shadowed craters with water ice. The work aims to advance perceptual models and algorithms that enable robots to make...

This federal contract award is for the development of algorithms for image-based navigation of crewed spacecraft, which will be critical for future human spaceflight vehicles such as Orion and Artemis lunar exploration missions. The $635,320 cooperative agreement was awarded to the Georgia Tech Research Corporation, a non-profit research organization and state institution of higher education associated with the Georgia Institute of Technology. The objective is to reconsider the use of...

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Shared Services Center awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program Phase I contract to Thinking Robots Inc., a Boston-based startup, for the development of a cognitive architecture for deep space missions. The $149,945.00 firm fixed price contract is focused on research and prototype development to enable non-experts to instruct robots through natural language and graphical user interfaces. Thinking Robots Inc. has...

This is a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to Traclabs Inc., a robotics and automation company. The $124,602 contract is for the development of an "Adaptive Manipulation for Tasks" (ADAMANT) software system that can enable more robust and intuitive robot grasping and manipulation capabilities for NASA's lunar and space exploration missions. The ADAMANT system builds upon Traclabs' prior work...

Intuitive Machines, LLC has been awarded a definitive contract valued at approximately $1.3 million by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center to develop an open architecture vision processing unit to reduce the cost and schedule of deploying optical navigation solutions for space exploration and commercialization. The firm fixed price contract is associated with NASA's Game Changing Development Program - Tipping Point initiative and will be performed...

The University of Colorado was awarded a $499,290 grant by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to conduct research on relative navigation algorithms and sensors for autonomous maneuvering in proximity to small celestial bodies. The research is focused on addressing the unique dynamical constraints and operational modes associated with close-proximity activities around small bodies, such as initial characterization, detailed surface observations, and touch-down or surface...

This is a Phase II SBIR contract awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to Bluhaptics, Inc. (doing business as Olis Robotics), a small business. The goal of this $749,903 Firm Fixed Price contract is to develop and deliver a solution that enables intuitive tele-robotic control for future space missions that will increasingly rely on remote robotic systems. The work aims to address key challenges in robotic space operations by improving robotic function, cognition,...