Health Interrogation for Space Structures (HISS)

Invocon's Health Interrogation for Space Structures (HISS) system provides a significant improvement over current alternatives for monitoring pressurized space structures for leaks and impacts. HISS will quickly detect and locate leaks based on their acoustic emissions or other signature. It will provide prompt warnings to flight and ground personnel in order to help save the vehicle (and mission). It will also complement the present Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) capabilities by providing leak location as well as warning of the leak up to several minutes before the ECLSS. The primary transducers with which HISS interfaces are acoustic emissions. However, Invocon plans to design HISS so that it will interface with other types of sensors in order to maximize its usefulness. This will allow HISS to be used for many other flight and ground monitoring applications.

The initial NASA application for HISS is to monitor the International Space Station (ISS) for leaks. HISS will also be simple to adapt to other structural monitoring requirements that will develop as the ISS ages. This is analogous to the significant increase in monitoring aboard the Space Shuttle as it aged. The experience NASA gains with HISS aboard the ISS will be directly applicable to new manned spacecraft such as Orion that are designed for deep space missions. HISS can monitor the Thermal Protection System (TPS) and other portions of these vehicles to ensure safety during final entry, descent, and landing. NASA can also apply HISS to other flight and ground applications such as monitoring pressure vessels, tanks, aircraft, structures, and test facilities.

Many Non-NASA applications are similar to NASA's applications for the technology. They include flight and ground testing of aerospace vehicles as well as long-term monitoring during actual missions. They also include monitoring pressure vessels, tanks, aeronautical vehicles, ground vehicles and terrestrial structures. The adaptable, smart, and connected nature of HISS will enable it to be adapted to many applications with minimal engineering, installation, and maintenance costs. Perhaps the most pressing need for HISS is aboard the commercial crew vehicles being developed in order to ensure the integrity of the Thermal Protection System (TPS) that is needed to protect astronauts during their final entry, descent, and landing.

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.