{"id":12928,"date":"2019-09-27T17:50:26","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T09:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-announces-funding-for-moon-and-mars-mission-tech\/"},"modified":"2019-09-27T17:50:26","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T09:50:26","slug":"nasa-announces-funding-for-moon-and-mars-mission-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-announces-funding-for-moon-and-mars-mission-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA announces funding for moon and Mars mission tech"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Astrobotic is one of 14 companies selected for NASA\u2019s Tipping Point solicitation. This illustration depicts CubeRover, an ultra-light, modular and scalable commercial rover. Credit: Astrobotic\/Carnegie Mellon University<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA announced agreements worth a combined $43.2 million with 14 commercial partners Friday \u2014 including Blue Origin and SpaceX \u2014 to fund experiments in propellant and power generation, in-space refueling, efficient propulsion systems, and lunar rover technology.<\/p>\n

Each of the agreements, with NASA funding commitments ranging from $1.3 million to $10 million, will aid the development of key technologies for the space agency\u2019s exploration initiatives aimed at the moon and Mars, officials said.<\/p>\n

The 14 projects announced Friday are the fourth set of funding agreements in NASA\u2019s series of \u201cTipping Point\u201d solicitations, in which the space agency partners with companies to work on advanced space technologies. Each company is required to fund at least 25 percent of the program costs in the public-private Tipping Point agreements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese promising technologies are at a \u2018tipping point\u2019 in their development, meaning NASA\u2019s investment is likely the extra push a company needs to significantly mature a capability,\u201d said Jim Reuter, associate administrator of NASA\u2019s space technology mission directorate. \u201cThese are important technologies necessary for sustained exploration of the Moon and Mars. As the agency focuses on landing astronauts on the Moon by 2024 with the Artemis program, we continue to prepare for the next phase of lunar exploration that feeds forward to Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previous Tipping Point agreements have funded cryogenic propellant storage technologies, the development of planetary landing systems, solar-electric propulsion, smallsat launch vehicles, and robotic in-space manufacturing.<\/p>\n

The agreements announced Friday address six focus areas: Cryogenic propellant production and management; sustainable energy generation, storage and distribution; efficient and affordable propulsion systems; autonomous operations; rover mobility; and advanced avionics.<\/p>\n

Blue Origin won the biggest share of funding in Friday\u2019s announcements with a $10 million agreement, and NASA awarded SpaceX $3 million to test coupler prototypes for refueling spacecraft such as the company\u2019s Starship vehicle.<\/p>\n

Two providers selected by NASA through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, program also received funding from NASA through the Tipping Point solicitation. Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines are developing commercial robotic lunar landers to deliver NASA science instruments to the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

Here is a list of the 14 agreements copied from a NASA\u2019s press release:<\/p>\n

Cryogenic Propellant Production and Management  <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022   Blue Origin LLC of Kent, Washington, $10 million<\/strong><\/p>\n

A ground demonstration of hydrogen and oxygen liquefaction and storage, representing rocket and spacecraft propellant that could be produced on the Moon. The demonstration could help inform a large-scale propellant production plant suitable for the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

\u2022   OxEon Energy LLC of North Salt Lake, Utah, $1.8 million<\/strong><\/p>\n

OxEon Energy will work with the Colorado School of Mines to integrate an electrolysis technology to process ice and separate the hydrogen and oxygen. The molecules could then be cooled to produce fuel for cislunar transport. This technology could provide a flexible and scalable solution for future in-situ resource utilization operations on the Moon.<\/p>\n

\u2022   Skyre Inc. of East Hartford, Connecticut, $2.6 million<\/strong><\/p>\n

Skyre, also known as Sustainable Innovations, along with partner Meta Vista USA LLC, will develop a system to make propellant from permanently frozen water located at the Moon\u2019s poles, including processes to separate the hydrogen and oxygen, keep the product extremely cold and use hydrogen as a refrigerant to liquefy oxygen.<\/p>\n

\u2022   SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, $3 million<\/strong><\/p>\n

SpaceX will collaborate with NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to develop and test coupler prototypes \u2013 or nozzles \u2013 for refueling spacecraft such as the company\u2019s Starship vehicle. A cryogenic fluid coupler for large-scale in-space propellant transfer is an important technology to aid sustained exploration efforts on the Moon and Mars.<\/p>\n

Sustainable Energy Generation, Storage and Distribution<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022   Infinity Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Inc. of Windsor, Connecticut, $4 million<\/strong><\/p>\n

