Skip to main content

An official website of the United States government

You have 2 new alerts

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER OPPORTUNITY: Thin-Films with Integrated Structural and Functional Elements (LAR-TOPS-203)

General Information

  • Contract Opportunity Type: Special Notice (Original)
  • Original Published Date: Oct 06, 2023 01:54 pm EDT
  • Original Response Date: Oct 06, 2024 05:00 pm EDT
  • Inactive Policy: 15 days after response date
  • Original Inactive Date: Oct 21, 2024
  • Initiative:

Classification

  • Original Set Aside:
  • Product Service Code: 9999 - MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS
  • NAICS Code:
    • 927110 - Space Research and Technology
  • Place of Performance:

Description

NASA’s Technology Transfer Program solicits inquiries from companies interested in obtaining license rights to commercialize, manufacture and market the following technology. License rights may be issued on an exclusive or nonexclusive basis and may include specific fields of use. NASA provides no funding in conjunction with these potential licenses.

THE TECHNOLOGY:

NASA Langley Research Center has developed a technology to use commercially available additive print manufacturing to add various levels of structural hierarchy to thin-film surfaces. The approach adds very little mass to thin-films, but provides substantial performance enhancements, such as increased damage tolerance to tearing and ripping. NASA developed this technology to provide new and improved ways to produce robust ultra-lightweight space structures such as solar sails, solar shades, and antennas. Beyond space applications, the technology is well suited for other thin-film applications.

The technology uses additive print manufacturing to produce hierarchical and integrated structural and functional elements into large-area thin-film structures. Adding these structural and functional elements has the potential to enable very lightweight, large-scale thin-films with improved damage tolerance, self-deployment capability, flexibility, and multifunctional (optical, thermal, electrical) connectivity and interrogation capabilities. Based on simple and proven additive manufacturing concepts, advanced geometrical, biomimetic (insect wing), and hierarchical structures could be applied to, or eventually with further development integrated within the bulk of large-area thin films using roll-to-roll processing techniques for a potentially low-cost manufacturing approach. The subject technology potentially addresses many of the disadvantages of current large-scale membrane material systems, which are prone to damage or require extensive deployment and support structures.

To express interest in this opportunity, please submit a license application through NASA’s Automated Technology Licensing Application System (ATLAS) by visiting https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/LAR-TOPS-203

If you have any questions, please e-mail NASA’s Technology Transfer Program at Agency-Patent-Licensing@mail.nasa.gov with the title of this Technology Transfer Opportunity as listed in this SAM.gov notice and your preferred contact information. For more information about licensing other NASA-developed technologies, please visit the NASA Technology Transfer Portal at https://technology.nasa.gov/

These responses are provided to members of NASA’s Technology Transfer Program for the purpose of promoting public awareness of NASA-developed technology products, and conducting preliminary market research to determine public interest in and potential for future licensing opportunities. No follow-on procurement is expected to result from responses to this Notice.

Contact Information

Contracting Office Address

  • US

Primary Point of Contact

Secondary Point of Contact





History

  • Oct 21, 2024 11:55 pm EDTSpecial Notice (Original)