TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER OPPORTUNITY: Ultra-Light Dewar Design for Stratospheric Balloon Platforms (GSC-TOPS-263)

NASA’s Technology Transfer Program solicits inquiries from companies interested in obtaining license rights to commercialize, manufacture and market the following technology. License rights may be issued on an exclusive or nonexclusive basis and may include specific fields of use. NASA provides no funding in conjunction with these potential licenses. THE TECHNOLOGY: Cryogenic spectrometers operating at balloon altitudes offer game-changing capability, improving far-IR sensitivity. However, maintaining such large optics at cryogenic temperatures requires a large and heavy dewar. This greatly increases the balloon payload and in turn requires greater balloon lift capabilities. Goddard Space Flight Center has developed an ultra-light liquid helium dewar that enables a new class of far-IR payloads. The cryogenic system actually consists of two cryogenic containers. The first container is a commercial 500-liter storage dewar that maintains a reservoir of cryogenic liquid with minimal parasitic mass. The second container is thin wall dewar that houses a cryogenic instrument. The thin walled dewar is open to the atmosphere and contains the cryogens with better mass to volume ratio. The second instrument dewar launches warm with the vacuum space vented continuously during ascent. Once float altitude is reached, the vacuum space is closed off. The cryogens may then be transferred from the first storage vessel to the second instrument dewar. Residual gas trapped inside the instrument dewar vacuum space quickly cryo-plate onto the vacuum wall, eliminating conductive heat transport through the vacuum wall. The instrument dewar now functions normally, containing cryogenic liquid. To express interest in this opportunity, please submit a license application through NASA’s Automated Technology Licensing Application System (ATLAS) by visiting https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/GSC-TOPS-263 If you have any questions, please e-mail NASA’s Technology Transfer Program at [email protected] with the title of this Technology Transfer Opportunity as listed in this beta.SAM.gov notice and your preferred contact information. For more information about licensing other NASA-developed technologies, please visit the NASA Technology Transfer Portal at https://technology.nasa.gov/ These responses are provided to members of NASA’s Technology Transfer Program for the purpose of promoting public awareness of NASA-developed technology products, and conducting preliminary market research to determine public interest in and potential for future licensing opportunities. No follow-on procurement is expected to result from responses to this Notice.