Gravity Independent Condensing Heat Exchanger

We demonstrated that heritage Condensing Heat eXchangers (CHXs) for spacesuits and spacecraft have exhibited both successes and failures when relying on hydrophilic coatings, which degrade over time (i.e., beyond 10 years). In our Phase I research, we designed, fabricated, and successfully tested novel Capillary-dominated CHXs (CCHXs) that leverage recent advancements in capillary fluidics, integrating surface tension, wetting, and system geometry effects. These innovations result in a robust CCHX that eliminates the need for coatings, imposes no material constraints, performs passive condensate-air separation, prevents slurping, achieves high-efficiency dropwise condensation, operates independently of gravity, and incorporates physical barriers to prevent condensate carry-over—all without compromising mass, volume, or performance. More than 10 single-piece devices were printed and tested, with four prototypes representing distinct geometric families selected for further development in Phase II. With NASA’s concurrence, our Phase II plan focuses on fabricating flight-fidelity devices for advanced Technology Readiness Level (TRL) testing using drop towers, aircraft, the ISS, or commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) platforms for Technology Demonstrations. We anticipate producing up to four novel commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) CCHX devices, accompanied by benchmarked design guidelines, to support the development of advanced, cross-cutting Custom COTS solutions for spacecraft beyond the ISS. These applications extend across LEO, Lunar, and Martian transit, orbit, and surface operations, including CHXs for cabin and extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) systems, distillation, CO2 scrubbing, plant and animal habitats, and more.

CHXs are critical to life support aboard spacecraft. The CCHX offers the potential for significant improvements in reliability without sacrifices in performance. Retro- and current applications apply to the aging fleet of CCAA and EMU CHXs scheduled for continued use through this final decade of the ISS. Imminent applications for advanced CCAA and xEMU CHXs will benefit not only from the availability of low-cost COTS CCHX, but from the educational design methodology that the CCHX adopts. Further applications for NASA and commercial space life support are already in discussion for advanced robust passive CCHX systems for LEO, Lunar, and Martian environments, for cabin and xEMU CHXs, and for distillation systems, CO2 scrubbing, brine drying, plant and animal habitats, etc. Applications relating to cryogenic propellant management and thermal/fluids systems may also be cited. The commercial space sector is growing rapidly and CHXs are critical to life support aboard spacecraft. All systems developed by NASA will need to be reproduced by the commercial sector with unique opportunities to intelligently break with legacy design when clear improvements in performance and reliability are established. We propose that the CCHX technology will be advanced to elevated TRL during this Phase II to the degree that several CCHX devices can be provided as COTS. Commercial space life support applications benefitting from the passive CCHX approach include LEO, Lunar, and Martian environments, for CCHXs for spacecraft cabin, advanced EMU, distillation systems, CO2 scrubbing, Urine and brine drying, plant and animal habitats, etc. Applications relating to cryogenic propellant management and thermal/fluids systems may also be cited.

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.