NASA 2025 SBIR Ignite Solicitation Research Subtopics (1).pdf

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA)

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)

SBIR Ignite Solicitation

2025 Research Subtopics

May 19, 2025

Contents

9. Research Subtopics for the SBIR Ignite Solicitation

Introduction

Topic I01: Advanced Manufacturing

Subtopic I01.01: Advanced real-time monitoring and control technologies for additive manufacturing

Subtopic I01.02: Computational design of new materials, processes, and products leveraging the microgravity environment of space

Topic I02: Artificial Intelligence

Subtopic I02.01: Multidisciplinary Space Hardware design automation leveraging AI techniques

Topic I03: Radar

Subtopic I03.01: Low-cost mm-wave and cm-wave radar for planetary exploration vehicles

Topic I04: Robotics

Subtopic I04.01: Modular, scalable robotic subcomponents to unlock scalable robotic manufacturing & assembly in remote, challenging environments

2025 SBIR Ignite Solicitation Section 9: Research Subtopics

9. Research Subtopics for the SBIR Ignite Solicitation

Introduction

You should be thoughtful in selecting a subtopic to ensure the proposal is responsive to the NASA need as defined by the subtopic. The NASA SBIR program will NOT move a completed proposal package between SBIR

Ignite subtopics.

As stated in section 3.1, NASA will not accept more than one (1) proposal package from any one firm. It is your responsibility to select which subtopic to propose to.

Topic I01: Advanced Manufacturing

Subtopic I01.01: Advanced real-time monitoring and control technologies for additive manufacturing

Additive Manufacturing (AM) offers unprecedented design freedom and the ability to create complex geometries. However, achieving consistent part quality and minimizing defects remains a significant challenge.

Variations in process parameters (temperature, laser power, material feed rate, etc.) and material properties can lead to defects like porosity, cracking, warping, and incomplete fusion. Current quality control is often performed post-build, which is time-consuming and costly. In-situ monitoring and control offers a solution by:

• Detecting Defects in Real-time: Identifying anomalies as they occur during the build.

• Enabling Corrective Actions: Adjusting process parameters on-the-fly to mitigate defects.

• Increasing Automation: Enabling closed loop control to increase efficiency and yield and decreasing the need for manual check-ins during build.

• Reducing Post-Processing: Minimizing the need for extensive inspection and rework.

• Improving Process Understanding: Generating valuable data for process optimization and model development.

• Enhancing Material Qualification: Providing a pathway to certifying new AM materials more rapidly.

This topic solicits the technologies needed to enable advanced in-situ monitoring and control for additive manufacturing to include a complete system or the development of a novel component that supports current or future systems such as improved sensor technologies, software solutions that integrate sensor input, or algorithms that support feedback control. A proposed system would leverage multiple sensing technologies, advanced data analytics, and real-time feedback control algorithms to detect and correct defects during the AM build process. The intention of the development is improved part quality, reduced scrap, increased throughput, and ultimately, wider adoption of AM for high-value applications.

Civil Space Shortfalls addressed:

702: Nuclear Thermal Propulsion for Human Exploration 703: Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE) 1221: Mars Ascent Vehicle Propulsion 1430: Small Spacecraft Propulsion 1490 Additive Manufacturing for New and High-Performance Materials 1488 Additive Manufacturing for Propulsion 1491 Additive Manufacturing of Large-Scale Components 1492 Materials and Process Modeling for In-Space and On-Surface Manufacturing 1493 Computational Materials-Informed Qualification and Certification for In-Space and On-Surface Manufacturing 1494 Digital Transformation Technologies for Terrestrial, In-Space, On-Surface Manufacturing, and Operations

Subtopic I01.02: Computational design of new materials, processes, and products leveraging the microgravity environment of space

This topic seeks technologies that use integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) to develop next-generation materials, manufacturing methods, and new products that benefit from a microgravity environment.

ICME is a transformational capability. Understanding the physics-based phenomena and relationships of materials, processing, structure, and properties in the microgravity space environment for in-space manufacturing is crucial and will accelerate many future materials and manufacturing efforts. By integrating models across different scales (from the atomic level to the component level), ICME can predict the final microstructure and properties of space-manufactured products which enables terrestrial material exploration here on Earth and reduces the time and cost of material design and process development.

Proposals should focus on using ICME to develop next-generation materials and processing methods, improve understanding of mechanisms involved in material transformations, advance fundamental materials discovery, and test processes or manufacturing methods of novel design and synthesis techniques to rapidly help scale and transition these efforts to industrial partners.

