MSDT - A Central Executive to Coordinate Rapid Mission and Spacecraft Design, Phase I

The integrated design centers currently in place at the Goddard and Ames research institutions are highly productive infrastructures, allowing a group of domain specialists to rally for intense, focused intervals of time around a mission concept, refining a design in spiral fashion using a palette of trusted in-house and commercial engineering analysis tools. This approach can be significantly streamlined if a standard data exchange mechanism is established between the elements of the toolchain and a centralized function is included to govern the initiation and management of design projects. DNet has developed the Mission and Satellite Design Tool (MSDT) for AFRL, which is the starting point for the creation of tactical satellites. MSDT will accept objectives for a mission and distill them to a spacecraft configuration, drawing from a database of support devices and modular software. MSDT also coordinates the assessment of that satellite configuration, interacting with traditional analysis tools to perform domain analysis and return measures of performance which can be compared to the original objectives. DNet proposes to enhance the current framework capability to be compatible with NASA's preferred analysis tools and provide a springboard for the development of the SBIRSat and subsequent missions based on its supporting technologies.

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.