The company will collaborate with NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston to develop a scalable, modular and flexible power and energy product that utilizes new manufacturing methods to reduce cost and improve reliability. The technology could be used for lunar rovers, surface equipment and habitats.<\/p>\n

\u2022   Paragon Space Development Corporation of Houston, $2 million<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paragon Space Development Corporation will work with Johnson and NASA\u2019s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland to develop an environmental control and life support system as well as a thermal control system for lunar missions that maintain acceptable operating temperatures throughout the Moon\u2019s day and night cycle. The design of these systems could be adapted for crewed missions to Mars.<\/p>\n

\u2022   TallannQuest LLC of Sachse, Texas, $2 million<\/strong><\/p>\n

Working with NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the company, also known as Apogee Semiconductor, will develop a flexible, radiation-hardened switching power controller capable of being configured based on a mission\u2019s power needs. This technology could be used for missions to the Moon, Mars, Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa, and other destinations.<\/p>\n

Efficient and Affordable Propulsion Systems<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022   Accion Systems Inc. of Boston, $3.9 million<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first interplanetary CubeSats, NASA\u2019s MarCO-A and B, used a set of cold gas thrusters for attitude control and course corrections during their cruise to Mars, alongside the Mars InSight lander. Accion and JPL will partner to mature a propulsion system to demonstrate the same capabilities as those required for the MarCO mission, but with a smaller and lighter system that uses less power. The propulsion system could enable more science opportunities with these small, flexible platforms.<\/p>\n

\u2022   CU <\/strong>Aerospace LLC of Champaign, Illinois, $1.7 million<\/strong><\/p>\n

CU Aerospace, NearSpace Launch and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will build and test a 6-unit CubeSat equipped with two different propulsion systems. These systems were developed with NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding and offer high performance, low cost and safe pre-launch processing. The company plans to deliver the flight-ready CubeSat to NanoRacks for launch and deployment.<\/p>\n

\u2022   ExoTerra Resource LLC of Littleton, Colorado, $2 million<\/strong><\/p>\n

ExoTerra will build, test and launch a 12-unit CubeSat with a compact, high impulse solar electric propulsion module. Once flight-ready, the system will be demonstrated in-space as the CubeSat moves from low-Earth orbit to the radiation belts surrounding Earth. This small electric propulsion system could open up the inner solar system for targeted science exploration missions, using affordable spacecraft that range from 44 to 440 pounds.<\/p>\n

Autonomous Operations<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022   Blue Canyon Technologies Inc. of Boulder, Colorado, $4.9 million<\/strong><\/p>\n

As access to space increases, so does the need for ground resources, such as tracking stations. With an in-space demonstration, Blue Canyon Technologies will mature an autonomous navigation software solution for SmallSats and CubeSats so they can traverse space without \u201ctalking\u201d to Earth.<\/p>\n

Rover Mobility<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022   Astrobotic Technology of Pittsburgh, $2 million<\/strong><\/p>\n

Astrobotic and Carnegie Mellon University will work with JPL and NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to develop small rover \u201cscouts\u201d that can host payloads and interface with multiple large landers. This project received previous NASA funding through SBIR awards. The new partnership will develop more mature payload interfaces and increase rover capabilities.<\/p>\n

Advanced Avionics<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022   Intuitive Machines LLC of Houston, $1.3 million<\/strong><\/p>\n

Development of a spacecraft vision processing computer and software to reduce the cost and schedule required for deploying optical, or laser, navigation capabilities on government and commercial missions.<\/p>\n

\u2022   Luna Innovations of Blacksburg, Virginia, $2 million<\/strong><\/p>\n

Luna Innovations is partnering with Sierra Nevada Corporation, ILC Dover and Johnson to prove the viability of sensors that monitor the structural health and safety of inflatable space habitats located in orbit or on the surface of other worlds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Astrobotic is one of 14 companies selected for NASA\u2019s Tipping Point solicitation. This illustration depicts CubeRover, an ultra-light, modular and scalable commercial rover. Credit: Astrobotic\/Carnegie Mellon University NASA announced agreements worth a combined $43.2 million with 14 commercial partners Friday \u2014 including Blue Origin and SpaceX \u2014 to fund experiments in propellant and power generation, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2509,304,697,2510,509,291,2511,2512],"class_list":["post-12928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-accion-systems","tag-artemis","tag-astrobotic","tag-blue-canyon-technologies","tag-blue-origin","tag-commercial-space","tag-cu-aerospace","tag-cuberover"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12928"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12928\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}