Development of a Sensitive, Hand-held, Real-time Formaldehyde Monitor for Spaceflight Operations

Formaldehyde is tracked closely during human spaceflight via archival sampling, as the acceptable limit for crew exposure is low, but currently-planned Exploration monitors cannot meet sensitivity requirements. This project will develop a small, portable, real-time formaldehyde monitor with high sensitivity for in-flight and ground-based operations with minimal crew maintenance requirements utilizing technology with spaceflight heritage.

The development of a small, portable formaldehyde monitioring instrument will aid in crew safety when entering new spacecraft or modules. Additionally, the technology can be expanded to hydrazine detection, which will provide additional safety during propellant loading and following landing.

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.