NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

2000

Technology Transfer

Report

a Technology

Commercialization

Office 

publication

1

2000

Technology Transfer

Report

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Since its inception, Goddard has pursued a

commitment to technology transfer and

commercialization. For every space technology developed, Goddard strives to identify

secondary applications. Goddard then provides the technologies, as well as its expertise and facilities, to U.S. companies,

universities, and government agencies.

These efforts are based in Goddard’s Technology Commercialization Office (TCO).

This report presents TCO’s activities and

accomplishments during calendar year

2000.

a Technology Commercialization Office publication

Table of

Contents

Who We Are . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Activities in 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Encouraging Researcher Involvement . . . . 7

Inventorying New Technologies . . . . . . . . 8

Patenting Goddard Technologies . . . . . . . 12

Promoting Goddard Technologies . . . . . . .12

Establishing and Maintaining Agreements . . . 21

Seeking and Bestowing Awards . . . . . . . . . . 22

How to Reach Goddard’s 

Technology Commercialization Office . . . . . . 24
2

2000 Technology Transfer Report

Technology Com

Who We Are

Technology transfer and commercialization are

an important part of the mission at NASA’s

Goddard Space Flight Center. Goddard’s technology, expertise, and facilities are a national

asset that can be used to develop new products

and processes that benefit the United States.

These benefits include increasing the nation’s

competitiveness, creating jobs, improving the

balance of trade, and enriching the lives of the

citizenry. To ensure that these benefits are

achieved, Goddard established the Technology

Commercialization Office.

G o
3

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

d d a r d’s mercialization Office TCO leads Goddard’s technology transfer efforts by

❚ Seeking out Goddard research and development that has

the potential of being successfully transferred to meet

industry and national needs

❚ Inventorying newly developed technologies

❚ Patenting Goddard-developed inventions

❚ Promoting Goddard technologies, facilities, and

capabilities to potential partners

❚ Negotiating license agreements and partnerships with

industry and academia

❚ Promoting successful transfer and commercialization

efforts

These key activities, and the efforts that support their completion, are performed by four teams that work together to

facilitate technology transfer and commercialization. For

information on how to contact staff, please see page 24.
4

Commercial 

Technology Staff

Commercial technology staff work with industry, academia,

and other government agencies to transfer Goddard technologies and to help these organizations solve their technical

problems that fall in six areas of Goddard’s expertise:

❚ Environmental systems

❚ Guidance, navigation, and control (GNC)

❚ Information systems

❚ Optics

❚ Sensors and detectors

❚ Thermal and cryogenics

Staff also negotiate licensing or partnership agreements.

Patent Counsel

Goddard’s Office of Patent Counsel prepares patent applications and other patent-related documents, and reviews Space

Act, license, and nondisclosure agreements. Patent counsel

also helps determine the patent potential of new Goddard

technologies and oversees intellectual property issues.

The collective and collaborative

efforts of these four teams resulted

in several accomplishments during

calendar year 2000. 

2000 Technology Transfer Report
Outreach and 

Integration Staff

Outreach and integration staff market Goddard-developed

technologies that are available for commercialization and

publicize technology commercialization successes. These outreach efforts are conducted using Technology Opportunity

Sheets, NASA Tech Briefs, Commerce Business Daily, NASA Television, the Internet, news releases to and articles in trade

journals, and presentations at conferences (see page 19). Staff

also work to integrate Goddard researchers into the commercialization process (see page 7).

Small Business 

Innovative Research Staff

Extra efforts to involve smaller businesses are made under the

auspices of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)

program. The SBIR program offers grants to small businesses

to meet federal research and development needs. A similar

program—the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)

program—involves teams of small businesses and research

institutions conducting research jointly.

5

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
6

Activities in 2000

The Technology Commercialization Office’s overall

mission is to introduce Goddard technologies, capabilities, and facilities into the commercial, academic,

and government communities. To achieve this mission, TCO undertakes many activities:

