PERISCOPE - Probe for Exploring Regolith and Ice by Subsurface Classification of Organics, PAHs, and Elements

Up to 10% of GHG emissions in conventional oil and gas production and up to 90% of emissions in oil sands extraction could be avoided if we knew, in real time, how much oil and solvent is recovered from each well. The real problem is the trade-off between the sensitivity of available solutions to measure the production of wells, and the cost of deploying those solutions: measuring the production of each well in time is unaffordable. We’re breaking this trade-off with a solution based on our PERISCOPE Phase II innovation. It is a flow metering product that gives producers information about what individual wells are producing in real time—oil, water, gas, solvents. Our solution can be installed at each well because it delivers the performance producers need at a tenth of the cost of existing offerings. At this price point, producers like our customer Crescent Point Energy (CPE), who operates 20,000 wells, can finally afford to install a meter at each well and start avoiding emissions. This Phase II-E will have 2 main objectives: [1] infuse our Phase II UV fluorescence and ML data analytics algorithms into a commercial product for the oil and gas industry called FLOW and [2], to further develop a path to Flight for our Phase II instrument. By performing additional science testing with our MK2 instrument in the laboratory will determine required adjustments to the instrument to adapt it for near term lunar applications. And by performing additional science testing in the field, we will be able to fine tune the instrument in the long term for a future mission to Mars.

With this phase II-E project, we aim to identify opportunities where PERISCOPE can be positioned for injection into NASA’s Artemis program and support science, IRSU, and human spaceflight operations in the next decade. The field tests at Bishop (CA) will be the first demonstration of PERISCOPE coupled with a high-TRL planetary drill in a natural environment, and will position PERISCOPE for future development activities, such as NASA ROSES MatISSE, DALI, or injection into mission concept studies where subsurface organic detection is a priority.

The primary targeted application of our technology is the reduction of GHG emissions in the oil and gas industry with the application of our FLOW instrument as detailed in this proposal. Other non-NASA applications include detection of soil organic carbon for the Ag industry to drive the global carbon markets. Our tech may be relevant in epidemiology and contamination event response.

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.