Of particular interest are:

• Enabling commercially viable and sustainable business opportunities from advancement in materials and manufacturing in low-Earth orbit (LEO)

• Development and optimization of materials and structures for improved mechanical properties

• Design of materials and processing schedules that are compatible with or benefit from manufacturing in microgravity environments

• Providing better understanding of materials, structure, and properties evolution during LEO manufacturing towards efficient and robust qualification and certification of materials, processes and components made in reduced gravity environments

• Technologies that extrapolate and interpolate existing data to create robust data sets such as artificial intelligence/machine learning, digital twins, and internet of things (IoT) devices to bridge between high-fidelity (and computationally expensive) physics-based models and lower-fidelity (and easy to field in a production environment) data-driven models.

Civil Space Shortfalls addressed:

1485: In-Space and On-Surface Manufacturing of Parts/Products from Surface and Terrestrial Feedstocks 1492:

Materials and Process Modeling for In-Space and On Surface 1493: Computational Materials Informed Qualification and Certification for In-Space Manufacturing

Topic I02: Artificial Intelligence

Subtopic I02.01: Multidisciplinary Space Hardware design automation leveraging AI techniques

NASA’s Text-to-Spaceship Vision has shown that AI-powered design workflows can cut hardware iteration cycles from weeks to hours and unlock novel high-performance designs that enable new science missions.

NASA now seeks innovative solutions that extend this AI-powered design automation paradigm to every discipline needed for mission design: thermal, power, mechanisms, avionics, propulsion, attitude control, cryogenic systems, and more. Proposed efforts should deliver design automation tools or frameworks that accelerate hardware design, analysis, and verification while keeping human engineers in the loop for expert design validation.

Proposers should create an AI -based design automation tool that ingests requirements (natural language, MBSE artifacts, or standard digital files such as STEP), creates a design, runs embedded analyses, and returns a verification report, all via open, documented APIs for compatibility with the broader Text-to-

Spaceship workflow. Solutions must focus on hardware design acceleration and, in Phase I, demonstrate the capability on at least one subsystem or component.

Preference will be given to proposals that:

• Demonstrate an end-to-end automated design loop completed at least 5× faster than current practice for the chosen subsystem.

• Provide embedded physics-based or surrogate analyses with pass/fail metrics traceable to input requirements.

• Deliver real-time manufacturability feedback (CNC, additive manufacturing, PCB, composites, etc.) via open standards such as STEP/STEP-NC, IPC-2581, FMI, or REST/JSON.

• Offer an agentic or plug-in architecture that can add skills for additional subsystems in Phase II.

Successful concepts will accelerate NASA flight-hardware development, reduce cost and risk, and spawn commercial tools that accelerate any physical product design such as Text-to-House, Text-to-Vehicle, and beyond.

Civil Space Shortfalls addressed:

1494: Digital Transformation Technologies for Terrestrial, In-Space, On-Surface Manufacturing, and Operations

1492: Materials and Process Modeling for In-space Manufacturing

1493: Materials-Informed Qualification & Certification for In-Space and On-Surface Manufacturing

1544: Resilient Agency: Adaptable Intelligence & Robust Online Learning for Long-Duration & Dynamic

Missions

1542: Metrics & Processes for Establishing Trust and Certifying the Trustworthiness of Autonomous Systems https://youtu.be/DV_DVw0UIF0?si=9ldYq3uwwtNWLXWc

Topic I03: Radar

Subtopic I03.01: Low-cost mm-wave and cm-wave radar for planetary exploration vehicles

Low-cost mm-wave and cm-wave radar systems have the potential to support ultra-precise positioning and navigation for planetary exploration vehicles. A radar sensor can overcome limitations of optical sensors (e.g., cameras with/without artificial lighting) and lidar (point or scanned), particularly in terms of performance across a broad range of lighting conditions including day, night, low angle, etc. A radar sensor may also be robust to environmental obscurants such as blown or levitated dust. Sensor systems based on mm-wave radar combined with radar interferometry can be used to perform multiple navigation related functions on human vehicles, planetary rovers, or flying systems including 3D terrain mapping, hazard detection (obstacles, structures, terrain), position estimation, and local navigation.

Moreover, there is significant opportunity to adapt and retarget existing automotive radar System-on-Chip (SoC) components for space applications, with the associated benefits of low-cost and low-Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP). Such components may also be suitable for rapid qualification and integration into flight systems with minimal (or no) modification depending on launch, transit, landing, and surface conditions (shock/vibe, thermal, radiation, dust, etc). This is particularly the case if the components are designed for use in harsh terrestrial environments or applications (e.g., military ground vehicles).

