Compact All Solid State Oceanic Inherent Optical Property Sensor, Phase I

Light propagation in the sea and the consequent remote sensing signals seen by aircraft and spacecraft is fundamentally governed by the inherent optical properties (IOP) of the water, which is known to vary in all 4 dimensions, i.e. space and time. No versatile, non-moving full 0-pi volume scattering function sensing system exists at this time, although this company has developed an all solid state small forward angle system, LISST (The system was originall designed as a particle size distribution sensor, LISST-100; it would continue to have this capability), and a (moving-parts)scanning non-autonomous system was developed by a Ukrainian group. At the current time, this PI is building a backscatter system with ONR support to observe the Mueller matrix from 177-180 degrees. Intermediate angles are not reachable. In this proposal, I will build an all-solid state system combining the forward and backward angles, with side angles. We use an innovative solution to cover the wide dynamic range of the VSF. Along with VSF, the system shall measure beam attenuation (hence the phase function), and temperature and depth as auxiliary measurements. It will be battery operated and will have on-board data storage. At the heart of the innovation is a relatively new laser, novel drift-compensated detector set, and an innovative detector placement to streamline the system.

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.