ZEBRA Aerospace Engine

Exquadrum’s proposed technology will contribute to NASA’s effort to make US carbon neutral by 2050. The proposed technology offers higher energy conversion efficiency with no emission of pollutants such as CO2, NOx, SOx, PM, VOC etc. The propulsion system is compact and lightweight compared to the State-of-the-Art. The fuel and its products are safe to handle and the propulsion system is reliable under extreme weather conditions. It can be used for new aircrafts or retrofitted to existing transport aircraft that fall under FAA part 23 (<19 passenger) or FAA part 25 (>19 passenger). The energy conversion leverages past 20-30 years technology development and commercialization efforts led under US DOE, ARPA-E and DARPA for Fossil, Solar, Nuclear and Geothermal energy conversion while energy storage and production leverages efforts led under US Navy and DoD for underwater vehicles.

The entire propulsion system will assist in the exploration of planets that have atmosphere such as Mars. The proposed technology for energy storage and production will help in Lunar colonization specifically survival during Lunar nights (recent Lunar Landers from US, India and Japan which use battery energy storage had challenges surviving lunar nights due to extremely low temperatures. Future EPA / FAA regulations on environmental emissions including CO2, NOx, SOx, PM and VOC will lead to the requirement for new propulsion system that are reasonable in cost, enabling businesses to retrofit existing aircrafts. Business Jets & small aircrafts produced by commercial manufacturers will benefit from the proposed technology.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 2) — 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.