This topic seeks low-cost mm-wave and cm-wave radar systems with a preference given to proposals that offer at least two the following capabilities:

• Radar system to perform precision Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT), particularly as a way to augment or replace a Global Navigation Satellite System (e.g., GPS)

• Radar system to perform hazard detection, including identification of dynamic and static obstacles and geometric terrain features

• Radar system to perform object tracking (other vehicles, astronauts, etc.)

• Radar system to perform 3D terrain mapping at mm to cm scale

Proposals should describe how the proposed radar system could be applied to enable Earth-based autonomy applications for cars, unmanned vehicles, unmanned aircraft vehicles, etc. as well as NASA-focused uses such as crew transport (e.g., the Lunar Terrain Vehicle), planetary rovers (particularly Perseverance or VIPER class) and/or flying systems (Ingenuity or Dragonfly class) that operate on the Moon or Mars.

Civil Space Shortfalls addressed:

1304: Robust, High-Progress-Rate, and Long-Distance Autonomous Surface Mobility 1336: Robotic Mobility for Robust, Repeatable Access to and through Extreme Terrain and Surface Topography 1530: Aerial Robotic Mobility and Onboard Intelligence for Expanded Capabilities on Mars, Venus, and Titan 1548: Sensing for Autonomous Robotic Operations in Challenging Environmental Conditions 1545: Robotic Actuation, Subsystem Components, and System Architectures for Long-Duration and Extreme Environment Operation

Topic I04: Robotics

Subtopic I04.01: Modular, scalable robotic subcomponents to unlock scalable robotic manufacturing & assembly in remote, challenging environments

One of the key challenges in robotics today is the lack of standard, modular subcomponents that enable robotics to scale (actuators, motors, tools, end-effectors, beams/tubes for arms, wheels, etc). To reduce the cost of robotics for manufacturing and assembly, NASA needs basic robotic components with standardized mechanical and/or electrical interfaces that are qualified for use on orbit as well as lunar and planetary environments.. The components should have the following characteristics:

• Reconfigurable with non-proprietary, standardized interfaces

• Allows the use of custom components designed by the end user

• Designed for use in remote or challenging environments

• Optimized for cost-effective mass production

• Ability to be quickly scaled

NASA is especially interested in solutions that balance readiness for eventual space deployment with near-term manufacturability and commercial viability. While full qualification is not required at this stage, a plan for space environment compatibility and scalability will strengthen the proposal (such as exposure to dust, vacuum (lubricants especially), radiation, UV, thermal, gravity, atomic oxygen, etc). Additionally, component approaches that demonstrate a clear path towards a complete robotic system-level solution are preferred.

Considerations:

• Solutions designed to be robotically assembled are encouraged.

• Solutions at a scale appropriate for small-sat or orbital/surface asset aggregation applications are of particular interest.

• Robot architecture is non-specific (inchworm/climbing robots, rover-based systems, free-fliers or other)

• Adapting and qualifying existing robotic elements and systems for NASA applications is encouraged. Existing hardware could be upgraded to take the key elements of the design and add the components to survive challenging environments.

• Examples of desired improvements in capabilities:

• protection from dust and/or resilience to dust getting into moving components including dust repellant technologies and coatings

• solutions capable of a range of torques

• optimized lubricants for wide temperature ranges and minimal mass loss and outgassing in vacuum

• solutions that use lower cost metals in order to reduce overall cost

• tough, conductive thermal coatings and treatments that can resist erosion or surface damage

Civil Space Shortfalls addressed:

376: Modular design for in-space installation 498: Broad and dependable supply chain for space-qualified robotic hardware, electronics, and associated software 512: Cooperative interfaces, aids, and standards 513: Robotic Assembly and Construction of Modular Systems for Sustained In-Space Infrastructure 617: On-surface robotic assembly of vertical structures 1400: On-surface robotic assembly of horizontal structures 1485: In-Space and On-Surface Manufacturing of Parts/Products from Surface and Terrestrial Feedstocks 1534: Autonomous Robotics for Sustained In-Space Manufacturing Operations 1538: General-Purpose Robotic Manipulation to Perform Human-Scale Logistics, Maintenance, Outfitting, and Utilization

1540: Intelligent Robots for the Servicing, Assembly, and Outfitting of In-Space Assets and Industrial-Scale Surface Infrastructure 1545: Robotic Actuation, Subsystem Components, and System Architectures for Long-Duration and Extreme Environment Operation 1546: Robotic Mobile Manipulation for Autonomous Large-Scale Logistics, Payload Handling, and Surface Transport 1552: Extreme Environment Avionics 1618: Survive and operate through the lunar night