Glidersonde, a Meteorological Optical Profiling Sensor

The "Glidersonde"is a UAV-deployed environmental sensor suite that is air-deployed and glides into denied or hazardous areas including volcanoes or nuclear emergency, wildland fire or HAZMAT release areas. It can either be released by hand or used with Yankee's commercial Automated Dropsonde Dispenser (ADD) which we tested in the Navy Twin Otter P256, and is and is currently undergoing integration with NASA's Global Hawk for a 2012 test. It measures local scattering, cloud optical depth, ground/sea surface temperatures, SOx, nuclear radiation, aerosol optical depth, as well as in-situ pressure/temperature/humidity/winds like a NCAR RD-94 dropsonde.

This sonde will have the following applications: -Meteorological measurements in local conditions too dangerous to enter with an aircraft Measurements of SO2, ash and temperatures (to the survival limit of the sonde) in Volcanos -Aerosol and radiation properties in areas affected by nuclear accidents, including the potential in this case for prolonged intermittent telemetry from the surface -Probing hurricanes with increased spatial resolution through critical domains (eye wall, etc) -Forest-fire response including PTU + Winds and surface radiation particularly measurements in complex, difficult to access terrain to capture smoke properties and surface temperatures -Targeted measurement of emission plumes from natural or anthropogenic sources

In addition to the above this sonde may also be used for balloon-lofted measurements where the Glidersonde's ability to return the payload to a specified landing will allow expensive measurement payloads to be recovered and reused. Yankee has built miniature balloon-borne dew-point hygrometers and has an interest in Ozone sondes, both needed for stratospheric measurement. These instruments are expensive and hence, rarely deployed. Reasonably-reliable recovery would greatly reduce the operating cost of more expensive on board sensors.

This is a mature technology (TRL 8) — 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.