| PROPOSAL NUMBER: | 02-II B4.02-7759 (For NASA Use Only - Chron: 024240 ) |
| PHASE-I CONTRACT NUMBER: | NAS8-03022 |
| SUBTOPIC TITLE: | Space Commercialization |
| PROPOSAL TITLE: | Biological Aerosol Spectrofluorometric Identification System |
SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN:
(Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Nanohmics, Inc.
6201 East Oltorf St, Suite 100
Austin , TX 78741 - 7511
(512 ) 389 - 9990
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER:
(Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Keith Jamison
kjamison@nanohmics.com
6201 East Oltorf St, Suite 100
Austin , TX 78741 - 7511
(512 ) 389 - 9999
TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
There is a need for a rapid, inexpensive technique to monitor bioaerosol loading in a manned space environment in order to insure the safety and health of the occupants. Condensate traps from air conditioners and heating and cooling ducts in spacecraft provide particularly efficient means for producing and transmitting airborne pathogens. The lack of regeneration of internal air with fresh air allows the bioaerosol concentration to build to unacceptably high levels. Nanohmics Incorporated (Austin, TX) is developing a compact Ambient Biological Aerosol Spectrophotometric Identification System (Ambient BASIS) for in-flight detection and monitoring of potentially hazardous biological particles present in the manned space environment. The instrument will discriminate biological aerosols from nonbiological aerosols by detecting the fluorescence and elastic scattering from individual micron-sized airborne particles.
POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
A real-time method for characterizing bioaerosols does not presently exist. The instrument would support NASA's Earth Science Enterprise program by developing an instrument for characterizing bioaerosols in the earth?s atmosphere. This instrument would also support NASA?s mission for a permanent presence of man in space by continuously monitoring air quality to protect crew health. Aspects of this instrument would be utilized on space probes to assess acceptability of unknown environments for human habitation.
POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The instrument developed in this program will identify and monitor the amount of airborne contaminants around municipal solid waste recycling and composting plants; monitor and track bioaerosols in health care facilities; monitor and evaluate the bioaerosol content in structures that have little recirculation with outdoor air; monitor the concentration and source of bioaerosols in a variety of indoor industrial environments; determine the amount of bio-pesticide that is outside of crop areas; and monitor the effluents from suspect biological warfare agent production facilities for treaty verification and compliance