SMD Task B: AERIAL PLATFORMS FOR THE EXPLORATION OF EARTH VOLCANOES: MEASURING ATMOSPHERIC CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

The NASA Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Rapid Response Research (R3) program, in collaboration with the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and Commercial Partnerships Office, seeks proposals that will address research issues important to NASA with a goal of researchers working for one year to solve defined NASA technical problems. This proposal addresses problems listed in the solicitation under Appendix A, SMD Task B, Aerial Platforms for Missions to Measure Atmospheric Chemical and Physical Properties. The proposed work will (1) build the analytical payloads to measure the concentration of volcanic gases (SO2, H2S, CO2, CO, NO2, CH4, H2O and associated O3) emitted in volcanic environments together with temperature, relative humidity and wind speed; (2) integrate the analytical payloads into two sUAS platforms, a fixed wing and a rotary wing, thermally shielded to sample over Earth’s volcanoes; and (3) to deploy and test these aerial platforms during a field mission measuring the gasses emitted from a volcanic system.

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.