NASA has released a new proposal opportunity for industry to tap into agency know-how, resources, and expertise. The Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity
NASA has released a new proposal opportunity for industry to tap into agency know-how, resources, and expertise. The Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity , managed by the, enables valuable collaboration without financial exchanges between NASA and industry partners.
Instead, companies leverage NASA subject matter experts, facilities, software, and hardware to accelerate their technologies and prepare them for future commercial and government use. which will be available for five years and will serve as the umbrella opportunity for topic-specific appendix releases. NASA intends to issue appendices every six to 12 months to address evolving space technology needs. The 2025 ACO appendix is open for proposals until Sept. 24. NASA teaming with industry isn’t new – decades of partnerships have resulted in ambitious missions that benefit all of humanity. But in recent years, NASA has also played a key role as aSince 2015, NASA has collaborated with industry on approximately 80 ACO projects. Here are some ways the collaborations have advanced space technology: Blue Origin and NASA worked together on several ACOs to mature the company’s lunar lander design. NASA provided technical reports and assessments and conducted tests at multiple centers to help Blue Origin advance a stacked fuel cell system for a lander’s primary power source. Other Blue Origin ACO projects evaluated high-temperature engine materials and advanced a landing navigation and guidance system. Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lander is delivering NASA science and technology to the Moon through the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. In 2023, NASA selected Blue Origin as a Human Landing System provider to develop its Blue Moon MK2 lander for future crewed lunar exploration. Throughout a year-long ACO, NASA and SpaceX engineers worked together to perform in-depth computational fluid analysis of proposed propellant transfer methods between two SpaceX Starship spacecraft in low-Earth orbit. The SpaceX-specific analysis utilized Starship flight data and data from previous NASA research and development to identify potential risks and help mitigate them during the early stages of commercial development. NASA also provided inputs as SpaceX developed an initial concept of operations for its orbital propellant transfer missions. SpaceX used the ACO analyses to inform the design of its Starship Human Landing System, which NASA selected in 2021 to put the first Artemis astronauts on the Moon. This artist’s concept depicts a SpaceX Starship tanker transferring propellant to a Starship depot in low Earth orbit. Before astronauts launch in Orion atop the agency’s SLS rocket, SpaceX will launch a storage depot to Earth orbit. For the Artemis III and Artemis IV missions, SpaceX plans to complete propellant loading operations in Earth orbit to send a fully fueled Starship Human Landing System to the Moon.Advanced Space and NASA partnered to advance the company’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System – software that allows lunar spacecraft to determine their location without relying exclusively on tracking from Earth. Dylan Schmidt, CAPSTONE assembly integration and test lead, installs solar panels onto the CAPSTONE spacecraft at Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc., in Irvine, California.The CAPSTONE spacecraft launched to the Moon in 2022 and continues to operate and collect critical data to refine the software. Under the ACO, Advanced Space was able to use NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to conduct crosslink experiments with CAPSTONE, helping mature the navigation solution for future missions. The mission’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System technology was initially supported through the NASA Small Business Innovation Research program. Sensuron and NASA matured a miniature, rugged fiber optic sensing system capable of taking thermal and shape measurements for multiple applications. Throughout the ACO, Sensuron benefitted from NASA’s expertise in fiber optics and electrical, mechanical, and system testing engineering to design, fabricate, and “shake and bake” its prototype laser. NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center’s FOSS, Fiber Optic Sensing System, recently supported tests of a system designed to turn oxygen into liquid oxygen, a component of rocket fuel. Patrick Chan, electronics engineer, and NASA Armstrong’s FOSS portfolio project manager, shows fiber like that used in the testing.Space missions could use the technology to monitor cryogenic propellant levels and determine a fuel tank’s structural integrity throughout an extended mission. The laser technology also has medical applications on Earth, which ultimately resulted in the Sensuron spinoff company, The Shape Sensing Company. In 2023, Venturi Astrolab began work with NASA under an ACO to test its flexible lunar tire design. The company tapped into testing capabilities unique to NASA, including heat transfer to cold lunar soil, traction, and life testing. The data validated the performance of tire prototypes, helping ready the design to support future NASA missions. In 2024, NASA selected three companies, including Venturi Astrolab, to advance capabilities for a lunar terrain vehicle that astronauts could use to travel around the lunar surface, conducting scientific research on the Moon and preparing for human missions to Mars. The Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity is one of many ways NASA enables commercial industry to develop, build, own, and eventually operate space systems. To learn more about these technology projects and more, visit:
Small Spacecraft Technology Program Space Communications Technology Space Technology Mission Directorate Technology Technology Transfer & Spinoffs
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