• Encouraging researcher involvement in the

technology commercialization process

• Inventorying new technologies developed at

Goddard

• Patenting Goddard technologies

• Promoting available technologies and facilities

• Establishing and maintaining agreements with

industry, academia, and other government

agencies

• Seeking and bestowing awards for Goddard

technologies

2000 Technology Transfer Report
7

D. Dalton

Gary T. Davis

Thomas Flatley

Edward Gaddy

Jerry Garegnani

John Godfrey

Claef Hakun

Paul Haney

Michael Hartman

Carlos Hernandez

Phyllis Hestnes

Norden Huang

David Israel

Clarence Johnson

Karen Keadle-Calvert

Richard Katz

John Keller

Semion Kizhner

Robert Knox

John Kolasinski

Kenneth Y. Lee

Delmar Arbogast

Jeannette Benavides

Carlos Bernabe

David Beverley

Thomas Bialas

Geoffrey Bland

Kenneth Blumenstock

Vincent Bly

William Braun

Julie Breed

Jamie Britt

Joseph Burt

Charles Campbell

William Campbell

Cynthia Cheung

Michael Choi

Michael Comberiate

Patrick Coronado

Alan Cudmore

William Cutlip

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Encouraging Researcher Involvement

Technology transfer would not be possible without the participation of Goddard’s scientific

and technical staff. Every year, the Technology Commercialization Office undertakes many

efforts to encourage researcher participation. For example, TCO hosts an annual reception to

honor civil servants who report new technologies or provide outstanding contributions to

commercialization. In calendar year 2000, more than 75 civil servants participated in the

technology transfer process:

Jacqueline LeMoigne 

John Leon

Douglas Leviton

Maurice Lewis

Camilla Logan

Thomas McGee

Ted Miles

Brent Mott

Quang Nguyen

Sharon Orsborne

Carla Patterson

Leslie Payne

William Pence

David Petrick

Scott Pursley

Glenn Rakow

James Rash

George Reinhardt

Carolina Ridgeway

David Robinson

Jacob Rosenberg

Christopher Rouff

Joseph Schepis

David Schwinger

Ashok Sharma

Edward Sittler

James Tilton

Carlos Trujillo

John Vranish

Eugene Waluschka

Evan Webb

Paul Westmeyer

Charles Wright

Charles Zakrzwski

William Zhang

Nigel Ziyad
Environmental Systems

Direct Readout Level-1 Processing System

for the Terra MODIS Instrument Data

Electrostatically Clean Solar Array Panel

High-Altitude, Long-Duration Balloon

Missions

Minimum Cycle Slip Airborne Differential

Carrier Phase GPS Antenna

Nadir Viewing System for Solar Wind

Measurements by Solar Probe

Regional Application Center Software,

RODIN

Small Electric Powered Uninhabited Aerial

Vehicle

Spectral-Ratio Biospheric Lidar

8

Inventorying New Technologies 

One of the primary ways that Goddard researchers participate in the technology transfer process is by identifying, documenting, and reporting their new

technologies to the Technology Commercialization Office. TCO then maintains

an inventory of these reported technologies. These pages list all of the technologies reported in calendar year 2000, categorized according to Goddard’s

areas of technical expertise.

Thermal and Cryogenics

Cutting Thin Glass Using Heat Stress

High-Temperature Thermal Blanket for

Temperatures up to 2,100 oC

Innovative Manufacturing Procedure for 

Low-Cost and High-Quality Carbon

Nanotubes

Low-Power Cryogenic Shutter Mechanism

for Use in Infrared Images

NASA Internal Combustion Engine

Temperature-Control System to Keep the

Heitronics IR Thermometer Working in

Cold Conditions

Three-Phase Inverter for Small, High-Speed

Motors

2000 Technology Transfer Report
9

Optics

Absolute Cartesian Encoder

Absolute Frequency Locking Technique for

Far-Infrared Pump Lasers

Apparatus that Divides and Coregisters

Multiple Optical Beams with Ultra-High

Accuracy and Vibration and Thermal

Stability

Chemical Stripping Fixture for Ribbon-Type

Optical Fiber Cables

Compact, Highly Efficient, and Rugged UV

Source Based on Fiber Lasers

Fast All-Optical Switch

Holographic Memory Module with UltraHigh Capacity and Throughput

Laser Diode with High-Frequency Surge and

Electrostatic Discharge Protection

Lightweight Optical Mirrors Formed in

Single Crystal Silicon

Magnetically Suspended Optical Chopper

Wheel with Six-Axis Control

Method of Producing Complex Valued

Optical Modulation from Limited Range

Light Modulating Arrays by Blending

Error Diffusion with Pseudorandom

Encoding

Minimizing Gravity Sag of a Large Mirror

with an Inverted Hindle Mount

Novel Pupil for Detecting Faint Objects in

the Presence of a Bright Source

Optical Design for Testing Grazing

Incidence Optics

Quadruple Precision Optics Ray Trace Code

(QRAYPKS)

