HAMPTON

Bill Fredericks knew NASA had a good thing going in a battery-powered drone that could take off and land like a helicopter but fly like an airplane.

Dubbed Greased Lightning, the prototypes test flights were a success, but the space agency had only so much money to spend. Fredericks, a NASA engineer at the time and the drones 35-year-old lead inventor, thought it could do more, especially with hybrid power that might keep it airborne for 24 hours without a charge.

We develop technologies, and whether they work or they dont, you put them on the shelf and move on to the next one, he said.

So Fredericks licensed the technology and branched out on his own, making the switch from NASA researcher to full-time entrepreneur, starting Advanced Aircraft Co. in Hampton.

In an effort to help more people like Fredericks make the leap from the lab to the boardroom, the space agency has developed two new options:

One, the Entrepreneur Opportunity Program, will give NASA researchers a crash course in turning their technology into a business.

The other, the Entrepreneur in Residence program, will essentially embed a businessperson in the space agency who could dust off research otherwise relegated to a shelf and help find a commercial life for it off campus.

Either way, NASA hopes to put its technology to good use.

For Larry Thomsen III, a senior materials research engineer with NASA Langley for 16 years, the entrepreneurial opportunity program was the first time hes had to think about potential profits and costs for what hes making. Thomsen has spent half his years at the agency developing material to shield small satellites, or CubeSats, from atmospheric radiation.

Now hes just months away from sending a prototype into space. Radiation that might have ruined electronics inside a satellite within a couple of months might function for years with his shield, valuable time for missions that can cost up to $2 million in some cases. He said his shield material would cost a fraction of that, up to $30,000.

Thomsen has seen estimates that 500 small satellites are expected to be launched into space between now and 2019 satellites that might want his shield.

The agency has great technologists and researchers, but we dont know a daggone thing about business development, said Richard Antcliff, chief strategist at NASA Langley.

Plus, if MIT and Stanford can spin off a company, why cant NASA? Lets send the incredibly smart people with it, he said.

Those people are going to want customers, Antcliff said. And if the business doesnt work out, theres nothing preventing NASA from re-hiring them.

Outside the military, its a first-of-its-kind effort for a federal lab.

Its a trailblazing initiative, said Christie Funk, the programs coordinator at NASA. We are not only just trying to commercialize technologies, but were trying to commercialize them for the benefit of society.

The state has agreed to contribute $100,000 to the Entrepreneur in Residence programs first year. Virginia Technology Secretary Karen Jackson said that for her department to be involved, she wanted a focus on unmanned vehicle technology that could benefit the outside world.

She said the state also wanted someone who had been inside NASA and successfully started businesses outside of it to be involved. Douglas Juanarena, a graduate of Virginia Tech, fit the part.

He wasnt ready to move back to the Peninsula after 17 years in Blacksburg, so he wont be in residence, but hell be working with someone who will be: Jeff Johnson with the Virginia Tech Center Research Park in Newport News.

Theres a ton of technology inside NASA inside Jefferson Lab that we want to mine, Johnson said.

The two agencies spend $1 billion on research annually.

Juanarena said he would offer advice to help NASA researchers in making the jump across the chasm from the laboratory to the private sector.

He should know. He gave up a research position at NASA Langley to do that with Pressure Systems Inc., the sensor company he started in the 1977 at a time when the agency took a hands-off approach when one of its scientists got the entrepreneurial urge.

Now Juanarena hopes to help others in the agency bridge the gap with a bit of business guidance before they leave, akin to the simple, but probing, questions trademarked by consultant Wendy Kennedy: So what? Who cares? Why you?

Thats the essence of it, he said. So youve got this pretty baby, so what?

Will customers want it? If so, how many will buy it? Is it unique or a me-too? Whats the competition? How much is it going to cost to turn a prototype into a minimally viable product?

Some may find out that your baby isnt the prettiest baby out there, he said.

But if it is, the new program may help them go it on their own or find an existing company to shepherd it into existence.

NASA finished the first phase of its in-house program modeled after the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Five teams of researchers, including Fredericks and Thomsen, developing everything from sensors to radiation shields to drones, spent 12 weeks learning about possible customer needs and developing their product. The next six-month phase involves writing business plans, pitching investors and teaming up with other executives to help with specific roles.

Without the entrepreneurial training, Thomsen said he may never have known his technology might have other customers namely in medical fields or nuclear handling.

Unlike Fredericks, hes not giving up his day job quite yet, or perhaps ever. Its too early for that decision. While its been exciting to meet entrepreneurs in the program, he said he still likes the research life.

But he said what hes learned may already help him think about a product in the initial stages.

He said hed ponder: Whats the cost of the research were doing and how could somebody actually use it?

Fredericks found out he would need to raise several million dollars in seed money to make NASAs Greased Lightning a reality. So he pivoted, for the moment, to another drone hes calling Hercules.

He said it would require 90 percent less startup money. It would cost customers at least $60,000 for a base model more than twice as much as existing battery-powered, multi-rotor drones on the market.

But, he said his customers likely in the agriculture or mapping industries could survey a larger area, with less staff, because Hercules can fly longer: 3 hours with a full tank of gas, or two hours if its carrying something weighing 4 pounds.

In two years, Fredericks said he hopes to get back to making Greased Lightning, a vehicle that might whip along a line at 80 mph detecting anomalies along the way and slowing to a hover to inspect it more closely, all without a human being in sight. Its a feat that might appeal to the Defense Department or utilities that need to inspect lengthy power lines, railroad and pipelines. Eventually, he hopes to build a model large enough to carry four people.

For now, though, hes just hoping for a steady stream of revenue.

Then Ill be able to breathe a little easier, he said.

Read more:

NASA aims to get its technology off the shelf, out of the agency and into the marketplace - Virginian-Pilot