NASA SBIR 2010 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Vista Photonics, Inc.
67 Condesa Road
Santa Fe, NM 87508 - 8136
(505) 466-3830

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Andrei B Vakhtin
vakhtin@vistaphotonics.com
67 Condesa Road
Santa Fe, NM 87508 - 8136
(505) 466-3830

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 3
End: 4

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
Volcanic research is a significant part of the "Earth Surface & Interior" focus area of the NASA Earth Science program. After a volcanic eruption, the smallest ash particles can remain in the atmosphere for days to months affecting public health in the surrounding regions and the radiation balance on Earth. Airborne volcanic ash particulate matter (PM) also poses a major threat to aviation and would therefore be essential to distinguish and identify by remote sensing and in situ techniques. Vista Photonics in collaboration with New Jersey Institute of Technology proposes to develop an innovative technology for in situ characterization of PM in volcanic plumes, including measurement of PM size distribution function and concentration. The Phase I study will demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed technology and outline the design of the Phase II prototype instrument. The successful completion of this program will lead to development of a very inexpensive compact PM measurement instrument suitable for use on a variety of ground based and airborne platforms including remotely operated aircraft and surface craft, and even disposable devices, such as dropsondes.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The proposed technology meets the needs of the "In Situ Airborne, Surface, and Submersible Instruments for Earth Science" subtopic of the NASA SBIR Program. The technology developed under this research program will provide a new tool for in situ characterization of particulate matter in volcanic plumes. The envisioned target instrument will be compact, low weight and very inexpensive to meet the strict requirements to qualify for use on ground based and airborne platforms including remotely operated aircraft and surface craft, and even disposable devices, such as dropsondes. Other NASA applications include measurement of atmospheric aerosols, and drop sizing in clouds.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The Project will lead to development of a new technology of in situ characterization of particulate matter including measurement of the particle concentration and size distribution function. The instrumentation based on the proposed approach can also be used for monitoring atmospheric aerosols, drop sizing in clouds, and characterization of industrial and agricultural sprays.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING (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.)

Chemical/Environmental (see also Biological Health/Life Support) Optical/Photonic (see also Photonics)