Enhancing Commercial Suborbital Vehicle Utilization and Collecting New Suborbital Scientific Data

Researchers at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) aim to Enhance Commercial Suborbital Vehicle Utilization and Collect New Suborbital Scientific Data during human-tended flight. The flight testing will (1) investigate an existing broadband imaging system to assess its viability for capturing video of astronomical events filmed through the window of a suborbital crew capsule and (2) evaluate a biomedical harness for collecting in-flight heart rate and blood flow data.

Researchers at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) aim to Enhance Commercial Suborbital Vehicle Utilization and Collect New Suborbital Scientific Data during human-tended flight testing. The flight test will (1) investigate an existing broadband imaging system to assess its viability for capturing video of astronomical events filmed through the window of a suborbital crew capsule and (2) evaluate a biomedical harness for collecting in-flight heart rate and blood flow data. This would benefit NASA missions, the commercial space industry, other government agencies, and the nation.

This is a mature technology (TRL 8) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.