NASA Provides Millions Worth of Financial Backing to Private Sector Space Projects
06 June 2023
Space agency NASA is set to award close to $45 million in funding to 249 small business teams, plus 39 research institutions, in order for them to develop inventive new technologies.
Among these engineering projects will be ones concerned with helping to safeguard the health of astronauts while on long-term missions, reducing the risk of damage being caused to spacecraft by collisions with orbiting debris, compact LiDAR imaging systems, microbial monitoring in spacecraft environments and controlled re-entry mechanisms. Each of the successful proposals will result in the associated team receiving a $150,000 grant.
As Jenn Gustetic, a Director at NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, comments; “Through these early-stage small business awards, we are inviting more innovators into this growing arena and helping them mature their technologies for not only NASA’s use, but for commercial impact.”
