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Facilitated Access to the Space Environment for Technology Development and Training (FAST)
Providing opportunities for emerging technologies to perform testing in the space environment. Testing technologies that:
- support NASA's missions but are not mature enough for adoption into major development programs (see Technology Maturity below)
- might not otherwise be tested due to lack of funding:
- SBIR/STTR contractors and other private companies
- SEED Fund companies
- Universities and research institutions
- NASA projects in early development
The current focus is on testing in micro-gravity, reduced-gravity or variable-gravity conditions on parabolic aircraft flights and later on suborbital and orbital flights.
A second objective of FAST is to utilize commercially available flight test capabilities. (see Parabolic Flight Contract below)
Cost-Sharing: For competitively selected projects, the FAST program will generally cover the cost of the parabolic flight. Experimenters will be expected to cover their expenses for preparing the experimental hardware and traveling to the airfield where the flight will occur.
Criteria: Competitive selection of proposed experiments will be based on the following criteria:
- Relevance of the technology to the needs of NASA missions
- Likelihood that the parabolic flight test will advance technological maturity
- Readiness of the project and hardware for space-environment testing
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Future Suborbital Flight Testing:
As commercial suborbital spaceflight capabilities emerge, the FAST program will seek to use those flights for technology testing.
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Announcements
Initial Flight Test Opportunity
The Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) and Strategic Capabilities Assets Program (SCAP) has offered an opportunity for companies with NASA SBIR/STTR Phase I and II contracts to conduct reduced-gravity testing of their technology aboard parabolic aircraft flights. Technologies must be within the TRL 4-6 range and should be ready for microgravity environment testing in the June to September 2008 timeframe. Proposals for that announcement were due by March 28, 2008. Proposal review is now underway. The original announcement can be found at the following link: http://sbir.gsfc.nasa.gov/SBIR/fastsbir.html
Future Calls for Proposals
In Summer 2008, we expect to issue a call for proposals from the broad research community for flights to occur in 2009. This call will not be limited to SBIR companies. The details of that call will be provided at this website location.
Technology Maturity
Parabolic Aircraft Flight Testing
NASA has been flying parabolic flights on NASA-owned KC-135 and C-9B aircraft for decades out of Ellington Field under the management of the Johnson Space Center's Reduced Gravity Office. Those flights have made numerous contributions to scientific advancement and technology development.
The aircraft can provide about 25 seconds of near-zero-gravity conditions during each parabolic maneuver. It can provide variable gravity levels between zero and one including 0.16 g for lunar conditions and 0.38 g for Mars conditions. An increased gravity level of up to 1.8 g can be provided for up to one minute.
Parabolic Flight Contract
NASA awarded a contract to the Zero Gravity Corporation in January 2008 to provide commercial parabolic aircraft flights to simulate variable gravity environments for research and development work. The FAST program will utilize this commercial service. ZERO-G will provide up to 20 NASA flight weeks per year. NASA has exclusive use during these flight weeks. Each flight includes 40-60 parabolic trajectories. NASA Flight Weeks will generally be conducted out of Ellington Field in Houston and the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
Related Links
NASA JSC Reduced Gravity Office
http://jsc-aircraft-ops.jsc.nasa.gov/Reduced_Gravity/index.html
NASA Experiment Design Requirements and Guidelines
http://jsc-aircraft-ops.jsc.nasa.gov/Reduced_Gravity/docs/AOD_33897.pdf
NASA SBIR/STTR Program
http://sbir.gsfc.nasa.gov/SBIR/SBIR.html
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NASA 50th Anniversary Essay Competition
The NASA 50th Anniversary Essay Competition for middle and junior high school students.
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Facilitated Access to the Space Environment for Technology Development and Training (FAST)
46th AIAA Aerospace Science Meeting and Exhibit
7-10 January 2008, Reno, Nevada
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The Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) and Strategic Capabilities Assets
Program (SCAP) are offering an opportunity for companies with NASA SBIR/STTR
Phase I and II contracts to conduct reduced-gravity testing of their
technology aboard parabolic aircraft flights. Technologies must be within
the TRL 4-6 range and should be ready for microgravity environment testing
in the June to September, 2008 timeframe.
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