Vibration Stable, Ultra-Precision Multiple

Axes Rotational Optical Component

Adjustment Mechanism

Guidance, Navigation, and Control

Attitude Determination System and Method

Autonomous Solar Navigation System

Development of Catalytic MEMS Thrusters

Dual Sorted Array Method for Determining

Stars within or Near a Star Tracker Field

of View

Electrostatic Torque Obtained from a Pair of

Rapidly Moving Charge Spores

GPS-Enhanced Orbit Determination

Experiment

Launch System with Long-Range Remote

Fuel Delivery via Slingatrons and

Explosive Blast Wave Man-Rateable

Acceleration into Orbit

Magnetic Moment Reduction

Methods and Systems for the Calibration/

Mitigation of the Inter-Star-Tracker

Misalignments in a Stellar-Inertial

Attitude Determination System

Shock Attenuation Technique for a

Structurally Stiff Bolted Interface

Simple Approach to Ensure Spacecraft

Onboard Kalman Filter Numerical

Stability

Stellar Inertial Attitude Determination

System with Weighted Noise

Covariance Matrix Filter

Stellar Inertial Attitude Determination

Systems with Variable Star Data

Averaging Techniques

System for Stellar Inertial Attitude

Determination

World-Wide Portable Animal Satellite

Locator System

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Information Systems

29KPL154: A Small, Configurable Processor

Access to Space Interactive Mission Design

Website

Advanced Spacecraft Integration and Test

Software (ASIST), Front End Data

Systems/Digital History Data Store

Software (FEDS/DHDS)

