Gravitics, Inc., an orbital infrastructure company, has announced that it was selected by NASA for a 2026 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I award. The award supports development of the Multiple-Downmass Hangar, a system for affordable and frequent commercial sample return from low Earth orbit.
The Multiple-Downmass Hangar is designed to hold multiple return vehicles on a single orbital platform, ready to bring samples and other materials produced on-orbit back to Earth without waiting for a dedicated return flight. Material return remains a constraint for customers conducting research or manufacturing on orbit. Gravitics’ persistent orbital logistics approach is designed to allow customers to bring materials home on their own schedules by providing multiple return vehicles in orbit, ready for customer use.
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“Gravitics remains focused on cargo logistics solutions for low Earth orbit,” said Colin Doughan, Chief Executive Officer of Gravitics. “Adding innovative return capability is a natural evolution of our current cargo delivery architecture, and we look forward to advancing this technology with NASA.”
The six-month Phase I effort focuses on establishing the technical merit and feasibility of the concept, with an architecture designed to lower the cost of returning mass from orbit and support a regular return cadence. NASA announced its Phase I selections on August 6, 2026. The selection is subject to contract negotiation through the NASA Shared Services Center.
The NASA SBIR/STTR program is part of America’s Seed Fund, the nation’s largest source of early-stage, non-dilutive funding for technologies. Through the program, small businesses receive funding and support to build, mature, and commercialize technologies that advance NASA missions.
