Ultra Long-Lived Autonomous Air Quality Sensing, Year 1

Year-1 progress on this CIF has demonstrated a 5-10 year lifetime using an RFID-based platform is achievable; this motivates a follow-on to the well-received PCO2M, which has demonstrated a capability for studying CO2 in microgravity but which cannot sustain autonomous operation over many months given its 4-day battery lifetime. We will spend year-2 finalizing the system for flight certification and subsequent demonstration on ISS (leading to an eventual Gateway deployment).\n\nWe will next target an x-Project demonstration leveraging the RFID-enhanced Autonomous Logistics Management (REALM) RFID interrogator system already on ISS, requiring little investment for flight other than building the sensors themselves. This compatibility will also extendto the REALM-2 interrogator on the Astrobee free-flyer. Other gas nano-sensors (ammonia, CO, hydrazine, etc.) and low-power sensing modalities of high interest in Exploration Medicine may be included. Finally, the platform will provide a terrestrial path for assessing applicability of the CO2 nano-sensor to EVA/NBL helmet CO2 monitoring.\n

Long-lived environmental sensors directly enable untended vehicle autonomy as well as crew health monitoring and response to airborne contaminants. Bluetooth Personal CO2 Monitors (PCO2Ms) flying on ISS provide an initial capability, but need for frequent recharge (~4 days) allows limited scaling and no long-duration autonomy. We finalize the design of an ultra-low power wireless sensing platform (JSC) and integrate it with an ultra-low power CO2 sensor (ARC) to give a flight-certifiable, wearable or peel/stick platform that can operate for years at a time without battery recharge/replacement. The sensor will be forward-compatible with existing ISS RFID inventory management infrastructure for follow-on flight demos, and costs will be augmented by AES funding to integrate SBIR-produced location tracking sensors. This will provide a capability un-matched by any SoA wireless sensor package and can easily extend to other sensing modalities (ammonia, radiation, etc.), addressing the JSC technology priority area of Automation and ECLSS. Dr. Steve Horan (STMD Avionics PT) agrees that this infusion path is reasonable and this work is in alignment with the PT for Avionics quantifiable capabilities. Long-lived environmental sensors directly enable untended vehicle autonomy as well as crew health monitoring and response to airborne contaminants. Bluetooth Personal CO2 Monitors (PCO2Ms) flying on ISS provide an initial capability, but need for frequent recharge (~4 days) allows limited scaling and no long-duration autonomy. We advance the design of an ultra-low power wireless sensing platform (JSC) and integrate it with a low power CO2 sensor (ARC custom or COTS) to give a flight-certifiable, wearable or peel/stick platform that can operate for years at a time without battery recharge/replacement. The sensor will be forward-compatible with existing ISS RFID inventory management infrastructure for follow-on flight demos, and costs will be augmented by Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) funding to integrate Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)-produced location tracking sensors. This will provide a capability un-matched by any state-of-the-art (SoA) wireless sensor package and can easily extend to other sensing modalities (ammonia, radiation, etc.), addressing the JSC technology priority area of Automation and Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS).

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — 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.

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.