NASA SBIR 2012 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
TDA Research, Inc.
12345 West 52nd Avenue
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033 - 1916
(303) 422-7819

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Gokhan Alptekin
galptekin@tda.com
12345 West 52nd Avenue
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033 - 1916
(303) 940-2349

CORPORATE/BUSINESS OFFICIAL (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
John D. Wright
krhodus@tda.com
12345 West 52nd Avenue
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033 - 1916
(303) 940-2347

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 3
End: 4

Technology Available (TAV) Subtopics
Environmental Monitoring and Fire Protection for Spacecraft Autonomy 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)
The increasing frequency of International Space Station (ISS) egress operations results in chemical contamination of the spacecraft environment. Among the most important contaminants are propellant residues (such as hydrazine) and their decomposition by-products, as well as coolants such as ammonia and Freon. Ammonia has a 24 hour Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentration (SMAC) of 7 ppm (Perry, 2010) and hydrazine has a 24 hour SMAC of 0.3 ppm (NASA/JSC 20584, March, 2001). These highly alkaline chemicals rapidly penetrate skin and coagulate proteins. Furthermore, a hydrazine fuel leak onto any hot surfaces may cause fire.

TDA Research Inc. proposes to develop a new adsorbent that can remove these contaminants to sub ppmv concentrations. In the Phase I, we will develop the adsorbent media and design a cartridge that will be incorporated into a first response crew mask. We will demonstrate the efficacy of the cartridge in removing these contaminants at full-scale in an environmental chamber (TRL 4). We will also complete the detailed design of a general purpose first response mask, including additional adsorbents and ambient temperature oxidation catalyst that will provide complete protection against all contaminants (in addition to NH3 and hydrazine, CO, volatile organic compounds and combustion by-products, such as sulfur oxides will all be removed). In Phase II, we will work with Gentex, a leading supplier of personal protection systems in fabricating the mask and cartridges. We will complete high fidelity demonstrations in an environmental chamber to fully demonstrate its capability (non-human testing at TRL 6).

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The main attraction of our research to NASA is its capability to develop a high capacity sorbent that can reduce the NH3 and hydrazine concentrations to sub ppmv levels. The sorbent will be integrated into a first response mask that will protect the crew person from exposure to these toxic gases.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
There is a potential commercial opportunity for our technology, in commercial safety devices and personal protection systems, primarily in the fire fighter masks. We estimated a total market in the U.S. and Europe exceeding 250,000 units per year, assuming an average shelf life of 2 years for the respirator. Total revenues of fire mask and escape hoods manufacturing business are large over $1.5 billion/year.

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.)

Protective Clothing/Space Suits/Breathing Apparatus