Cold Plasma Cleaning and Disinfection of Produce and Surfaces, Year 2

Currently there is no on-station capability for disinfecting pick and eat crops, food utensils and production areas, or medical devices. This deficit is extended to projected long duration missions. Small, portable, cold plasma devices would provide an enhanced benefit to crew health and address issues concerning microbial cross contamination. Cold plasma (CP) cleaning is a dry, non-thermal process, which can provide broad spectrum antimicrobial activity yet causes little to no damage to the object being sanitized. Since CP uses no liquids, it has the distinct advantage when used in microgravity of not having to separate liquids from the item being cleaned. This project will develop a CP process and evaluate its ability to disinfect/sanitize crops and medical instruments.

Currently there is no on-station capability for disinfecting pick and eat crops, food utensils and production areas, or medical devices. This deficit is extended to projected long duration missions. Small, portable, cold plasma devices would provide an enhanced benefit to crew health and address issues concerning microbial cross contamination. Should CP technology prove effective for disinfection and/or sanitization, the next step would move to a CP unit that could fly to ISS.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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.