All EOS PM

Application of HHT for Sound Enhancement

and Filtering

Article-Application of Soft Computing in

Coherent Communications Phase

Synchronization

Automated Mutimodal Trend Analysis

System

DADS/EOS

Deriving Formal Specifications and Code

from Scenarios

DIPS: Distributed Environment for Onboard

Planning and Scheduling

ECS Software

Enhancement to Segmented Cold Cathode

Display Panel Invention

Extension of Discrete-State Hebbion

Learning to Systems Having

Continuously Valued States and Control

Actions

Flexible Image Transport Systems

GLAS Altimeter Digitizer Software; Digital

Signal Processor

Goddard Trending Analysis System

GUI for Schools to Use NASA Data Products

Easily

Interactive Image Spreadsheet

Java-Based Cross-Platform Image

Processing Tool Called Image2000

KPP: A VHOL Processor

Method for Artifact Reduction in

Approaches to Data Segmentation that

Employ Data Subdivision and

Recombination

10

Method for Processing Ranked Fuzzy

Cartesian Queries

Method for Recursive Hierarchial

Segmentation by Region Growing and

Spectral Clustering with a Natural

Convergence Criterion

Mobile Earth: A Secure GPS-Aware Internet

Browser

Moderate Resolution Imaging

Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Production

Software

Mongoose V: VxWorks Board Support

Package

MOPPS, Version 10.3

Multidimensional Indexing Structure for Use

with Linear Optimization Queries

Packaging of a Commercial Disk Drive for

Space Environment

Perl DataTools

PGE16: Product Generation Executive Code

for MODIS Land-Surface Temperature

Products

Programmable Telemetry Processor

RBK4: A Fourth Generation Single Event

Upset Test Software

Region Labeling Tool for Use with

Hierarchical Segmentation

SCAT: Spacecraft Command and Telemetry

Front-End Processor Software

Security Information System

Sensor-Independent Software for

Construction of As-Built Models and

Seamless 3-D Immersive Virtual

Environments

Sign Language Interpreter Scheduling

System

Software Telemetry Processing System

Spacecraft Command and Telemetry Card

Spacecraft Emergency Response System

Standard Autonomous File Server

Sun Solaris SCL

System Design for a Hybrid Network Data

Communications Terminal Using

Asymmetric TCP/IP to Support Internet

Applications

2000 Technology Transfer Report
11

Text 2 Extensible Markup Language

Three-D Volumetric Mesh Integration

Package

Universal Extender for Processing

Multimedia Objects in ObjectRelational Databases

Wheel Widget

Sensors and Detectors

Circular Polarization Keying

Development of Low-Cost Adaptive

Computing Technology

Fast DC SQUID System Based on Flux

Modulation Technique

Fast Turn on Gating of Photomultiplier

Tubes

Ground Station Router Interface Device

Hyperspectral Polarization Profiler for

Remote Sensing

Invention 1 Multilayer Ball Grid Array

Encapsulation 

Method of Indium Bump Deposition on

Cadmium Zinc Telluride Substrates

Using a Shadow Mask Technique

Miniature Addressable Pressure Transducer

Object Detection System for Autonomous

Fork Vehicles

Optical Extinctiometer for Cloud Radiation

Measurements and Planetary

Exploration

Power System for Solar Probe

Turbotrap: A Method for Containing a Gas

in an Open Container

Two-Stage DC SQUID Amplifier System

Use of a Scanning Probe Microscopy

Wormhole Packet Router for Avions

Applications Using Modified IEEE-1355

and PCI

Other Technologies

3-D Interactive Display

Ceiling Tile Installer

Circularly Polarized Slot Antenna

Elemental Analysis with Scanning Probe

Microscopy

Fastener with Formable Handle

Immobilization of Individual Growing Cells

in Ordered Arrays

Mechanical Tube Bending Tool for Precise

Bends

Mechanism for Providing Low Impedance

Isolated Gate Drive in Ultra-Low

Voltage Switching Mode Regulators

Mechanism that Provides Nanometer-Level

Precision in Six Degrees of Freedom

Metal Doped Diamondlike Carbon Films

Method and Apparatus for Guiding Ablative

Therapy of Abnormal Electrical

Excitation

Method and Apparatus to Measure the

Cross-Sectional Area of an Object

Method to Improve Eyesight in Persons with

Myopia

Miniature Rotary Shape Memory Alloy

Actuator

Screw Latch for Spacecraft-Deployable

Applications

Selective Plasma Deposition of

Fluorocarbon Film on Self-Assembled

Monolayers

Split Tube Flexure

Super-Resolving Rotary Actuator

Tape Guide

Three-Dimensional Roller Clutch Reversible

Hand Socket Wrench

Thrust Rollers

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
12

Patenting Goddard Technologies

A key activity of Technology Commercialization Office’s Patent Counsel team is protecting

the intellectual property (IP) developed at Goddard. Because filing for and maintaining a

patent can be costly, counsel carefully evaluate new technologies to ensure that filing for a

patent is appropriate. During calendar year 2000, the Patent Counsel team filed 16 patent

applications, 7 of which were provisional patents. Provisional patents provide temporary

patent protection for 1 year. They are useful for protecting patent rights while decisions are

made about whether to file for full patent protection. They also are useful to protect IP rights

while allowing the inventors to disclose the technology at a conference or other event. 

In addition, three Goddard technologies received patents in calendar year 2000:

U.S. Patent No. 6,123,512 Heat-driven pulse pump

U.S. Patent No. 6,114,995 Computer-implemented method and apparatus for autonomous position determination using magnetic field data

U.S. Patent No. 6,081,570 Parallel integrated frame synchronizer chip

Promoting Goddard

Technologies

The Technology Commercialization Office successfully

promotes Goddard’s innovative technologies and unique

facilities through: 

• Publications and facility information

• Conferences, briefings, and symposia

• Establishing contacts with potential partners

2000 Technology Transfer Report
13

Publications and Facility Information

The Technology Commercialization Office prepared many promotional materials—both on

paper and online—in calendar year 2000.

NASA Tech Briefs

NASA Tech Briefs helps NASA achieve its technology transfer goals. This monthly periodical

reports any new, commercially significant technologies developed at NASA so that industry

engineers, managers, and scientists can use this valuable information to improve their competitiveness and productivity. Staff in Goddard’s Technology Commercialization Office wrote

more than 30 articles for NASA Tech Briefs during calendar year 2000:

❚ Segmented-Cold-Cathode Display Panels:

Compared to cathode-ray tubes, these

panels are much wider and thinner.

❚ Method of Measuring Encircled Energy for

Imaging Optical Systems: This improved

method uses precisely micromachined

apertures positioned with great accuracy

to achieve unprecedented levels of specification and characterization.

❚ High-Power, Wideband Laser-Diode

Transmitter Module: This technology’s

diffraction-limited operation affords longrange transmission.

❚ Post-Processing Satellite Image Data in

Secondary Schools: Direct experience helps

prepare children for participation in an

increasingly technological world.

❚ Return-Link Processor PCI Card: Relative

to prior return-link circuitry, this card is

smaller, more energy-efficient, higher

performance, more versatile, and much

less expensive.

❚ Integrated Test and Operations System:

This modular system is customized to

specific applications through entries in a

database.

❚ Composite-Material Heat Sink for Printed

Circuit Boards: This technology is a lightweight alternative to aluminum heat sinks.

❚ Software for Monitoring Remote Systems

and Executing Planning: Knowledge Server

Tools (KST) software is easier to use, has

higher capabilities, and is more portable

that previous technologies.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Reprinted with permission from NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 24, Nos. 1, 2, 7, 10, and 12.
14

❚ Special-Purpose Interface for Fast Writing

on a Hard Disk: Size, weight, and power

consumption are less than in a generalpurpose hard disk drive interface.

