NASA Picks 11 U.S. Companies For ‘Tipping Point’ Contracts

NASA has selected 11 U.S. companies to develop advanced technologies for long-term exploration of the Moon and space as part of its $150 million “Tipping Point” partnership program.

Technology development efforts include lunar surface power systems, in-space 3D printers and production of solar cells from lunar regolith, among other projects, NASA said on July 25.

Depending on company size, each business is to contribute at least 10% to 25% of the total project cost. NASA says its Space Technology Mission Directorate will issue milestone-based funded Space Act Agreements for up to four years.

“By creating new opportunities for streamlined awards, we hope to push crucial technologies over the finish line so they can be used in future missions,” says Prasun Desai, acting associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. “These innovative partnerships will help advance capabilities that will enable sustainable exploration on the Moon.”

The contracts, including the NASA contribution, are:

•    $34.6 million for Astrobotic Technology’s LunaGrid-Lite, a demonstration of high-voltage power transmission via “scalable” lunar power cable.

•    $5.4 million for Big Metal Additive to advance metal hybrid additive manufacturing for space habitats.

•    $34.7 million for Blue Origin to develop its Blue Alchemist technology, which is designed to autonomously produce solar cells from lunar regolith.

•    $1.6 million for Freedom Photonics to develop highly efficient watt-class direct diode lidar for remote sensing, potentially to be used to detect methane in Earth’s atmosphere and better scientists’ understanding of climate change. 

•    $9.1 million for Lockheed Martin to demonstrate in-space component joining and inspection technologies for structural, electrical and fluid systems. 

•    $12.9 million for Redwire to develop a grader, compactor and microwave emitter into a platform that removes rocks, compacts loose lunar regolith and melts or sinters regolith into a solid surface. The technology would be used to reduce Moon dust, as well as create habitat foundations, roads and spacecraft landing pads.

•    $6.2 million for Protoinnovations to develop The Mobility Coordinator, software for controlling lunar rovers and robots.

•    $3.2 million for Psionic, in partnership with Draper Laboratory, to flight demonstrate its high-precision lunar lander navigation doppler lidar and terrain contour matching system. 

•    $25 million for United Launch Alliance to demonstrate its Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD). The technology is a follow-on to United Launch Alliance’s Low Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator. The company plans to develop the 10-m HIAD using a two-piece structure that would enable better load distribution. In the future, larger inflatable decelerators could be used to return large rocket components from low Earth orbit for reuse, such as Vulcan engines, or to land heavy payloads on Mars.

•    $1.9 million for Varda Space Industries to mature and flight test the Conformal Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator, a thermal protection system material developed by NASA to be more cost-effective and mass-efficient. 

•    $15 million for Zeno Power Systems to develop a Stirling engine-based radioisotope power system that uses Americium 241, a long-lived, thermally constant heat source that could be used for space and surface power systems, as an alternative to plutonium-based power systems.