NASA SBIR 2010 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Air-Lock, Inc.
Wampus Lane
Milford, CT 06460 - 4845
(203) 878-4691

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Brian Battisti
bbattisti@airlockinc.com
108 Gulf Street
Milford, CT 06460 - 4845
(203) 878-4691

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 2
End: 3

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
Under Phase 1 of subject SBIR, Air-Lock, Incorporated will design a self donning and doffing Rear Entry Hard Upper Torso (REHUT) that interfaces with a suit port. This design will allow suited, pressurized crewmembers to mate/demate their suits to/from suit ports located on lunar or planetary habitats, rovers, etc. This is a significant activity because it minimizes concerns over dust entering the habitat during crewmember entry/exit and it maximizes the habitat's working volume by eliminating the need for airlocks. For the purpose of this SBIR, the baseline architecture being will focus on NASA JSC's MK-III advanced spacesuit and the suit port being utilized by the Lunar Electirc Rover (LER).

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The prototype self don/doff rear entry HUT resulting from the execution of Phase II will exhibit commercial appeal within NASA for advanced suit prototype (MK-III in particular) and future lunar/planetary suits. Potential NASA JSC customers include NASA EC and CSSS ESPO.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
With the proposed commercial development of space stations, any invention that maximizes consumables will have added value. The design of a spacesuit that can be donned/doffed without the need for a large airlock will have added value to commercial habitats.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING (NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.)

Isolation/Protection/Shielding (Acoustic, Ballistic, Dust, Radiation, Thermal) Structures