NASA SBIR 2014 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)
Mark Paige
mpaige@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 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: 8

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 compact, lightweight, and low power diode laser sensor will be developed for atmospheric methane detection on small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The physical specifications of this sensor will be considerably smaller than current NASA laser sensors. The smaller sensor specifications will enable use of carrier UAVs that are similiar in size to a large model aircraft. Using smaller UAVs for measurements will result in large cost savings. The proposed sensor will use an open path optical system that will provide superior spatial resolution in the measurements.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Methane is an important greenhouse gas, behind only water vapor and carbon dioxide in regard to green house impact. Understanding the sources and sinks of methane has become the subject of many climatic studies, particularly in the Arctic. The proposed sensor will make measurements of methane in remote areas more economical. Additionally, the platform developed in this project will be readily adapted to measurements of other gases such as water vapor or carbon dioxide.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The technology developed in this project may have use in natural gas pipeline monitoring. Also, the technology has several land based applications. These applications include flux monitoring and natural gas leak detection.