Operation-Aware ISHM for Environmental Control and Life Support in Deep Space Habitants

Global Technology Connection, Inc. (GTC), is proposing to develop diagnostic and prognostic algorithms for a remote terrestrial water recycling system during the Phase II E program. This works builds on R&D conducted in Phase I and Phase II of the NASA SBIR project – Operation Aware ISHM for Deep Space Habitants. During this program GTC will identify primary modes of failure in a selected subsystem, further develop or tune algorithms to detect failures as well as alert the users of impending failures ahead of time. The diagnostics and prognostic algorithms rely on physics based and data-driven models of the selected subsystems. Data collected and curated from the subsystem will be used to validate these algorithms. Such algorithms are of extreme importance in remote applications where on demand and immediate maintenance activities may not be feasible due to supply chain issues and lack of human presence onsite. Remote or deep space water recycling systems for terrestrial and space applications respectively are critical components of life support systems and need extreme reliability and failure predictive capabilities and GTC sees significant commercial opportunities in this field.

Potential NASA applications include utilization of our models and algorithmics as a software tool to run simulations of water recycling systems for space habitat operations to determine resources needed, optimal control strategies, effects of component degradation and failures for long term operations. The control algorithms developed could also be deployed in space for real-time operations of water recycling systems for advanced control and minimizing computational costs.

Similar applications exist for terrestrial water recycling/treatment, desalination plants or chemical processing centers. Our technology can monitor assets, diagnose and predict failures. This allows to reduce risks of downtime or for system operation managers to be able to prepare or perform condition-based maintenance in order to minimize impact in operations.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7) — 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.