NASA has awarded 20 industry and academic organizations funds worth approximately $10M combined to develop their proposed space technology platforms for commercial test flights under the agency’s Flight Opportunities program.
The space agency said Thursday the 25 selected technologies deal with two topic areas meant to support NASA’s lunar exploration objectives through the Artemis program.
“With vibrant and growing interest in exploration and commercial space across the country, our goal with these selections is to support innovators from industry and academia who are using rapid and affordable commercial opportunities to test their technologies in space,†said Christopher Baker, program executive for Flight Opportunities at NASA. “These suborbital flights enable researchers to quickly and iteratively test technologies with the opportunity to make adjustments between flights.Â
The first topic supports sustainable lunar exploration and economic activity expansion in cislunar space. Topic 1 awardees are:
- Carthage College
- Draper
- Honeybee Robotics
- IMEC USA Nanoelectronics Design Center
- Johns Hopkins University
- Masten Space Systems
- Montana State University
- North Carolina State University
- Southwest Research Institute
- University of Central Florida, Orlando
- University of Colorado, Boulder
- University of Florida, Gainesville
The second topic seeks to advance the utilization of suborbital space and low-Earth orbit commercialization. The awardees are:
- GSSL
- Johns Hopkins University
- Mayo Clinic
- Night Crew Labs
- Purdue University
- Southwest Research Institute
- Space Environment Technologies
- University of Kentucky, Lexington
- Vanderbilt University
The agency’s space technology mission directorate funds the Flight Opportunities program, which is managed by Armstrong Flight Research Center. Ames Research Center oversees the solicitation and assessment of technologies.
