1. NASA Innovation Incubator:
Prizes, Partnerships and Creativity
PM Challenge 2010
Andrew Petro
Innovative Partnerships Program
NASA Headquarters
Used with Permission

2. NASA Innovative Partnerships Program
Innovation Incubator
• Centennial Challenges – Prizes
• FAST
– Access to Reduced Gravity Technology Testing
• Innovation Ambassadors and Scouts
– Interaction with outside organizations
• Innovation Fund
– Proof-of-concept projects for revolutionary
technologies
UPDATES, PHOTOS AND VIDEO WILL BE PROVIDED AT THE TIME OF THE
PRESENTATION

3. Centennial Challenges
NASA PRIZES FOR THE CITIZEN INVENTOR

4. Value of Prizes
• Stimulate innovation in ways unlike contracts or grants
– Reward achievement, not effort
• Reach new sources of innovation, new talent
– Multiple teams and multiple approaches to the same problem
• Stimulate new commercial ventures
– New startups, new partners, more commercial competition
• Achieve returns that outweigh investment
– High ratio of private investment to prize value
– Almost all funds go to prize purses
• Educate, inspire and motivate the public
– Train the future workforce
– Increase awareness of science & engineering
– Inclusion, not exclusion

5. NASA Prize Authorization
• NASA Prizes authorized by Congress in 2005
• To be administered by external non-profit organizations (Allied
Organizations) through un-funded Space Act Agreements
• NASA provides only prize money, no administrative budget
• Other sponsors can add to prize money
• Allied Organizations can seek sponsors for operating funds
• NASA concurs on rules
• Prizes up to $50M in 2008
• Total of $12M appropriated between 2005 and 2006
• Funds do not expire – allows multi-year agreements
• Competitors cannot be supported by government funding
• Prizes can only go to US citizens, permanent residents or US
entities

6. Centennial Challenge Program
• Prize money distributed among seven Challenges managed by
five Allied Organizations
• Space Act Agreement durations range from 2 to 5 years
• Prize purses vary from $750K to $2M
• 19 competitions held since 2005, 5 in 2009
• $3.65M in prizes awarded to date
• Formulating strategy for additional new challenges
• Interested in partnerships for prizes with other agencies

7. Overview of Current Challenges
REGOLITH EXCAVATION Managed by California Space Education & Workforce Institute
Robotic devices to excavate simulated lunar soil
Competitions held in 2007, 2008, 2009 $750,000 awarded in 2009
GREEN FLIGHT Managed by Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency Foundation
Aviation Challenges in 2007 & 2008 awarded $347,000
Challenge for super-efficient aircraft in July 2011 with $1.65M prize purse
LUNAR LANDER Managed by X Prize Foundation
Reusable rocket vehicles simulating lunar takeoff and precision landing.
Competitions held in 2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009 Level One 1st Prize won in 2008.
$1,650,000 awarded in 2009
POWER BEAMING & STRONG TETHER Managed by Spaceward Foundation
Wireless power transmission and super-strength materials
Competitions held in 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2009 No Strong Tether award yet
$900,000 prize won in 2009 $1.1M available in 2010
ASTRONAUT GLOVE Managed by Volanz Aerospace, Inc./Spaceflight America
Innovative spacesuit glove designs.
Awarded $200,000 prize in 2007 and $350,000 in 2009
MOONROX Managed by California Space Education & Workforce Institute
Producing oxygen from simulated lunar material for a $1,000,000 prize
First-to-demonstrate, Expired in 2009 with no winner

8. Centennial Challenge Program
• Solicited ideas for new prize challenges from NASA
employees and contractors in Summer 2009
• Solicited ideas from general public in Fall 2009 – over
one hundred proposals received – posted at:
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ipp/innovation_incubator/cc_future.html
• Expect to announce one or more new prizes early in
2010
• Program updates, results and links at:
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ipp/innovation_incubator/cc_home.html

9. FAST
Facilitated Access to the Space Environment for Technology Development & Training

10. FAST
• Helps emerging technologies mature through access to space-
environment testing
• Uses commercial space services
– Initially, zero and reduced-gravity parabolic flight services
– Later, suborbital and orbital flights when available
• Open to all companies, universities and government labs
• NASA pays for flight time, participant pays for their own project
preparations
• Initial flights occurred in September 2008

11. FAST
First FAST Flight Week – August 11-12, 2008
Five SBIR projects
Second FAST flight week - August 11-14, 2009
19 projects – 2 flights with zero-g, 2 flights with lunar g
Seven universities
Nine private companies
Five NASA Labs
If funded for 2010, plan to solicit proposals for at least
two flight weeks
See details and updates at:
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ipp/innovation_incubator/FAST/index.html

