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PULSAR: Planetary pULSe-tAkeR

Completed

Description

PULSAR is a stable spacecraft constellation that enables large and reconfigurable detector baselines to sense a wide range of frequencies in this coupled domain, and distributed spatial and temporal measurements on a global scale, leading to new planetary science measurements.

Benefits

A global, holistic, system that can detect planet-wide geophysical activity and sound an alarm with measured earthquake precursors and potentially catastrophic space weather events does not yet exist. PULSAR will open new avenues for low-cost, persistent, and planet wide detection of global geophysical events.

Details

Technology areaSensors and Instruments
ProgramNASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC)
Lead organizationJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Start date2025-04-01
End date2026-01-31

Project contacts

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How to get involved

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.