Scott Nicholas
A joint venture of Geocent and Plasma Processes has received a six-month contract from NASA to develop multifunctional radiation shielding composites for potential use in space crew vehicles, habitats and other applications.
Geoplasma aims to produce materials that can help shield space exploration vehicles and habitats against galactic cosmic rays as part of the Phase I Small Business Innovation Research program, the company said Thursday.
Bill Marks, vice president of aerospace and defense engineering at Geocent, said the company will collaborate with Plasma Processes to develop a system for the agency to protect humans, payloads and spaceflight components from harsh environments in space.
NASA would evaluate Geoplasma-made composites in a combined space environment via the Materials International Space Station Experiment Flight Facility on board the ISS if the project moves into its second phase.
The agency received more than 1,600 responses to its 2017 SBIR solicitation and subsequently picked 399 research and technology submissions from 321 small business and research institutions.
