ISSUE: 68 | December 2023

In This Issue

Recent Flights 

࡟ NASA, Partners Continue to Advance Space Tech on Suborbital Flights

Community of Practice 

࡟ Jan. 10 Webinar: NASA TechLeap Prize: Universal Payload Interface Challenge 

 Opportunities

࡟ TechLeap Update: Q&A Recording, Registration Deadline Approaching

࡟ NASA MSI Incubator: Wildfire Climate Tech Challenge 

Technology Transitions 

࡟ Improving Storm Prediction from Space with Flight Opportunities–Tested Technology 

Other News 

࡟ NASA Selects Universities to Support Small Spacecraft Technologies 

Events

࡟ Jan. 8-12: AIAA SciTech Forum • Orlando, Florida

࡟ Feb. 8-10: Space Exploration Educators Conference • Houston, Texas

࡟ Feb. 13-16: NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop • Galveston, Texas

Happy Holidays!

The Flight Opportunities team
Recent Flights

NASA, Partners Continue to Advance Space Tech on Suborbital Flights

Living and working in space requires 

getting ready a bit closer to Earth. Through 

a suborbital flight test on Tue., Dec. 19 

with industry provider Blue Origin, NASA’s 

Flight Opportunities program is helping 14 

research payloads move one step toward 

future space missions and commercial 

applications. The flown technologies aim 

to address some of the opportunities 

and obstacles presented by humanity’s 

sustained presence in space.

Launched aboard Blue Origin’s New 

Shepard reusable suborbital rocket from 

the company’s Launch Site One in West 

Texas, the payloads reached an altitude 

of 351,248 feet. During the flight, those 

payloads experienced about three minutes 

of microgravity, providing insight into 

the effect of reduced gravity on both 

technologies and living things.

“NASA relies on emerging commercial spaceflight capabilities to rapidly test disruptive solutions for 

space applications,” said Danielle McCulloch, program manager for Flight Opportunities at NASA’s 

Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. “Working with commercial flight providers 

like Blue Origin allows the agency to make space exploration and commerce more accessible to a 

broader range of researchers.”

A strong commercial space industry also helps NASA move forward with scientific exploration of the 

moon, Mars, and beyond. In addition to the NASA-supported research teams, this flight was also a 

significant milestone for Blue Origin, serving as the return to flight with their New Shepard rocket.

Read the NASA feature about the flight test.

New Shepard launch in 2021. Credits: Blue Origin
Community of Practice

NASA TechLeap Prize: Universal Payload Interface Challenge

Wednesday, January 10, 2024 

10:00-11:00 a.m. PST 

Attend the Jan. 10 Community of Practice webinar to 

hear about the Universal Payload Interface Challenge. 

To change the pace of space by moving technologies 

into flight testing and between different flight 

environments as quickly as possible, NASA’s Flight Opportunities program is asking businesses, 

academic institutions, entrepreneurs, and other innovators to develop a flight-ready universal payload 

interface for its third NASA TechLeap Prize. A maximum of three winners will receive up to $650,000 

each to build their system plus the opportunity to flight test it at no cost.

Representatives from Flight Opportunities and Carrot, the organization that administers the challenge, 

will provide an overview and answer questions. 

Microsoft Teams meeting 

Join on your computer, mobile app or room device 

Click here to join the meeting 

Meeting ID: 253 796 098 526 • Passcode: Pe4iTh 

Or call in (audio only): +1 256-715-9946 

Phone Conference ID: 426 889 492# 

Read NASA’s announcement of the TechLeap Universal Payload Interface Challenge.

Opportunities

TechLeap Q&A Recording, Registration Deadline Approaching

Flight Opportunities recently held a Q&A for the latest TechLeap Prize – the Universal Payload 

Interface Challenge – and a recording is available for those who missed it.

Listen to the recording of the Dec. 13 Q&A webinar here.

Learn more about the challenge, eligibility criteria, and more. 

࡟ Registration deadline: Feb. 1, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. PST

࡟ Application deadline: Feb. 22, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. PST 

Note: The program’s Jan. 10 Community of Practice webinar will focus on the TechLeap Universal 

Payload Interface Challenge. Read more.
Opportunities (cont.)

NASA MSI Incubator: Wildfire Climate Tech 

Challenge

NASA’s Wildfire Climate Tech Challenge seeks innovative 

solutions for wildfire prevention and climate technology from 

students and employees of minority-serving institutions (MSIs).

Up to three winners will be invited to join a startup incubator 

program and compete for a prize of $100,000. This initiative also 

offers a platform for participants to present their ideas to venture 

capitalists and NASA experts.

Submission deadline: Feb. 2, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. PST Credits: U.S. National Park Service/Noah Daniels

Other NASA Funding Opportunities

The Funding Opportunities section of NASA’s TechPort website provides a useful filtering tool for 

identifying solicitations that might be relevant to your organization, technology maturity, or funding 

needed. Visit NASA TechPort funding opportunities page.

