NASA SBIR 2012 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Southwest Sciences, Inc.
1570 Pacheco Street, Suite E-11
Santa Fe, NM 87505 - 3993
(505) 984-1322

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Joel Silver
jsilver@swsciences.com
1570 Pacheco Street, Suite E-11
Santa Fe, NM 87505 - 3993
(505) 984-1322

CORPORATE/BUSINESS OFFICIAL (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Alan C. Stanton
astanton@swsciences.com
1570 Pacheco Street, Suite E-11
Santa Fe, NM 87505 - 3993
(505) 984-1322

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

Technology Available (TAV) Subtopics
Environmental Monitoring and Fire Protection for Spacecraft Autonomy is a Technology Available (TAV) subtopic that includes NASA Intellectual Property (IP). Do you plan to use the NASA IP under the award?
No

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
Ensuring a safe air environment in manned spacecraft is critical to the success of all missions. Exposure to hazardous chemical species threatens the well-being of the crew and prevents them from fulfilling their tasks. While a wide variety of sensors currently are available to monitor such chemicals on the ISS, some of these sensors are inadequate. In particular for one important species, formaldehyde, Southwest Sciences proposes to develop a sensor that can provide continuous, real-time monitoring of this gas, so as to assure that the crew is better protected.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Successful development of a real-time formaldehyde monitor will allow NASA to replace the currently used badge system that provides only a quick monthly snapshot of formaldehyde concentrations in the International Space Station, with a continuous monitor having real-time readout. The same gas sensing platform also could be adapted for meeting the needs for a multi-gas sensor for monitoring cabin air, gas regeneration, and life support systems. The compact size and low power usage permit ready adaptation to other platforms (e.g. aircraft, balloons, UAVs, ground-based networks, etc.) of interest to NASA. Since our monitor is designed for long-term operation with minimal attention and maintenance, it is expected to find use in validation of remote data sensing obtained from planned NASA atmospheric research missions.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The platform used for monitoring formaldehyde could readily be adapted to measure other gases, including those related to combustion and fire safety, health monitoring, climate change research, and industrial process monitoring.

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.)

Biological (see also Biological Health/Life Support) Health Monitoring & Sensing (see also Sensors) Infrared