NASA SBIR 2005 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Vista Photonics, Inc.
67 Condesa Road
Santa Fe ,NM 87508 - 8136
(505) 466 - 3953

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Jeffrey S. Pilgrim
jpilgrim@vistaphotonics.com
67 Condesa Road
Santa Fe, NM  87508 -8136
(505) 466 - 3953

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Trace species measurement on unmanned atmospheric research craft suitable for interplanetary travel is a demanding application for optical sensing techniques. Yet optical techniques offer many advantages including high-precision, fast response, and strong species selectivity. Balloonsonde, kite, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or glider deployment demands that optical sensors meet stringent size, weight and power requirements. Vista Photonics proposes to develop rugged, compact, battery-powered optical sensor technology capable of selectively determining humidity to 10 parts-per-billion (-100 ^oC frost point). The enabling technology for meeting stringent NASA mission requirements is a new rugged, compact, and lightweight optical path length enhancement cell that recovers the theoretical sensitivity of established high-performance optical absorption detection techniques. The proposed spectrometer will be capable of detecting multiple species while incurring little additional weight or power penalties.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
High-performance detection of multiple atmospheric species in planetary atmospheres on and beyond Earth. NASA applications for manned planetary exploration include real-time monitoring of species important to plant production processes, air revitalization, and water reclamation onboard spacecraft. Assurance of spacecraft habitability.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Detection of contaminants in microelectronics and chemical process/feedstock streams. Assurance of occupational safety, environmental monitoring. Noninvasive health monitoring by breath based diagnostics where a specific component indicates a particular pathology. Detection of toxic industrial chemicals in homeland security applications for high-value installations and mass transit.

NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

In-situ Resource Utilization Optical