NASA SBIR 2012 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
KALSCOTT Engineering, Inc.
P.O. Box 3426
Lawrence, KS 66046 - 0426
(785) 979-1113

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Tom Sherwood
tom.sherwood@kalscott.com
PO Box 3426
Lawrence, KS 66046 - 0426
(785) 979-1113

CORPORATE/BUSINESS OFFICIAL (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Suman Saripalli
suman.saripalli@kalscott.com
PO Box 3426
Lawrence, KS 66046 - 0426
(785) 979-1116

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 4
End: 7

Technology Available (TAV) Subtopics
Airborne Measurement Systems 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)
A novel design for an in situ air sampling sensor for CO2 and trace gases is proposed. The sensor, named AirCore, provides the advantages of existing in situ sensors (e.g. high resolution) but eliminates possible biases in analysis that often originate from imperfect measurement condition. The AirCore provides a significant savings in cost and weight while increasing the capabilities of existing in situ sensors. The AirCore system consists of the AirCore gas sampler and the support system to accomplish its high altitude (nominally 70,000+ ft.) mission. This support system includes the sensor launch and recovery components. The AirCore can be launched and recovered by a limited crew, which reduces the operational cost of the system.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The proposed sensor can be used to provide "ground truth" information for several NASA initiatives on measurements of greenhouse and related gases in the atmosphere, including OCO2/ASCENDS, AURA/TES, and the TCCON sites. We propose to develop an AirCore sensor which will be hoisted aloft on a helium weather balloon to a nominal altitude of 70,000 ft. When the balloon reaches its target altitude, the payload (glider UAV plus AirCore sampler) will be released. The UAV (known as the Retriever) will then follow a prescribed spiraling descent path during which time the AirCore sampler will collect a continuous atmospheric sample. Upon UAV recovery, the AirCore sample will be analyzed.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The sampler methodology can be used for air quality monitoring over cities, industrial and agricultural sites. The UAV can be used for high altitude communication relays (traditional radio and cell), weather parameter monitoring, aerial photography, cloud seeding, etc.