NASA announces seven awards for Arizona small businesses
Jun 9, 2018, 5:15 PM | Updated: Jun 21, 2018, 2:17 pm
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
PHOENIX — Some of the states small businesses are taking one giant leap.
In an way to benefit both NASA’s mission and the country’s ceremony, the company handed out funding to 348 awardees recently.
Out of the more than 300 small businesses, six hailed from Arizona, receiving seven awards.
Through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contracts, $43.5 million was distributed to the small businesses around the United States.
Four of the six business were from the Valley.
Cactus Materials in Chandler received a SBIR, which it will use to develop a compact semiconductor that improves high-resolution spectrometry.
In Scottsdale, ZONA Technology Inc. was also given a SBIR to build an improved computer model for flight dynamics.
Tempe-based Alphacore inc. and Phoenix Analysis and Design Technologies were the final two from the Valley to receive STTRs.
In a partnership with Arizona State, Alphacore Inc. will develop a built-in self-test for battery systems, while Phoenix Analysis and Design Technologies will study high-performance materials that mimic biological structures.
Looking farther south, Tucson’s Paragon Space Development Corp. received not one, but two SBIR contracts to produce a flexible radiator to cool inflatable habitats and a technology that separates condensates from the the air. AdValue Photonics Inc. was also given a SBIR contract to develop a pulsed ultraviolet laser.
