NASA invests in small business projects to advance technology – Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

NASA has selected 365 U.S. small business proposals for initial funding from the agencys Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transferprogram, a total investment of more than $45 million. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County will manage eight of the projects.

Tom Stanley, Stennis Space Centers Technology Transition Lead, called the NASA programs a win-win type of process because they benefit small businesses and the space agency.

Said Stanley, For Stennis, these programs are a primary source of research and development to help us explore solutions to problems related to propulsion testing and other missions. We face some very challenging technical issues, and these programs allow us to evaluate a wide range of innovative ideas and to identify the ones that can help us reduce risks, create new capabilities and improve performance.

Stanley added, For the small businesses, the programs provide much-needed early funding that enables them to pursue new technologies. In addition to possibly benefiting NASA, the companies have a chance to retain ownership of the intellectual property and commercialize it for use. The Phase I SBIR/STTR contract also qualifies a small business for non-competitive procurements from federal government organizations, which lowers the barriers they might otherwise face.

Another plus is having NASA as a customer, which Stanley said, helps raise the profile of a small business as they seek to find additional customers.

NASA officials said they recognized that small businesses have faced unprecedented challenges due to the pandemic so they accelerated the process by two months to expedite funding and give the businesses a needed economic boost.

The goal of the small business program is to advance cutting-edge technologies. NASA provides up to $125,000 for companies, with additional funding possible, based on the technical merit and commercial potential of the proposals. The projects align with NASAs missions in human exploration, space technology, science and aeronautics, officials said.

The projects include one by a Hispanic American-owned small business in New York that will use the funding to develop a wind sensor to enable a flight path control system for high-altitude scientific balloon operations. Besides helping NASA, the technology could improve the accuracy of weather predictions.

The six selected SBIR projects selected for Phase I awards and to be managed by Stennis Space Center are:

The two STTR projects selected for Phase I awards to be managed by Stennis Space Center are:

For information about the Stennis Test Technology Branch, visit:

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NASA invests in small business projects to advance technology - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal