Very Low-Cost, Rugged, High-Vacuum System for Mass Spectrometers, Phase I

NASA, DoD, DHS, and commercial industry have a pressing need for miniaturized, rugged, low-cost high-vacuum systems. Recent advances in sensor technology at NASA and other government laboratories, in academia, and in industry have led to the development of very small mass spectrometer detectors as well as other analytical instruments such as scanning electronic microscopes. However, the vacuum systems to support these sensors remain large, heavy, and power hungry. To meet this need, Creare proposes to build a miniaturized vacuum system based on a very small, rugged, and inexpensive to manufacture, molecular drag pump. The vacuum pump has performance that is well matched to the needs of these new generation miniature analytical instruments. Such a pump represents an order-of-magnitude reduction in mass, volume, and cost over current, commercially available, state-of-the-art vacuum pumps. The new pump will form the heart of a complete vacuum system optimized to support analytical instruments in terrestrial applications and on spacecraft and planetary landers.

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.

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