❚ Forward-Link/Simulator PCI Card:

Improvements provided by this technology include decreases in size, cost, and

power consumption and increases in

speed.

❚ Tunable, Single-Frequency, Fiber FabryPerot VCSELs: These vertical-cavity

surface emitting lasers have been demonstrated at wavelengths of 850 and 1,300

nanometers.

❚ Fabricating Small Apertures in Silicon-onInsulator Wafers: Apertures with features

as small as 0.5 micrometers can be formed

repeatedly with this technology.

❚ Higher Resolution Optoelectronic ShaftAngle Encoder: This encoder is an

improved version of an earlier related

technology.

❚ High-Power Laser Illuminator: Wavelength selectivity enhances tracking in the

presence of background light.

❚ Microwave Battery Charger: This technology allows batteries to be kept charged

without wire connections.

❚ Spacecraft Solar-Wind Trim Panels for

Pointing: This technology proposes that

spacecraft assigned to orbits distant from

Earth be equipped with trim panels that

would intercept solar wind.

❚ Cadmium Zinc Telluride Detectors for

Imaging of Gamma Rays: This technology

achieves angular resolution of less than 

1 arc-minute.

❚ Absolute Position Encoders Using Pattern

Recognition: This technology won NASA’s

Government Invention of the Year Award

for 2000 (see page 23).

❚ Software Facilitates Access to a Scientific

Database: This program supports cooperative international scientific efforts.

❚ Mechanism for Planar Manipulation with

Simplified Kinematics: This technology

greatly simplifies the inverse kinematics to

easily resolve end-effector motion.

❚ Designing Purging Flows of Clean, Dry

Gases: Flow parameters can be chosen to

reduce contamination to specified low

levels.

❚ Gap Welding Preforms: This technology

might enable ribbon radio-frequency connections to be made with greater consistency.

❚ Software for Ground Processing of Data

from Landsat 7: These three computer

programs were designed specifically to

handle data from this satellite used to

acquire remotely sensed images of Earth’s

land surface and surrounding coastal

regions.

2000 Technology Transfer Report
15

❚ Parallel Integrated Frame Synchronizer

Chip: This chip can handle data in a variety of formats at rates up to 500 megabits

per second.

❚ Glass Cure Plates for Fabricating Flat

Composite Panels: Costs associated with

this technology are lower than those of

aluminum cure plates.

❚ Analyzing Time Series Using Empirical

Mode Decomposition and Hilbert Spectra:

This technology can be used to decompose complicated sets of data into finite

collections of intrinsic mode functions.

❚ Range-Safety Smart System: RSSS was

conceived to advance the Range Safety

System technology used to make destruct/

no-destruct decisions during vehicle

flight.

❚ Quadruple Precision Optics Ray Trace

Code: QRAYPKS is a general purpose

optics-analysis computer program that

enables exceptionally precise computations of path lengths.

❚ Computer-Controlled Power Tool: This

updated version of the pistol-grip tool

regulates torque or speed and analyzes

operational history.

❚ Improved Infrared Imaging of Bulk Defects

in Cadmium Zinc Telluride Wafers: Images

generated with this technology guide the

“mining” of large wafers for fabricating

X-ray detectors.

❚ Microaltimeter: This instrument is smaller,

lighter, less expensive, more robust, and

more energy efficient than other laser

altimeter systems.

❚ Reed-Solomon Forward Error Correction:

This method increases the link margins of

data-communication systems that must

handle variable-length frames or packets

of data.

❚ Fast NRZLM Encoding and Decoding Algorithm: These byte-oriented algorithms

save encoding and decoding time for datacommunications systems.

http://www.nasatech.com NASA Tech Briefs is available on the Internet at 

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Technology Opportunity Sheets

These one-page announcements succinctly summarize a

Goddard-developed technology, focusing on its potential

commercial applications and benefits. The Technology

Commercialization Office prepares and distributes these

sheets through targeted mailings, at trade shows, and via

TCO’s Web site (http://techtransfer.gsfc.nasa.gov). TCO

produced 16 of these sheets during 2000:

