MICRO PIC DEVELOPMENT FOR EARTH SCIENCE

Rapid advances in nanofabrication indicate that photonic integrated circuit (PIC) imagers can be realized and used for remote sensing. Interferometric imagers based on PIC devices have long been envisioned as a revolutionary sensor technology (Fontaine et al., 2010; Duncan, 2013) that can dramatically reduce the size, weight, and power (SWaP) of optical instruments (sensors) by eliminating the need for a traditional telescope and active optics. Eliminating components and reducing the requirements for alignment, together with the production efficiencies associated with fabrication at scale, has the potential to dramatically reduce cost for constellations of sensors. The Lockheed Martin (LM) MICRO project for NASA HTIDS is currently developing magnetograph PIC technologies, with components that also have the potential to be used for Earth Science. Here we describe a one-year PIC development program that leverages overlapping instrumentation needs, with a common path for Earth Science and Heliophysics missions.

Increase scientific understanding of natural phenomena using remote sensing.

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.