12. 2009 FAST Flight Projects
* Sub-cooled Pool Boiling in Variable Gravity University of Maryland, College Park, MD
* Free-Fall Regolith Heating Packer Engineering Inc., Naperville, IL
* Magnetic Un-jamming and Flow Control of Lunar Soil Kennedy Space Center
* Low-Gravity Regolith Sampling Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Denver, CO
with University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ and Goddard Space Flight Center
* Tribocharged Electrostatic Beneficiation of Lunar Simulant Kennedy Space Center
with ASRC Aerospace, Kennedy Space Center, FL
* Antimicrobial Materials for Microgravity Environments Kennedy Space Center
* Electrophoresis on a Fluidized Bed in Variable Gravity West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV
* Microgravity Free Vortex Fluid Separator Dynaflow Inc., Jessup, MD
* Flowing and Sifting Lunar Soil Simulant Glenn Research Center
* High-Accuracy Eye-Movement Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
* Martian/Lunar Dust Mitigation ASRC Aerospace, Kennedy Space Center, FL
* A Countermeasure for Motion Sickness: Autogenic Feedback Ames Research Center
* Modeling Cardiovascular Dynamics from Echocardiography and Impedance Cardiography
Ames Research Center with University of Akron, Akron, OH
* Reduced Gravity Cryo-Tracker Operation Sierra Lobo Inc., Milan, OH
* Rule-based Analytic Asset Management MIT with Aurora Flight Sciences, Cambridge, MA
* Lunar Gravity Testing of an Oxygen Extraction System Johnson Space Center
* Flux-Pinned Non-Contacting Joints for Small Spacecraft Reconfiguration Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
* Cyclonic Filtering of Pneumatically Conveyed Lunar Regolith Simulant Kennedy Space Center
with ASRC Aerospace, Kennedy Space Center, FL
* Spiderbot Microgravity Flight Experiment BlueSky Robotics, Los Angeles, CA

13. Innovation Transfusion
Innovation Transfusion
– Innovation Ambassadors
External Host Organization
Successful company, organization or laboratory
Has demonstrated innovation or other distinction
Working in field of “interest” to NASA (but non-traditional fields are
desirable)
Willing to host a NASA Innovation Ambassador
Ambassador
Above-average performer in GS-11-15 range
Has demonstrated innovation and leadership in their work
Has the support of their home organization and Center for 3 to 12 month
external assignment
Has solid plans for: 1) the external work assignment, 2) re-integration
following assignment and 3) dissemination of the knowledge gained

14. Innovation Transfusion
Innovation Transfusion
– Innovation Scouts
Innovation Scouts
External Organizations - Target
Working in a technology area of interest of NASA with potential for infusion and/or
future partnerships
Scout Teams
NASA technologists and project managers with knowledge and interest in the
technology area, may be joined by partnership development specialist in some cases
Multi-center teams are encouraged
IPP Office will fund TDY expenses for designated team
Additional team members can participate if funded by home organization

15. NASA Innovation Fund
-Innovative Technology Initiative
Rapidly implemented program for the end of FY09 using expiring funds ($800K)
Over 230 proposals received,
20 projects selected for 3-month, approximately $50K efforts
Projects listed on following pages
For 2010 - $2.8M Requested
If funded, we intend to have an open call for proposals from across NASA

16. 2009 Innovation Fund
Small Payload Quick Return (SPQR) Marcus Murbach ARC
Human Exploration using Real-time Robotic Operations Steven Oleson GRC
A Space Weather Service for NASA’s Robotic Missions Michael Hesse GSFC
Coanda Rocket Plume Deflectors for Large-Scale Test Facilities Daniel Allgood SSC
Axial Curved Element Structural Beam David Paddock LARC
Repair Techniques for Composite Structures LaNetra Tate KSC
Breaking Barriers in Antenna Size, Weight, Power and Cost Lawrence Freudinger
DFRC
Graded Ablating (TPS) Materials Development Frank Milos ARC
Mimicking Gecko Foot Surfaces for Lunar dust Mitigation John Connell LARC
Conversion Coating Lubrication Systems for Cryogenic Seals James Richard MFSC
Concentrated Solar Power Array for Ground and Space Tom Cwik JPL
Low Mass Solar Cells for Space Environments Jan Rogers MFSC
Lightweight, High Power, Deployable Solar Cells Steven Koontz JSC
Nano-Supercapacitor with Carbon/Boron Nitride Nanotubes Janet B. Hurst GRC
Harvesting Vibrational Energy to Power Wireless Instrumentation Scott Jensen SSC
Investigation of Anomalous Heat Observed in Bulk Pd Gustave Fralick GRC
Molecular Adsorber Coating Wanda Peters GSFC
Dust Tolerant Intelligent Electrical Connection System Mark Lewis KSC
Silicon-Immersed Waveguide Spectrometer Charles Bradford JPL
Thermal Microwave Based Emergency Wound Treatment Diane Byerly JSC