U.S. small businesses may be headed to Mars literally.

Last week, NASA announced the 14 winning proposals from U.S. small businesses and teams at research institutions for contracts totaling $9.8 million. The U.S. space agency says the funding will allow the small business recipients to continue working on innovative, high-tech projects needed for future space missions.

The program is called Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) named for the way small businesses facilitate the transfer of ideas from research institutions and universities and turn them into viable technologies.

What we hope to see is ideas at the cutting edge at the lab pulled out more rapidly, thanks to a project associated with government needs, says Rich Leshner, program executive for the SBIR/STTR Program at NASA.

Leshner says STTR and its sister program, the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which funds small business research and development, benefits NASA in terms of the level of innovation and creativity that small businesses bring to the table.

NASA 2013 Picks for Innovation Funding

HJ Sciences and TechnologyFunding: $700,000 contract pending

Its basically a lab on a robot platform, says HJ Sciences and Technology CEO Hong Jiao, who works with a team at the University of Texas.

The technology Jiao is referring to will allow a microchip on a robot to quickly process samples on Mars as if it were in an actual lab. This would help scientists figure out whether there is organic matter on Mars, indicating there may have been life on the planet.

Right now, we dont do very sophisticated chemistry up there. Were essentially using the same technology from the first time NASA sent anything to Mars in the 1970s, says Jiao.

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NASA Giving $9.8M to SMBs for Trip to Mars