{"id":19036,"date":"2017-03-14T01:41:16","date_gmt":"2017-03-13T17:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-backs-kymetas-mini-antennas-and-tethers-unlimiteds-3-d-printer-recycler\/"},"modified":"2017-03-14T01:41:16","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T17:41:16","slug":"nasa-backs-kymetas-mini-antennas-and-tethers-unlimiteds-3-d-printer-recycler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-backs-kymetas-mini-antennas-and-tethers-unlimiteds-3-d-printer-recycler\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA backs Kymeta\u2019s mini-antennas and Tethers Unlimited\u2019s 3-D printer\/recycler"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_317254\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-317254\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-317254\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170313-cubesats-630x496.jpg\" alt=\"CubeSat deployment\" width=\"630\" height=\"496\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170313-cubesats-630x496.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170313-cubesats-768x605.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170313-cubesats.jpg 797w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-317254\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Foot-long nanosatellites tumble through space after their deployment from the International Space Station. Kymeta is working on flat-panel communication antennas that could be placed on such satellites. (NASA Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Flat-panel antennas that are tiny enough to fit on a nanosatellite and a 3-D printer that can recycle space station&nbsp;trash are among the Seattle-area projects that have won seed money in NASA\u2019s latest round of grant-making.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re just a couple of the 133 proposals selected for contracts of up to $750,000 under NASA\u2019s Small Business Innovation Research program, or SBIR. But what\u2019s notable about Kymeta\u2019s mini-antennas and Tethers Unlimited Inc.\u2019s ERASMUS plastics recycler and 3-D printer is that they could spawn products for use on Earth as well as in space.<\/p>\n<p>Take ERASMUS, for example: The device under development Bothell-based Tethers Unlimited is designed to melt down and sterilize plastic waste and parts, turn the stuff into printer filament, and use&nbsp;it in a 3-D printer to create food utensils, medical devices and other gadgets.<\/p>\n<p>That capability would clearly come in handy on the International Space Station or inside a habitat on the moon or Mars. But Tethers Unlimited says there are also potential terrestrial applications.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTUI expects that the ability to create food-contact-safe sterilized materials will be ideal for the DoD [Department of Defense] to support soldiers in remote locations where resupply is limited,\u201d the company says in its description of the project. \u201cWe also anticipate this technology to be a game-changer for medical service providers with limited access to water.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Tethers Unlimited Video\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_DQOjK6UDWI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Redmond-based Kymeta, meanwhile, plans to use its NASA grant to develop low-power, flat-panel, electronically steerable Ka-band antennas that would fit on a type of satellite known as a 3U CubeSat. Such satellites measure just 4 by 4 by 10 inches, and they\u2019re becoming increasingly popular for space applications.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis antenna is appropriate for a variety of applications that require high data rate communications but do not have the funding or the weight budget to allow a phased array antenna, including university CubeSat teams, commercial companies, and government entities,\u201d Kymeta says.<\/p>\n<p>Kymeta also happens to be working on satellite antennas small enough to fit on automobiles, which could be used for&nbsp;video as well as the data stream that\u2019d be required&nbsp;for self-driving systems. It\u2019s easy to imagine the synergy between what Kymeta is doing for space applications, and what it\u2019s planning for connected cars.<\/p>\n<p>NASA\u2019s SBIR grants, like its Small Business Technology Transfer grants, are aimed at giving small businesses a boost when it comes to developing technologies suitable for space applications. The latest grants, announced last week, are 24-month Phase II SBIR contracts. They follow up on Phase I contracts that fund technology development to the tune of no more than $125,000 over the course of a year.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Kymeta\u2019s antennas and Tethers Unlimited\u2019s 3-D printer\/recycler, the latest batch of Phase II SBIR awards include these projects being developed in Washington state and Oregon:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>e-beam, Beaverton, Ore:<\/strong> A miniaturized amplifier that can process remote-sensing data on CubeSats.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Innovation Laboratory, Portland, Ore.:<\/strong> An air traffic management system that can transition between operations over oceans and operations over land.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Luxel Corp., Friday Harbor, Wash.:<\/strong> Ultra-thin graphene foils for use in sensors that would weigh less and consume less power than current instruments.<\/li>\n<li><strong>M42 Technologies, Seattle:<\/strong> Scaled-down navigation equipment that would enable small satellites to fly in formation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sequoia Scientific, Bellevue, Wash.:<\/strong> Instruments that could be used to measure hyperspectral backscattering in oceans. Such measurements could help scientists&nbsp;assess the health of marine ecosystems more accurately.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tethers Unlimited, Bothell, Wash.:<\/strong> In addition to ERASMUS, Tethers Unlimited won awards for its OpenSWIFT communication platform&nbsp;and its MANTIS telerobotic interface system.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Voxtel, Beaverton, Ore:<\/strong> An advanced&nbsp;entry, descent and landing system that\u2019d be suitable for a spacecraft landing on Europa, an ice-covered moon of Jupiter.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Stay tuned for NASA\u2019s announcement of the next batch of Phase I SBIR and STTR awards in April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Foot-long nanosatellites tumble through space after their deployment from the International Space Station. Kymeta is working on flat-panel communication antennas that could be placed on such satellites. (NASA Photo) Flat-panel antennas that are tiny enough to fit on a nanosatellite and a 3-D printer that can recycle space station&nbsp;trash are among the Seattle-area projects that [&hellip;]<\/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":[4585,4591,354,190,4793],"class_list":["post-19036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-3-d-printing","tag-antennas","tag-kymeta","tag-nasa","tag-tethers-unlimited"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19036"}],"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=19036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}