FY27 CIF Dual Function Materials (DFM)

In order to develop a moon base for humans to live and mature technologies for humans to explore Mars, highly reliable life support systems with minimal size, weight, and power will be required. The longer humans are away from Earth, the more resource recycling will be required to maintain a habitable environment. Therefore, efficient closed-loop air revitalization systems are vital to crewed exploration mission success. The state-of-the-art closed-loop method requires multiple systems to dry the air, capture CO2, rehumidify the air, and convert the captured CO2 to water. A newly developed combination of sorbent and catalyst material called dual function materials (DFM) consolidates all of these systems into a single function, thereby greatly reducing the total size and weight of the air revitalization loop and saving millions of dollars in launch and operation costs. Use of DFM for this application is novel, so the optimal material formulation and lifetime must first be confirmed before development into a full system. Since DFM use a thermally driven packed bed, existing flight hardware can be directly utilized for rapid technology development. This proposed project aims to mature tailored, robust DFM for implementation into Moon Base and other exploration habitation architecture.

A newly developed combination of sorbent and catalyst material called dual function materials (DFM) consolidates all of these systems into a single function, thereby greatly reducing the total size and weight of the air revitalization loop and saving millions of dollars in launch and operation costs. Use of DFM for this application is novel, so the optimal material formulation and lifetime must first be confirmed before development into a full system. Since DFM use a thermally driven packed bed, existing flight hardware can be directly utilized for rapid technology development. This proposed project aims to mature tailored, robust DFM for implementation into Moon Base and other exploration habitation architecture.

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.