Miniaturized Airborne Instrument for N2O

Nitrous Oxide (N2O) is an important greenhouse gas, as well as a tracer for stratospheric air mass. We propose to design a miniaturized N2O detector based on direct absorption spectroscopy that is able to be deployed on SIERRA class and Global Hawk UAVs using many of the same functional elements as Aerodyne Research�s commercial mini-QCL trace gas instruments. Achieving this will allow for better source attribution of N2O as well as providing an important tool for understanding mixing processes between the troposphere and stratosphere. Specifically, our proposal calls for exploring two designs for a low-volume in-line multipass absorption cells; passive cooling of the laser and instrument electronics, a simplified low-power electronics design and computer, and low-power vacuum pump. The goal for Phase I will be the successful identification, design, and testing of components that can be integrated into a small UAV-compatible instrument packaged during Phase II.

The primary goal of this project is to develop a small and lightweight instrument to measure N2O with very high precision and accuracy onboard unmanned airborne platforms. This market share is likely to increase over the next years once we demonstrated the feasibility and with the increasing availability of airborne platforms. The same basic technology being developed in this project will apply to the measurement of other trace gases of interest, including NH3, COS, SO2, HCHO.

Developments made in this project will contribute to our continued effort of making our instruments more field deployable. This will immediately help for instrument deployment on other forms of aircraft, in ground-based mobile laboratories, or for in-situ measurements in remote locations. We expect significant market opportunities of up to 100 units over the next 5 years for a miniaturized N2O instrument with a sensitivity of 75 parts per trillion.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 6) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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