Flight Test Instrumentation Portfolio (FTI)

The Flight Test Instrumentation (FTI) portfolio develops and implements capabilities that enable the capture of critical flight data for the validation of models and simulation tools that improve performance, reduce risk, and enable new capabilities for planetary entry, descent, and landing (EDL) missions across the Solar System. Project activities span three technical capability areas:    1. Novel Instrumentation – Maturation of improved instrumentation technologies for capture of thermal protection system performance, descent system performance, and entry & descent system environmental data. Improvements of interest include enhanced instrument sensitivity & accuracy; capture of datasets more encompassing of system performance; and/or reduction of instrument cost, footprint, and system integration complexity.     2. Flight Testbeds – Development and demonstration of low-cost, sub-scale flight testbeds for capture of thermal protection system performance, descent system performance, and entry & descent system environmental data.  Platforms of interest include those that provide unique data free of ground-based test artifacts and/or enable capture of complex data that are otherwise unobtainable.   3. Remote Observation – Development of ground and in-flight technologies for remotely capturing spacecraft entry environmental data and characterizing vehicle behaviors during entry and descent. Technologies of interest would allow detailed data capture to validate and mature aerothermodynamics models of spacecraft during entry, aerodynamics models of spacecraft and deceleration systems such as parachutes, and evaluate anomalies through high-resolution imaging.   Maturation and demonstration of technology outcomes will be conducted through rigorous testing – both ground (where applicable) and through internal and external flight opportunities. Technologies have and will continue to be infused into the Agency's strategic exploration and scientific missions and transferred through partnerships to commercial partners.

For many of the agency's most ambitious future missions, “test-as-you-fly" is not possible for entry, descent, and landing (EDL) due to limitations in experimental ground test capabilities. The Entry Systems Modeling project bridges the ground-to-flight knowledge gap by providing flight data to validate cross-cutting models and simulation tools that are leveraged to improve performance, reduce risk, and enable new system capabilities across the breadth of NASA's EDL missions. Project activities align with the EDL Strategic Framework and specifically serve to reduce uncertainties in aerodynamics and aerothermodynamics, integrate materials response, quantify risk, and reduce system mass to enable capabilities that include high mass Mars payload delivery for Human-to-Mars efforts, mission-enabling capabilities such as aerocapture, and probe entry for scientific missions planets missions. The Project is augmented through numerous creative partnerships with NASA flight projects, other government agencies, industry, and academia, which together form a balanced ecosystem for the EDL discipline – fostering innovative research to maximize impact for mission applications of today and tomorrow.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — 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.