NASA PICKS 5 SMALL HIGH-TECH FIRMS FOR PACTS PLANS INVOLVE IMPROVING AIRCRAFT OR THEIR OPERATION.Byline: Daily NewsEDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. -- Five small high-technology firms have been selected by NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. Dryden Flight Research Center The Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC), located inside Edwards Air Force Base, is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. On March 26, 1976 it was named in honor of the late Hugh L. for research and development contracts. The five firms' proposals were among 120 selected for funding by NASA overall under the second phase of the agency's 2005 Small Business Innovative Research program, and are valued at up to $600,000 each over a two-year performance period. The proposals all involve research toward either improving aircraft or improving their ability to operate safely among other aircraft in American skies. The firms and the titles of their winning proposals include: Metis Metis (mē`tĭs), in astronomy, one of the 39 known moons, or natural satellites, of Jupiter. Metis goddess of caution and discretion. [Rom. Myth.: Wheeler, 242] See : Prudence Design Corp., Cambridge, Mass., Aircraft Sensor-Logger with Power Replenishment Capabilities. Rolling Hills Research Corp., El Segundo, Enhanced L/D L/D Labor and Delivery L/D Lethal Dose L/D Lift/Drag (ratio) L/D Low Dynamic L/D Limiter/Discriminator L/D Loading / Discharging Rate (shipping) and Virtual Shaping of NLF NLF abbr. National Liberation Front NLF n abbr (= National Liberation Front) → FLN m NLF n abbr (= National Liberation Front Sections. Los Gatos Research, Mountain View, Calif., Dynamic Strain and Crack Monitoring Sensor. Tao of Systems Integration Inc., Hampton, Va., Flow-Angle and Airspeed Sensor System (FASS FASS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (National University of Singapore) FASS Federation of Animal Science Societies FASS Florida Agricultural Statistics Service FASS Financial Acquisition Support Services ) Using Flush-Mounted Hot-Films. Andrews Space & Technology of Seattle, Wash., Flexible Transpiration-Cooled Thermal Protection System for Inflatable Atmospheric Capture and Entry Systems. Greg Poteat, acting deputy SBIR SBIR Small Business Innovation Research (program/grant) SBIR Space Based Infra-Red SBIR Speaker-Boundary Interference SBIR Site Backsurface-referenced Ideal Plane/Range (silicon wafers) program manager at NASA Dryden, said the selections were based in part on each firm's performance under an earlier Phase I SBIR contact. ``Phase I awards support evaluation of the scientific or technical merit of a proposed concept, and are funded up to a maximum of $70,000 for a six-month period,'' Poteat explained. ``Phase II selections are made from high-performing Phase I projects, and are oriented to development of a marketable product. Between 40 (percent) and 50 percent of Phase I contracts are selected for the Phase II follow-on.'' Overall, 103 small, high-technology firms in 27 states will share in about $72 million in SBIR Phase II contracts awarded by NASA this year, with several receiving more than one contract. The 120 projects funded were selected from 280 proposals submitted by firms completing SBIR Phase I projects. Each proposal was evaluated to determine if it met SBIR Phase I objectives and if it was a feasible research innovation to meet the aerospace agency's needs. Additionally, the proposals were chosen based upon technical merit and innovation, commercial potential and company capabilities. Those firms successfully completing work under a Phase II contract may go to the third phase of the SBIR program by commercializing their product or service. Phase III requires the firms to obtain private financing or non-SBIR federal funding. NASA's SBIR program is intended to stimulate technological innovation, increase the use of small business -- including women-owned and disadvantaged firms -- in meeting federal research and development needs, and increase private-sector commercialization of innovations derived from federally funded research. The program is managed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center. GSFC employs approximately 10,000 civil servants and contractors, and is located approximately 6.5 miles northeast of Washington, D.C. , Greenbelt, Md., with oversight from NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. Individual SBIR projects are selected and managed by each of NASA's 10 field centers. |
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