NASA SBIR 2012 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Honeybee Robotics Ltd.
460 West 34th Street
New York, NY 10001 - 2320
(212) 966-0661

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Philip Chu
chu@honeybeerobotics.com
460 West 34th Street
New York, NY 10001 - 2320
(646) 239-0429

CORPORATE/BUSINESS OFFICIAL (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Jack Craft
craft@honeybeerobotics.com
460 West 34th Street
New York, NY 10001 - 2320
(646) 459-7835

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

Technology Available (TAV) Subtopics
In Situ Sensors and Sensor Systems for Lunar and Planetary Science 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 proposed Phase I investigation will focus on the development of spacecraft systems required to obtain a sample from the nucleus of a comet, hermetically seal the sample within a capsule, and return the sealed sample to an orbiting spacecraft which can return the sample to Earth. A preliminary systems level concept has been developed. This concept will be refined during the proposed Phase I investigation, including proof-of-concept breadboards and analyses of critical subsystems.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The acquisition of surface samples from small interplanetary bodies such as comets and asteroids, as well as small moons like Mars' Phobos, and Deimos holds great scientific interest. Under the NASA Authorization Act, Congress instructed NASA to "plan, develop, and implement a Near-Earth Object (NEO) Survey program to detect, track, catalogue, and characterize the physical characteristics of NEOs equal to or greater than 140 meters in diameter in order to assess the threat of such near-Earth objects to the Earth." In 2010, President Obama called for a new approach to space exploration, which would include human and robotic exploration of asteroids. In the latest Decadal Survey, the committee recommended selecting a Comet Surface Sample Return mission as one of the five New Frontiers 4 (NF4) missions, solidifying the importance of studying returned physical samples from a comet. The other four included Lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return, Saturn Probe, Trojan Tour and Rendezvous, and Venus In Situ Explorer. The Lunar and Venus missions could also benefit from the development of this sampling approach.
The sampling probe in the proposed effort could be applied to any number of planetary bodies with a microgravity environment where sample return is desired.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Non-NASA applications for this technology include sampling of contaminated soils and liquid from hazardous environments (near nuclear reactors, oil spills, chemical spills etc). Key subsystems such as the sampling probe, flipper mechanism and hermetic sealing canister could be re-purposed for sampling terrestrial sites. These systems could potentially be deployed from a helicopter with a tether, acquire a sample, hermetically seal it on the ground, and be reeled in with the sample inside the sealed canister. This would reduce the risk of sending personnel into contaminated environments.

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.)

Machines/Mechanical Subsystems Pressure & Vacuum Systems Robotics (see also Control & Monitoring; Sensors)