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Two NASA-funded Small Business Innovation Research* (SBIR) contracts with Anasphere* may enable researchers to better understand the water content of clouds and the carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere – helping to meet NASA mission needs while supporting this new business. One of the Phase 2 contracts has resulted in a set of miniaturized cloud-water sensors to be test flown on balloons from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility* in the summer of 2008, helping scientists determine how the sensor performs for measuring the water content of clouds and potentially the distribution of rain in a storm. The other SBIR Phase 2 contract is enabling Anasphere to develop a miniaturized carbon dioxide (CO2) sensor for use on unmanned missions. If validation is favorable, NASA and Anasphere expect the sensor to be significant in enabling highly sensitive measurements of CO2 sources and sinks in the atmosphere, leading to critical understanding of the carbon cycle and climate change. Benefits of Technology Transfer
About Anasphere Located in Bozeman, Montana, Anasphere was created in 2002 to pursue the development of inexpensive and user-friendly instruments for atmospheric and environmental research. A major area of focus is atmospheric and meteorological profiling extending from surface and tethered systems through high-altitude balloons operating in the near-space environment. The company’s primary mission is to improve current research, instrumentation, and education in the fields of atmospheric and environmental science. Anasphere's expertise encompasses a broad spectrum of fields, including chemistry, engineering, meteorology, physics, computer science, and education. Understanding Clouds’ Water Content The water content of clouds, whether in liquid or ice form, is an important measurement with implications for weather forecasting, studies of radiation transfer, and even climate change. Currently available ground- and satellite-based sensors are expensive, heavy, and require too much power to be flown on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), balloons, and kites. Through its SBIR contract, Anasphere has developed and delivered a set of miniaturized cloud-water sensors capable of being flown on UAS, enabling NASA to deploy rain sensors on a broad scale. The sensors can even be flown into storms or conditions in which a piloted aircraft could be exposed to higher risks. Current NASA missions that may benefit from these sensors include the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission* (TRMM), NASA’s current precipitation satellite. Measurements taken by the sensor would be used to validate measurements taken via the satellite. In time, the sensors could be used to “fill in the data gaps” between what ground- and satellite-based systems are able to gather by flying directly to the source: the cloud itself. Uncovering Critical Information about the Carbon Cycle Another NASA need being addressed by Anasphere research is better understanding of Earth’s “CO2 budget.” That is, where the sinks and sources of CO2 reside in the environment and what their contributions are. Precise measurements of CO2 distribution have critical implications for understanding the carbon cycle and climate change. Under its Phase 2 SBIR contract, Anasphere has developed and demonstrated a prototype of a novel CO2 sensor that combines photocatalysis and microwave spectroscopy – resulting in precision sensing of CO2. The company has also miniaturized the sensor, making it suitable for UAS missions to areas such as the South Pacific Ocean – a vast territory for manned missions. Whereas ground-based laboratory sensors can measure very small shifts of CO2 in samples brought to the laboratory, Anasphere's technology—once validated—promises to detect small changes in CO2 induced by trees or plants on location in the environment, leading to more detailed understanding of the impact of CO2 shifts on climate. Looking Ahead With the cloud-water sensors completed, Anasphere and NASA researchers plan to fly sensors on balloons during the summer of 2008 to understand their performance. Vertical measurements will enable understanding of how well the sensor is able to validate satellite-based water-content data. Pending positive results, NASA may deploy the sensors on future UAS missions to gather distributed data. Anasphere’s work on its CO2 sensor will also be tested on UAS missions flown from Wallops Island. The company is currently working to increase the sensitivity of the sensor while maintaining its miniature footprint. Once complete, NASA will begin testing to verify the sensor’s performance. NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory* (OCO), scheduled for launch in December 2008, will provide a “big picture view” of the global distribution of carbon dioxide; the new Anasphere sensor will help fill in the small details.
Contact Details about NASA's Small Business Innovation Research program are available online: http://sbir.nasa.gov*If you would like more information about the SBIR program and other technology transfer opportunities, please contact: Innovative Partnerships Program Office (2008)
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On the Record “Anyone can take broad measurements with a sensor in a lab. But what we really need are smaller sensors that can fly on unmanned missions to measure subtle variations in the environment.” “The taxpayer is always the primary beneficiary of SBIR work.” “Once we hit our target sensitivity, the CO2 sensor will detect small changes in the atmosphere that might be induced by trees and plants. Little, tiny, environmentally significant shifts in the natural environment can have huge implications for measuring climate change and understanding the carbon cycle.” “Anasphere is absolutely serious about miniaturization to enable UAV missions, but they also are very skilled in looking at sensor performance end to end. So they don’t just help get the technology small enough to fly on a balloon, they look at how we can best capture the data and retrieve it.” “The SBIR experience with NASA has been wonderful. I’ve been really happy that we’ve found an agency to work with where our research interests and theirs can come together. We’re on the same wavelength. Our technologies meet NASA needs.” “NASA funding has allowed us to finally prove our ideas. That is the huge benefit. Without that, we would have been trapped in theory and trying to explain why it should work. Now, through the SBIR program, we have the opportunity to show the world that it does work.” “Through this funding we’re able to create full-time jobs and retain important people. This kind of contract is critical to a small business like ours.” “We need to anticipate technologies that will be needed for these long-range, unmanned missions. Partnerships with companies like Anasphere are helping us do that.”
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