{"id":94276,"date":"2022-05-02T15:25:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T19:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?migration=converted-node-479287"},"modified":"2023-10-11T10:32:28","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T14:32:28","slug":"small-business-gets-an-assist-from-nasa-problem-solvers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/kennedy\/small-business-gets-an-assist-from-nasa-problem-solvers\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Business Gets an Assist from NASA Problem Solvers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-none \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/zero_g_airplane.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/zero_g_airplane.jpg?w=2048\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"aircraft on tarmac\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/zero_g_airplane.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/zero_g_airplane.jpg?resize=300,225 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/zero_g_airplane.jpg?resize=768,576 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/zero_g_airplane.jpg?resize=1024,768 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/zero_g_airplane.jpg?resize=1536,1152 1536w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/zero_g_airplane.jpg?resize=400,300 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/zero_g_airplane.jpg?resize=600,450 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/zero_g_airplane.jpg?resize=900,675 900w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/zero_g_airplane.jpg?resize=1200,900 1200w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/zero_g_airplane.jpg?resize=2000,1500 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" loading=\"eager\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\"><div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">Zero Gravity Corporation’s G-FORCE-ONE aircraft<\/div><div class=\"hds-credits\">NASA<\/div><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p><em>By Linda Herridge<br>\nNASA\u2019s John F. Kennedy Space Center<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spaceflight sends people and payloads into an unforgiving environment filled with dangers like radiation and challenges like microgravity with the goal of exploring the secrets of the universe. Before that happens, testing in analog missions on Earth can simulate as closely as possible parts of space\u2019s extreme environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of these analogs is <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nasa.gov\/Watch_the_Skies\/tag\/parabolic-flight\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">parabolic flight<\/a>, which creates brief episodes of microgravity and offers researchers the opportunity to test how equipment and technologies respond to weightlessness. However, conducting experiments in this simulated microgravity environment often brings its own challenges the teams must solve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Space Foundry Inc. recently boarded a parabolic flight with its plasma jet printer, a technology intended to create electronic components in space. The initial microgravity flight attempt occurred over the Gulf of Mexico aboard a modified Boeing 727. After the aircraft achieved microgravity, the company\u2019s plasma jet printer failed to perform properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As it prepared for its second attempt, the company \u2013 a spinoff founded by former Ames Research Center researchers in California\u2019s Silicon Valley \u2013 discovered a grounding issue with the printer. So before going airborne again, they decided to consult members of NASA\u2019s <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers\/kennedy\/exploration\/researchtech\/index.html\">Exploration Research and Technology<\/a> (ER&T) and <a href=\"https:\/\/sbir.nasa.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Small Business Innovation Research<\/a> (SBIR) programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This team effort across programs is one example of the many ways NASA helps foster the commercial space industry and support small businesses across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSBIR is entirely about providing support to small businesses, who in turn create innovations that contribute to NASA\u2019s missions, provide societal benefit, and grow the U.S. economy,\u201d said Mike Vinje, lead for SBIR\/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) activities in ER&T at Kennedy. \u201cThis was an opportunity for us to go outside the box to help solve a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Space Foundry brought their printer to Kennedy, where NASA Partnership Coordinator Doug Gruendel assembled a team to help. During the collaboration, the company identified and replaced some fractured wiring and corrected a grounding issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joining the Kennedy team were Earl Adams, the parabolic flight campaign manager from NASA\u2019s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, and Alexander Van Dijk, a technologist from NASA Ames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Adams advised the company to duplicate their problems on the ground, which led to the discovery of a WiFi connection not properly secured. Adams also arranged for training for the Space Foundry team and taught them how to work with and secure the wiring in the experiment to function better in a microgravity environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This isn\u2019t the first time that Adams and his team have helped solve problems as part of the \u201cfly-fix-fly\u201d approach to testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis was an opportunity for NASA to pass on its organizational knowledge and information about the microgravity environment to a small business,\u201d Vinje said. \u201cIt was both a NASA and company learning experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the issues resolved, Space Foundry returned to Fort Lauderdale and achieved a successful parabolic flight. The plasma jet printer printed silver lines, pads, interdigitated electrodes, and a WiFi antenna in microgravity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn this case SBIR, ER&T <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/directorates\/spacetech\/flightopportunities\/index.html\">Flight Opportunities<\/a>, and the parabolic campaign all were working within our boundaries,\u201d Vinje said. \u201cAll had a chance to contribute and provide some assistance to make another mission successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plasma jet printing in microgravity can allow astronauts to build or repair electronic components in space. Development of these applications is part of NASA\u2019s On-Demand Manufacturing Electronics project through the Game Changing Development program in NASA\u2019s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The flights, operated by Zero Gravity Corporation, were supported by an SBIR Phase II-E award, a type of contract that provides small businesses with matching funds for continued development of their innovations, funded jointly by NASA\u2019s SBIR\/STTR and Flight Opportunities programs, both part of STMD.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Linda Herridge NASA\u2019s John F. Kennedy Space Center Spaceflight sends people and payloads into an unforgiving environment filled with dangers like radiation and challenges like microgravity with the goal of exploring the secrets of the universe. Before that happens, testing in analog missions on Earth can simulate as closely as possible parts of space\u2019s [...]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":99218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2862,3333,13004,3338,2879],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[],"coauthors":[8392],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Small Business Gets an Assist from NASA Problem Solvers","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/kennedy\/small-business-gets-an-assist-from-nasa-problem-solvers\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/kennedy\/small-business-gets-an-assist-from-nasa-problem-solvers\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/zero_g_airplane.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/zero_g_airplane.jpg"},"articleSection":"NASA Centers & Facilities","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Linda Herridge"}],"creator":["Linda Herridge"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"NASA","logo":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/themes\/nasa\/assets\/images\/nasa-logo.svg"},"keywords":["NASA Directorates","Space Technology Mission Directorate","Kennedy Space Center","Flight Opportunities Program","Research and Technology at Kennedy Space Center","Small Business Innovation Research \/ Small Business"],"dateCreated":"2022-05-02T19:25:00Z","datePublished":"2022-05-02T19:25:00Z","dateModified":"2023-10-11T14:32:28Z"},"rendered":"<meta name=\"parsely-title\" content=\"Small Business Gets an Assist from NASA Problem Solvers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-link\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/kennedy\/small-business-gets-an-assist-from-nasa-problem-solvers\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-type\" content=\"post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-image-url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/zero_g_airplane.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-pub-date\" content=\"2022-05-02T19:25:00Z\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-section\" content=\"NASA Centers & Facilities\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-tags\" content=\"NASA Directorates,Space Technology Mission Directorate,Kennedy Space Center,Flight Opportunities Program,Research and Technology at Kennedy Space Center,Small Business Innovation Research \/ Small Business\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-author\" content=\"Linda Herridge\" \/>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nasa.gov\/p.js"},"read_time":4,"time_ago":"2 years","featured_image":{"id":99218,"file":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/zero_g_airplane.jpg","title":"zero_g_airplane","alt":"aircraft on tarmac","caption":"Zero Gravity Corporation's G-FORCE-ONE aircraft"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94276"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94276"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199701,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94276\/revisions\/199701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94276"},{"taxonomy":"news-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-tags?post=94276"},{"taxonomy":"internal-terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-terms?post=94276"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=94276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}