← Back to NASA Technology Projects
Completed TRL 5 (started at 3, targeting 5)
Water and atomic oxygen render Earth’s atmosphere opaque in most of the terahertz (THz) band, but those very species are of intense interest to astrophysicists, planetary scientists and Earth scientists. This project will advance the state of the art Schottky diode receiver technology to develop THz receivers suitable for CubeSats. Micromachining will be used to repackage state of the art modular receivers into integrated systems that will reduce both mass and volume by more than an order of magnitude while preserving signal to noise performance.
Several scientific applications in astrophysics, planetary science, and Earth observing that could take advantage of Schottky receiver systems if they could be reduced in size and mass sufficiently to fly on a CubeSat. One primary motivation for all three scientific areas involves the detection of water vapor. Water vapor lines at 557 GHz and in the 1100-1200 GHz bands are excellent diagnostics of water vapor in the interstellar medium, the Earth’s atmosphere, and in the atmospheres of other planetary bodies.
Listed on TechPort itself — the most direct way to ask about this specific project.
This is early/mid-stage (TRL 5) — 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.