Regolith - Rocket Plume Interaction: In situ measurements to enable multiple landings at the same Planetary Surface Site

This project proposes to develop a prototype sensor package to measure the speed and direction of debris lofted by planetary lander terminal descent engines. The ultimate goal is to develop the technology for a package small enough to be flown as a secondary payload on future robotic landers. Because the physics of ejecta flight is different on the Moon and Mars, a significant innovative aspect of this project is development of technology for a sensor package that could gather needed data at both locations.

NASA's future human exploration plans call for repeated landings of large vehicles at a single surface site. Such an approach raises the possibility of lander engines creating debris that could harm the lander and surface infrastructure. In-situ ejecta data will be needed to assist in lander design and surface site layout. STMD Technology Maturation support opportunities would be valuable in taking results from commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) based prototype hardware and experience gained from using this prototype hardware in ground test stands to develop flight hardware of significantly reduced mass and power usage such that it can be on small robotic landers, such as the smaller range of proposed Commercial Lunar Payload Service (CLPS) landers or Mars landers of the sized used for the recent Insight mission.

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.