❚ A Breakthrough Technology for Lidar Systems

❚ Better Algorithms for Analyzing Nonlinear,

Nonstationary Data

❚ Capillary Pumped Loop Body Warmer

❚ Clearer Images with New CCD Detector

❚ Flexible Wedge: New Design Enables Efficient and

Effective Brake/Clutch Configurations

❚ Gear Bearings: New Gear Designs Eliminate Bearings and

Other Parts in Gearsets

❚ Heat-Driven Pulse Pump: A Long-Lasting Device with

Minimal Moving Parts

❚ High-Rate Digital Receiver

❚ New Automated Expert System and Development Tool

❚ New Chips Process Telemetry Data at 500 Mb/second

❚ New Manufacturing Devices for Improved Fiber Optic

Assemblies

❚ New Nonlinear Mapping Function for Computer File

Encryption

❚ New Optical Encoders with Higher Sensitivity

❚ New Sensors via Sol-Gel-Filled Fiber Optics

❚ Super Mirrors at Lower Cost

❚ Three-Dimensional Roller Locking Sprag

16

2000 Technology Transfer Report
17

V irtual Tour: 

Detector Development Laboratory

Goddard’s Detector Development Laboratory has all of

the semiconductor processing equipment required to

fabricate high-quality microelectronic devices. This

facility is available for commercial and academic 

use, and the Technology Commercialization Office

promotes its availability. 

In the late 1990s, a “virtual tour” of the laboratory was prepared and distributed on CDROM. This tour presents the capabilities of

the facility, including equipment for ion

implantation, thin-film deposition, plasma etching, wet

chemistry, annealing, and photolithography. 

During calendar year 2000, an online version of this tour was posted to the

Technology Commercialization Office’s Web site (http://techtransfer.gsfc.

nasa.gov). Other facility tours available on the Web site include the Environmental Integration and Testing Facility.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Working with NASA’s

Goddard Space Flight

Center: The Technology

Commercialization Process

Published by TCO in calendar

year 2000, this guidebook was

designed to expedite the process of successfully doing

business with Goddard. Targeted at potential industry, academic, and government partners, it summarizes the partnership and licensing options,

provides answers to frequently asked questions, reviews the commercialization process,

and describes how to initiate a licensing agreement and how to prepare a commercialization plan. This guidebook is distributed at technology briefings, at trade shows, and

in response to inquiries.
Another New Facility: 

Heat-Treating Furnace

In calendar year 2000, Goddard Space Flight Center

acquired this new facility that will be of interest to commercial, academic, government users. And TCO will spend the

coming year promoting its use.

The vacuum brazing furnace is ideal for joining various

metals and ceramics. For example, the furnace can be used to

join materials that are similar or dissimilar, such as copper to

stainless steel, ceramic to metal, or carbon to metal. Joining

such materials is useful for various applications, including

instrument making.

The specification of the new facility include

the following:

❚ 8" x 8" x 20" chamber 

❚ 350 oC maximum temperature

❚ 10–7 torr vacuum

The equipment has been slightly modified for

research. The modifications include:

❚ Improved visibility to see into the furnace

❚ Floor damping to eliminate vibrations

❚ Residual gas analyzer

TCO encourages companies to submit plans

to use the facility. The vacuum brazing facility may be useful in the following industries:

❚ Aerospace

❚ Aviation

❚ Automotive

❚ Medical engineering

18

2000 Technology Transfer Report
19

Conferences, Briefings, Symposia

The Technology Commercialization Office also disseminates information about its technologies and potential commercial applications by hosting and attending conferences, briefings,

and symposia. At these events, staff demonstrate technologies, distribute informative literature, and offer one-on-one counseling to industry about partnership and commercialization

opportunities at Goddard. Through these events, Goddard successfully reached many small

and large companies, academic institutions, and trade and professional organizations during

calendar year 2000.

Goddard-Sponsored Programs

Community Day

Goddard Alliance Community Evening

Open House at NASA Wallops Flight Facility

Air and Space

International Space Symposium

Johnson Space Center’s Inspection Day

Space Business Conference and Exposition

Economic Development

NASA Incubator Grand Opening

Technology in the Zone Commercialization

Training (Baltimore, Maryland)

Technology in the Zone Commercialization

Training (Newark, New Jersey)

Education and Environment

Association of University Technology

Managers Annual Meeting

Johns Hopkins University Center for

Talented Youth 

National Science Teachers Association

Conference

Texas Digitally Remastered Meeting

Engineering and Manufacturing

National Design and Engineering Show

Women in Science and Engineering

Conference

Optics

Technology Briefing on Goddard’s

Aluminum Polishing Technology

Sensors

Instrument Society of America Expo 2000

Next Generation Sensors Initiative

Small Business

Association of Small and Medium

Enterprises Inaugural World Summit on

Small Business 2000

Blacks in Government Convention

Goddard’s Annual Small and Small

Disadvantaged Business Conference

NASA Mentor-Protégé Conference and

Annual NASA Technology and Business

Conference

Technology Expos and Conferences

American Institute of Aeronautics and

Astronautics Baltimore Chapter 

Town Technology Meeting

Internet Protocol Workshop

Maryland Annual Legislative Briefing

Reception and Technology Showcase

Maryland Technology Showcase

Prince George’s County Technology 

Expo 2000

Public Safety Technology Workshop

Technology 2000

The State of Technology in Maryland

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Of the 176 contacts established, 91

were from potential partners with

various technology interests.

