SAM #T2P-MSFC-00057

NASA Technology Transfer Opportunity for Lightweight, Self-Deployable Helical Antenna (MFS-TOPS-113)

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center is offering a technology transfer opportunity for companies interested in licensing a lightweight, self-deployable helical antenna for SmallSat communications. - Opportunity is for commercial license rights to manufacture, market, and commercialize the antenna technology - Antenna is designed for deep space and low Earth orbit (LEO) SmallSat communications - Features include: - Extremely lightweight (≤2 grams) - Compact volume (≤1.2 cm³) - Thin stowage (≈0.7 mm) - High gain (≥10 dBi) - Prototypes available for S-band, X-band, and Ka-band frequencies - License rights may be exclusive or nonexclusive, with possible field-of-use restrictions - NASA will not provide funding for licensees - Applications must be submitted via NASA’s Automated Technology Licensing Application System (ATLAS) - No follow-on procurement or funding is expected from this notice - OEM is NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; no other manufacturers or vendors are specified

Technical Details - Technology is suitable for high data rate SmallSat communications - Designed for easy deployment and minimal mass/volume constraints

Commercial Opportunity - Companies can obtain license rights to commercialize the antenna - No direct procurement or contract award; this is a technology transfer opportunity

Description

NASA’s Technology Transfer Program solicits inquiries from companies interested in obtaining license rights to commercialize, manufacture and market the following technology. License rights may be issued on an exclusive or nonexclusive basis and may include specific fields of use. NASA provides no funding in conjunction with these potential licenses. 

THE TECHNOLOGY:  

SmallSats are experiencing increasing adoption in the satellite industry. While initially used primarily for technology demonstrations in low Earth orbit (LEO), enhanced capabilities have enabled SmallSat use for a broad number of applications. Today, sending small spacecraft beyond LEO to Lunar or deep space environments is attracting both scientific and commercial interest. Such missions are mass and volume constrained, yet must provide high data rate communications. 

Engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center identified the need for a small form factor antenna to provide high data rate communications for such missions. In response, they developed a self-deployable helical antenna that is lightweight, low volume, and has low stowage thickness while delivering high data rate performance. NASA's newly developed antenna is lightweight (at or below 2 grams), low volume (at or below 1.2 cm3), and low stowage thickness (approx. 0.7 mm), all while delivering high performance (at or above 10 dBi gain). The antenna includes a novel design-material combination in a helical coil conformation. The design allows the antenna to compress for stowage (e.g., satellite launch), then self-deploy at the desired time in orbit. NASA's lightweight, self-deployable helical antenna can be integrated into a thin-film solar array (or other large deployable structures). Integrating antenna elements into deployable structures such as power generation arrays allows spacecraft designers to maximize the inherently limited resources (e.g., mass, volume, surface area) available in a small spacecraft. When used as a standalone (i.e., single antenna) setup, the the invention offers moderate advantages in terms of stowage thickness, volume, and mass. However, in applications that require antenna arrays, these advantages become multiplicative, resulting in the system offering the same or higher data rate performance while possessing a significantly reduced form factor. Prototypes of NASA's self-deployable, helical antenna have been fabricated in S-band, X-band, and Ka-band, all of which exhibited high performance. The antenna may find application in SmallSat communications (in deep space and LEO), as well as cases where low mass and stowage volume are valued and high antenna gain is required. 

To express interest in this opportunity, please submit a license application through NASA’s Automated Technology Licensing Application System (ATLAS) by visiting https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/mfs-tops-113  

If you have any questions, please e-mail NASA’s Technology Transfer Program at Agency-Patent-Licensing@mail.nasa.gov with the title of this Technology Transfer Opportunity as listed in this SAM.gov notice and your preferred contact information. For more information about licensing other NASA-developed technologies, please visit the NASA Technology Transfer Portal at https://technology.nasa.gov/ 

These responses are provided to members of NASA’s Technology Transfer Program for the purpose of promoting public awareness of NASA-developed technology products, and conducting preliminary market research to determine public interest in and potential for future licensing opportunities. No follow-on procurement is expected to result from responses to this Notice.  

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