TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER LICENSING OPPORTUNITY: Triggering Li-ion Battery Cells with Laser Radiation (MSC-TOPS-99)
Closed Special Notice Posted
- Solicitation number
- T2P-JSC-00057
- Agency
-
Marshall Space Flight Center
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Responses due
- Set-aside
- No set-aside
Opportunity facts
- NAICS code
- 927110 Space Research and Technology
- PSC
- 9999 Miscellaneous Items
- Points of contact
-
- NASA's Technology Transfer Program agency-patent-licensing@mail.nasa.gov
Notice details come from SAM.gov. Updated .
About this opportunity
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has published a Special Notice regarding a technology transfer licensing opportunity for a laser-based method to trigger thermal runaway in lithium-ion battery cells. The technology, designated MSC-TOPS-99, was developed by innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center and involves using high-powered infrared laser radiation to induce controlled thermal runaway in battery cells without penetrating the cell's outer wall. This Special Notice was posted on August 26, 2025, and represents NASA's effort to commercialize this innovative battery testing technology through its Technology Transfer Program. The agency is actively soliciting inquiries from companies interested in obtaining licensing rights to manufacture and market this technology. NASA clarifies that no funding is provided in conjunction with these potential licenses.
The primary objective of this Special Notice is to identify commercial partners willing to license NASA's laser-triggered thermal runaway technology for battery safety testing applications. The technology offers significant advantages over previous methods by allowing precise heat delivery to specific target spots on battery cells, minimizing thermal effects on adjacent cells, and requiring only exterior surface treatment rather than internal modifications to test batteries. Companies interested in licensing opportunities must submit applications through NASA's Automated Technology Licensing Application System (ATLAS) by the July 17, 2026 deadline, with applications accessible at the provided NASA technology portal website. License rights may be issued on either exclusive or nonexclusive bases and may include specific fields of use restrictions. There are no specific eligibility criteria mentioned for contractors, suggesting the opportunity is open to any qualified commercial entity capable of commercializing, manufacturing, and marketing the technology.
Notice text
NASA’s Technology Transfer Program solicits inquiries from companies interested in obtaining license rights to commercialize, manufacture and market the following technology. License rights may be issued on an exclusive or nonexclusive basis and may include specific fields of use. NASA provides no funding in conjunction with these potential licenses.
THE TECHNOLOGY:
Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a high-powered infrared (IR) laser that can trigger Li-ion battery cells into thermal runaway (TR) without perforating the battery’s can wall like previous methods. Inducing TR in a battery cell allows engineers to test and improve the safety performance of overheated batteries that can potentially catch fire or explode. The primary advantage of this method is the heat energy delivered by the laser can be localized to the exact target spot on the battery cell minimizing thermal biasing to adjacent cells. This laser method does not require any internal modification of the test subject cell design nor require patch heating to trigger a short-circuit. Triggering Li-ion Cells with Laser Radiation could work on any commercial battery cell design with only exterior surface treatment required, which can be done by the user.
To express interest in this licensing opportunity, please submit a license application through NASA’s Automated Technology Licensing Application System (ATLAS) by visiting https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/MSC-TOPS-99
If you have any questions, please e-mail NASA’s Technology Transfer Program at Agency-Patent-Licensing@mail.nasa.gov with the title of this Technology Transfer Opportunity as listed in this SAM.gov notice and your preferred contact information. For more information about licensing other NASA-developed technologies, please visit the NASA Technology Transfer Portal at https://technology.nasa.gov/.
These responses are provided to members of NASA’s Technology Transfer Program for the purpose of promoting public awareness of NASA-developed technology products, and conducting preliminary market research to determine public interest in and potential for future licensing opportunities. No follow-on procurement is expected to result from responses to this Notice.
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