Exhibit 2. Technology Interest of 

91 Potential Partners

20

Contacts with Potential Partners

The importance of TCO interactions with industry, academia, and other government agencies cannot be underestimated. Individuals from these organizations are the conduit through

which licensing agreements and working partnerships can be created. By successfully establishing contact with potential partners, the Technology Commercialization Office advances

toward achieving its mission.

In general, contacts are made through the following:

❚ Attendees at a technology briefing (i.e., meetings with industry where Goddard provides

detailed information about a licensing opportunity)

❚ Reader requests on a technology advertised through various media (e.g., Web sites, NASA

Tech Briefs)

❚ Requests for additional information on technologies and facilities promoted at trade

shows and conferences

❚ Information requests submitted via TCO’s Web site (http://techtransfer.gsfc.nasa.gov)

❚ Direct contacts initiated by TCO

The Technology Commercialization Office had much success

in establishing contacts with industry, academia, and other

government agencies during calendar year 2000.

Exhibit 1. Staff Established 176 Contacts 

through Various Means

Trade show

15%

Briefing

22%

Direct/Phone

3%

Web Site

23%

Reader request

37%

Optics

51%

Environmental

7%

GNC

4%

Sensors and detectors

16%

Thermal/Cryogenics/

Mechanical

13% Information systems

9%

2000 Technology Transfer Report
21

Establishing New Agreements

The Technology Commercialization Office’s efforts culminate in a variety of agreements.

License agreements allow an outside organization to use a Goddard technology, often paying

a licensing fee and/or a royalty. Space Act Agreements are established to jointly develop

Goddard technologies while sharing costs.

During calendar year 2000, TCO licensed or established new agreements for five technologies:

❚ Holographic Circle-to-Point Converter was licensed to Scientific Solutions, Inc.

(SSI), of North Chelmsford, Massachusetts. SSI will use the technology to

enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of spectral samples.

❚ Hilbert-Huang Transform was licensed to Princeton Satellite Systems, Inc., 

in New Jersey. This technology will allow Princeton to conduct more precise

analysis of signal data than can be obtained from Fourier-based methods.

❚ Optical Fiber Cable Chemical Stripping Fixture was licensed to RIFOCS Corp.

of Camarillo, California. This technology helps to remove fiber coatings—

particularly hard, thin coatings—without nicking the optical fiber.

❚ GPS-Enhanced Orbit Determination Experiment (GEODE) was licensed to Ball

Aerospace and Technologies Corp., which is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado.

This flight software provides highly accurate real-time spacecraft position and

velocity information for high-precision instruments and on-orbit corrections.

❚ 3-D Sprag was assigned to Honeybee Robotics, which is headquartered in New

York City. The agreement involves an exchange of NASA technical know-how

and royalties.

In addition, two previously established agreements were updated in calendar year 2000:

❚ Data Trending and Analysis System was transferred to Universal Space Ware, Inc.,

of Westminster, Colorado. The company will update and sell this software.

❚ Shared Aperture Multiplexed Holographic Telescope was transferred to TerraPoint,

LLC, of Woodlands, Texas. The company used the technology to map Puget

Lowland in Washington State.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Seeking and Bestowing Awards

Awards provide an excellent medium for promoting Goddard technologies to the public and

potential partners and for encouraging researcher participation in commercialization. The

Technology Commercialization Office submits Goddard inventions for awards bestowed by

outside organizations, such as the Federal Laboratory Consortium, U.S. Space Technology,

and R&D Magazine. NASA also recognizes innovations developed by researchers at the various

Field Centers. And the Technology Commercialization Office has established an award for

exceptional researcher participation in technology transfer activities.

During calendar year 2000, TCO identified promising technologies and submitted them for

several awards. These pages list the awards that some of these technologies won.

Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for Excellence 

in Technology Transfer: Honorable Mention

This award recognizes outstanding work in the process of transferring a technology

developed by a federal laboratory. Two Goddard technologies received an honorable

mention:

❚ Geary Schwemmer of the Laboratory for Atmospheres for

his Conically Scanned Holographic Telescope: This technology advances the state of the art in optical remote

sensing and opens the door to creative uses of holographic optics in laser optical and passive spectrally

dispersive systems. As a replacement for conventional

reflective (or refractive) telescope and scan mirror

combinations, this holographic system reduces the

size, weight, and cost of telescopes by a factor of 2 or

more while increasing reliability.

Conically Scanned Holographic Telescope

22

2000 Technology Transfer Report
23

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

❚ Peter Rossoni and Wayne Eklund of the Mechanical

Systems Center for their Four Degree-of-Freedom

Compliant Hinge: This technology was designed

to connect marine semisubmersible platforms to

form an offshore airport. The design employs

compliant mechanism concepts in a high-strength, robust hinge-type interface that can

accommodate large external forces induced by rough sea conditions. The hinge can accommodate and redistribute forces in excess of 1 million pounds, extend product life more than

100 times, save millions of dollars, and provide fine angular displacement control. 

NASA’s Government Invention of the Year

This prestigious award was presented to Doug Leviton of the Instrument Technology Center

for his Method and Apparatus for Ultra-High Sensitivity Incremental and Absolute Optical

Encoding. These linear and rotary encoders use a CCD array to detect the relative and

absolute position of an object by reading a microlithographic scale on the object. The awardwinning technology enables these encoders to have higher sensitivity, read over longer distances, provide better measurements, and resist damage—all in a smaller package at a lower

price.

Kerley Award

Named after the late James Kerley, a Goddard technologist who

championed technology transfer and commercialization, the

Kerley Award is presented annually to recognize a Goddard

researcher’s commitment to new technology reporting and the

technology transfer process. The 2000 award was presented to

Matthew McGill (center) of the Laboratory for Atmospheres,

who has worked closely with the Technology Commercialization Office to transfer his technologies to the marketplace. 

Mr. McGill received this award for his support to TCO and for his Holographic Circle-toPoint Converter technology. Matt was instrumental in obtaining a license agreement with

Scientific Solutions, Inc. (see page 21). A cooperative agreement for dual-use R&D with

Sigma Research in Greenbelt, Maryland, also was completed in 2000.

Four-Degree-of-Freedom Compliant Hinge
24

Commercial Technology

Staff

For information on technologies in a specific technical field,

please contact the staff member

in your area of interest:

Environmental Systems

(301) 286-1098

environment@STAACmail.gsfc.nasa.gov

Guidance, Navigation, and

Control

(301) 286-2198

navigation@STAACmail.gsfc.nasa.gov

Information Systems

(301) 286-0561

information@STAACmail.gsfc.nasa.gov

Optics

(301) 286-2642

optics@STAACmail.gsfc.nasa.gov

Sensors and Detectors

(301) 286-5979

sensors@STAACmail.gsfc.nasa.gov

Thermal and Cryogenics

(301) 286-5169

thermal@STAACmail.gsfc.nasa.gov

Outreach and Integration

Staff

For information about how

to partner with NASA’s

Goddard Space Flight

Center, contact:

(301) 286-5810

outreach@STAACmail.gsfc.nasa.gov

Patent Counsel

For information about

patents associated with

Goddard technologies,

contact:

(301) 286-7351

patent@STAACmail.gsfc.nasa.gov

How to Reach

Goddard’s Technology

Commercialization Office

The staff of the Technology Commercialization Office welcome calls and e-mails

from industry, academia, government, and the general public interested in learning more about Goddard technologies and partnership opportunities.

Small Business

Innovative Research

Staff

For information about

opportunities for small and

disadvantaged businesses,

contact:

(301) 286-5836

sbir@STAAC-mail.gsfc.nasa.gov

General Inquiries

For general information 

about the Technology

Commercialization Office,

contact:

(301) 286-5810

techtransfer@STAACmail.gsfc.nasa.gov

Internet Addresses

Goddard’s Technology Commercialization Office

http://techtransfer.gsfc.nasa.gov

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov

NASA Commercial Technology Network

http://nctn.hq.nasa.gov

2000 Technology Transfer Report
T ECHNOLOGY C OMMERCIALIZATION O FFICE

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Building 11, Room C1

Mail Stop 713

Greenbelt, MD 20771

Telephone: 301.286.5810

Facsimile: 301.286.0301

E-mail: techtransfer@STAAC-mail.gsfc.nasa.gov

Internet: http://techtransfer.gsfc.nasa.gov