Volume 8, Number 5     September/October 2000

Small Business/SBIR

Contract Awarded to Build ISS Animal Habitats

The Space Station Biological Research Project (SSBRP) at the Ames Research Center recently awarded a contract to STAR Enterprises, Inc. of Bloomington, Indiana, to build the Advanced Animal Habitat-Centrifuge (AAH-C) for use in the International Space Station (ISS). This is the largest SBIR Phase III contract awarded by NASA.

STAR Enterprises will work in alliance with Space Hardware Optimization Technology (SHOT), Inc. of Greenville, Indiana. The five-year contract is to design and construct ten habitats for rats and mice that will be used for basic and biomedical research on the ISS. The AAH-C will allow scientists on Earth and astronauts in space to view the animals and monitor their physiology and behavior while the rodents live in space. The rodents will be exposed to microgravity conditions or to different levels of artificial gravity created when the hardware is attached to the Space Station's centrifuge. In addition to acting as a scientific instrument, the habitat must include all the basic facilities to support the animals for up to 90 days aboard the ISS. These habitats can also be attached to an on-orbit glovebox, allowing astronauts to reach into the cages to retrieve animals and perform experiments. The habitats will be designed in consultation with veterinarians, scientists and engineers.

John Givens, the SSBRP former project manager, describes the project as “a leading edge development that must provide sophisticated systems to accommodate living specimens within very constrained resources (volume, mass, power and cooling). The SBIR approach provides an excellent, innovative environment for accomplishing these tasks with a level of cost efficiency and design flexibility that is difficult to match in large aerospace firms.”

Astronauts who have been exposed to long periods of microgravity have experienced harmful physiological effects. To develop countermeasures, NASA must conduct studies to improve understanding of how bones and muscles change in space and after return to Earth, and how hormones and the immune system respond to long exposure to microgravity. Because of the similarity of animal and human physiological systems, the most effective way to obtain large amounts of data is by using animals.

NASA has previously been unable to study adaptation to life in space, because the length of Space Shuttle missions has limited the duration of exposure to less than three weeks of space flight. The ISS will provide opportunities for animal research for up to 90 days. Astronauts living on the Space Station will benefit from this research, as will future space travelers on long missions. Benefits to people on Earth are expected as well, because these studies often apply to problems of aging, osteoporosis, recovery from injury and various disease conditions.

Because of the shorter life spans of animals, many scientists also see animal research on the ISS as the site of important studies in developmental biology. The missions are long enough to provide insight into how growth and maturation might be influenced by weightlessness and other space flight factors such as radiation. It is expected that the ISS habitats will allow scientists to study the full life cycles of animals exposed to microgravity.

STAR Enterprises and Space Hardware Optimization Technology, Inc. are recent recipients of the TIBBETTS Award based on their work on this project. The TIBBETTS Award honors outstanding achievements in the SBIR program.

 

 

Some NASA SBIR Program Metrics

Although the primary purpose of NASA's SBIR program is to produce NASA mission use technology, reports from over 600 of NASA's SBIR companies, representing about 81 percent of all Phase II’s awarded by NASA since the beginning of the SBIR program, show that at least 30 percent of NASA Phase II awards have produced technology that has been incorporated in commercial products and services which have generated revenues in non-government markets. Accordingly, over $1.40 in commercial revenues have been generated in non-government markets for each dollar of NASA's investment in the SBIR program. The broad spectrum of the more than 500 associated commercial products and services, and the industrial sectors they represent, demonstrate the pervasive effect of NASA's SBIR program in the national economy. For example, NASA SBIR technology is found in aircraft and automobiles, a great variety of electronics and optical instrumentation, medical equipment, manufacturing process equipment in several key industries, environmental protection and water purification equipment, and heating and air conditioning hardware. The economic ripple effect of NASA’s SBIR program is further evidenced by the firms' reporting significant strategic alliance partnering with non-SBIR firms regarding commercial applications incorporating NASA SBIR technology. For example, over 1400 strategic alliances have been entered into by NASA SBIR firms regarding commercial ventures at least partially based on NASA SBIR technology. The findings also show that about 90 percent of all firms winning NASA Phase II awards have received a total of three or less NASA Phase II awards. Over the past five years, new entrant firms into the universe of NASA Phase II firms represent about 46 percent of all firms having received NASA Phase II awards for that period. Accordingly, there exists significant opportunity for newcomer firms to enter the NASA SBIR program.

 


For more information, contact Paul Espinosa, Advanced Animal Habitat-Centrifuge project manager at NASA Ames Research Center 650/604-3150 pespinosa@mail.arc.nasa.gov Please mention you read about it in Innovation.


NASA Official: Jonathan Root

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