National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 2025 SBIR & STTR Phase I

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): The 2025 SBIR & STTR Phase I Solicitations Opened January 7.

Application Deadline

March 10, 2025

Key Resources

• Download Solicitation:  2025 NASA SBIR Phase I Solicitation (Opened January 7, 2025)
• Webinars: 2025 NASA SBIR/STTR Phase I Subtopic Ask Me Anything (AMA) Webinars

Registrations:

• Ensure you have the following registrations complete and up to date. If you are not registered, NASA recommends you start immediately.
  • SAM.gov registration at https://sam.gov/. You must have a unique Entity Identifier (UEI)
  • Registration with the SBIR Firm Registry at https://www.sbir.gov/registration
• Proposal Submissions and Award Management System (ProSAMS) is used to submit a proposal package. ProSAMS requires firm registration and login and provides a secure connection. To access ProSAMS, go to https://prosams.nasa.gov/.

Program Highlights

Phase I is the jumping off point for most small businesses and research institutions working with the program. It is known as the “idea generation” phase, during which small businesses (and their research institution partners in STTR) establish the scientific, technical, commercial merit and feasibility of the proposed innovation. Phase I projects should demonstrate technical feasibility of the proposed innovation and the potential for use in a NASA program or mission and/or the commercial market. The NASA SBIR Program does not make awards solely directed toward system studies, market research, routine engineering, development of existing product(s), proven concepts, or modifications of existing products without substantive innovation.

• Average Individual Award Range: $150,000
• SBIR Period of Performance: 6 months
• STTR Period of Performance: 13 months
• Anticipated Number of Awards: NASA does not estimate an exact number of anticipated Phase I contract awards; however, the table below reflects the historical information for the program.

On June 7, 2024, NASA selected 248 proposals from small businesses across the country to receive nearly $45 million in Phase I awards.

Subtopics

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD)

• • • Quiet Performance – Airframe Noise
    • Propulsion Efficiency – Propulsion Materials and Structures
    • Novel Aircraft Configurations for Electrified Aircraft Propulsion
    • Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) Vehicle Technologies – Vehicle Design Tool & Electric Powertrain Test Capability
    • Aeronautics Ground Test and Measurement Technologies: Diagnostic Systems for High-Speed Flows and Icing
    • Zero-Emissions Technologies for Aircraft
    • Health Management and Sensing Technologies for Sustainable Aviation Vehicles
    • Flight Test and Measurement Technologies
    • Enabling Aircraft Autonomy
    • Aviation Cybersecurity
    • Advanced Air Traffic Management for Nontraditional Airspace Missions
    • Future Aviation Systems Safety
    • Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Integration

Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) and Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD)

• • • Oxygen Compatible Habitation Solutions for Exploration Environments
    • Nanobubble Facilitated Hydrogen Peroxide Production In Space
    • Long-Duration Exploration Portable Life Support System (PLSS) Capabilities
    • Advanced Materials for Durable Spacesuits for the Moon and Mars
    • Modular, Multi-Use 50 kW Lunar Solar Array Structures
    • Trusted Autonomy in Space Systems
    • In-Space Production Applications (InSPA) Flight Development and Demonstrations on ISS
    • Flight Dynamics and Navigation Technologies
    • Lunar 3GPP Technologies
    • In-line Commodity Purity Analysis
    • In-Suit Detection of Venous Gas Emboli
    • Autonomous Capabilities for Lunar Surface Mobility Systems
    • Simulation and Modeling of Lunar Mobility System Interaction with Lunar Regolith

Science Mission Directorate (SMD)

• • • Lidar Remote-Sensing Technologies
    • Technologies for Active Microwave Remote Sensing
    • Technologies for Passive Microwave Remote Sensing
    • Sensor and Detector Technologies for Visible, Infrared (IR), Far-IR, and Submillimeter
    • Suborbital Instruments and Sensor Systems for Earth Science Measurements
    • Exoplanet Detection and Characterization Technologies
    • Precision Deployable Optical Structures and Metrology
    • Advanced Optical Systems and Fabrication/Testing/Control Technologies for Extended-Ultraviolet/Optical to Mid-/Far-Infrared Telescopes
    • X-Ray Mirror Systems Technology, Coating Technology for X-Ray-UVOIR, and Free-Form Optics
    • Detector Technologies for Ultraviolet (UV), X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Instruments
    • Robotic Mobility, Manipulation, and Sampling
    • Extreme-Environments Technology
    • Contamination Control and Planetary Protection
    • In Situ Instruments and Instrument Components for Lunar and Planetary Science
    • Dynamic Power Conversion
    • Space Weather Research-to-Operations and Operations-to-Research (R2O2R)
    • In Situ Particles and Fields and Remote-Sensing-Enabling Technologies for Heliophysics Instruments
    • In Situ Sample Preparation and Analysis for Biological and Physical Sciences in a Microgravity Environment
    • Environmental Monitoring for Micro-G and Partial-G Experiments
    • Guidance, Navigation, and Control
    • Suborbital Platform Technologies
    • Thermal Control Systems
    • Cryogenic Systems for Sensors and Detectors
    • Quantum Sensing: Atomic sensors, optical atomic clocks, and solid-state systems
    • Technologies for Large-Scale Numerical Simulation
    • Integrated Campaign and System Modeling
    • Fault Management Technologies

Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD)

• • • Cryogenic Fluid Management
    • Space Nuclear Propulsion
    • Solar Photon Sails Research and Technology Development
    • Parachute Systems for Maneuverability and Wireless Data Acquisition
    • Entry and Descent System Technologies
    • Plume-Surface Interaction (PSI) Technologies
    • Surface Power Technologies
    • Spacecraft Thermal Management
    • Space Resource Processing for Consumables, Manufacturing, Construction, and Energy
    • Components for Extreme Environments
    • Regolith Excavation and Manipulation for Surface Operations and Infrastructure with Assembly and Outfitting of Lunar Surface Structures
    • Servicing and Assembly Applications
    • Orbital Infrastructure Assembly
    • Space Debris Prevention for Small Spacecraft
    • Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Sustainability
    • Beyond LEO Sustainability
    • Enabling Power and Thermal Technologies
    • High-Performance Space Computing Technology
    • Advanced In-Space Laser Welding and Nondestructive Evaluation
    • Robotic Hardware for In-Space Manipulation
    • Extensible Perception, Manipulation, and Interoperability for Autonomous Robotic Systems