Elizabeth de la Cruz
NASA has chosen two groups composed of agency technologists and their external partners to conduct research projects and receive grants worth up to $2.5 million over two years.
The selected teams will participate in NASA’s Early Career Initiative program that offers technologists an opportunity to gain hands-on experience developing systems that can support future space missions, the agency said Wednesday.
NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate picked two projects out of 18 proposals from early-career teams and the agency noted that grantees can negotiate agreements with their industry or academic partners.
“This program provides exposure to alternative project management approaches,” said Ricky Howard, Center Innovation Fund program executive at NASA STMD.
“It allows early-career employees experience outside of NASA’s standard management approach, and it will help STMD identify project management approaches that work better for technology development work.”
The first team, led by Sarah D’Souza of Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, will work to develop an autonomous guidance and control system for deployable entry vehicles.
The second group, led by Kennedy Space Center’s Anne Meier, will focus on the development of orbital synthetic gas and commodity augmentation reactor technology.