Technology Transitions

Improving Storm Prediction from Space with Flight 

Opportunities–Tested Technology 

NASA’s TROPICS (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure 

and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of SmallSats) mission launched in 

May 2023. The mission’s four CubeSats are gathering data to understand 

the evolution of tropical cyclone intensity. The TROPICS CubeSats 

incorporate a technology that was tested in its early stages on Flight 

Opportunities–supported parabolic flights in 2013.

Referred to as a dual-spinning CubeSat bus, the technology developed at 

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) enabled the use of microwave 

radiometers – previously used only on large satellites – on CubeSats 

about the size of a two-liter bottle. The Flight Opportunities testing was 

the first effort to demonstrate the CubeSat-sized spinning mechanisms 

in a microgravity environment. Now this capability is enabling TROPICS 

to demonstrate that Earth science data can be obtained with improved 

resolution, greater flexibility and reliability, and extremely low-cost launches.

“The testing through Flight Opportunities was the first time we saw how 

well our technology worked in microgravity,” said MIT’s Kerri Cahoy, who 

served as the principal investigator on the bus’s development. “It gave us 

the findings we needed to eventually incorporate it on a CubeSat mission.”

The two TROPICS mission launches 

in May 2023 (one of which is 

shown here) carried CubeSats that 

incorporate a technology tested in its 

early stages on Flight Opportunities–

supported parabolic flights in 2013. 

Credits: Rocket Lab
Other News

NASA Selects Universities to Support Small Spacecraft Technologies

Eight U.S. university teams are partnering with NASA to advance technologies for small spacecraft, 

increasing their capability to support NASA’s science and exploration missions within the Earth, 

cislunar, and deep space domains. As announced on Dec. 8, the University SmallSat Technology 

Partnerships (USTP) initiative within NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program selected the 

projects. 

At the present time, small spacecraft, or SmallSats, primarily operate in low Earth orbit. Through 

these collaborative partnerships, technology advancements will expand the potential of SmallSats as 

they extend their capabilities to more complex Earth, lunar, and deep space science and exploration 

missions. 

Selected university teams had proposed projects to mature new systems and capabilities – with 

support from a NASA center of their choice – in one of three technology topic areas for small 

spacecraft: 

Earth- and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-independent position navigation and timing 

Edge computing and machine-learning architectures, software, platforms, and devices 

High specific power systems and thermal control 

Selected research teams might also have the opportunity to further advance their technologies 

through flight tests, including suborbital testing supported by Flight Opportunities. 

Read NASA’s announcement of the USTP selections.

NASA’s Starling mission includes technologies that have received USTP support. Krystine Carrington of Axient-MEIS, Starling 

integration and testing engineer, prepares Starling spacecraft for testing at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon 

Valley ahead of the mission’s launch. Credits: NASA/Dominic Hart
Events

AIAA SciTech Forum 

Jan. 8-12, 2024 • Orlando, Florida 

 

The AIAA SciTech Forum’s 2024 theme, “Outside-In: Expand the Boundaries,” encourages 

interdisciplinary approaches and collaboration among diverse organizations. Flight 

Opportunities will present a “HUB” talk with the Small Spacecraft Technology program and the Small 

Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute. This session will help researchers understand how to engage with 

NASA’s portfolio of commercial suborbital and orbital flight test options.

Details: 

࡟ HUB-05: Advancing Space Technologies Through Suborbital and Orbital Flight 

࡟ Wed., Jan. 10 • 9:15-9:45 a.m. EST • Exposition Hall 

Space Exploration Educators Conference (SEEC) 

Feb. 8-10, 2024 • Houston, Texas 

 

SEEC invites educators to experience a three-day STEM-based learning experience. Participants 

can attend in person or virtually and can watch on-demand content to engage with a wide variety of 

STEM-based sessions led by SEEC educators and aerospace professionals. Flight Opportunities will 

participate in a virtual session with Future Engineers about NASA’s TechRise Student Challenge. 

Administered by Future Engineers, the challenge invites student teams (grades 6-12) to design, build, 

and launch experiments on a suborbital flight test. Hear from TechRise mentors, learn about the flight 

vehicles, brainstorm experiment ideas, and explore resources to get your team ready!

Details: 

࡟ Fly with NASA’s TechRise Student Challenge 

࡟ Fri., Feb. 9 • 9:30-11:00 a.m. CST • virtual presentation 

NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop 

Feb. 13-16, 2024 • Galveston, Texas 

 

The Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop is a venue for reporting progress and results 

of scientists and principal investigators researching safe, productive, and efficient human spaceflight. 

Flight Opportunities and NASA’s Commercially Enabled Rapid Space Science initiative (part of the 

agency’s Biological and Physical Science Division) will present on accessing flight tests to advance 

technologies that meet U.S. space exploration priorities and support the expanding space economy, 

including those that support sustained human presence in space.

Details: 

࡟ Leveraging Suborbital Flight Testing to Advance Science and Technology in the Expanding 

Space Economy 

࡟ Tues., Feb. 13 • 4:30-6:00 p.m. CST • Exhibit Hall A
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