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Stone Aerospace, Inc.

$15,743,939

Total funding

7

Grants

Funding over time

peak $6.3M · FY2010–21

$10M$7.5M$5M$2.5M$0

'10

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Funding mix

By agency

NASA$15,743,939 · 7

By mechanism

—$15,743,939 · 7

Investigators at Stone Aerospace, Inc.

Investigator-initiated All funding

Investigatorsi

Rising Stars

First grant in the last 5 yrs

Not enough data

Emerging Leaders

6–10 yrs in

Not enough data

All-Time

Most funded here, all years

Not enough data

Largest grants

LABORATORY RESEARCH IS UNDERWAY ON PHASE 1 OFTHE VALKYRIE CRYOBOT PROJECT UNDER . ^STEP FUNDING. WE ARC NVESTIGATING HIGH POWER LASER TRANSMISSION T$3,995,440

· FY2014 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration

ROBOTIC EXPLORATION AND LIFE SEARCH ON OCEAN WORLDS REQUIRES THE ABILITY TO ACCESS HABITABLE OCEAN ENVIRONMENTS CONCEALED BENEATH THICK ICE CRUSTS. ADDITIONALLY AN INSTRUMENT SUITE IS REQUIRED TO PERFORM THE COMPLICATED TASK OF AUTONOMOUS LIFE DETECTION. WE PROPOSE TO ADDRESS THESE TECHNOLOGICAL AND OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR OCEAN WORLD ACCESS WITH THOR A ROBUST CRYOBOT CAPABLE OF RAPID (10 M/HR) DEEP (500+ M) SUBGLACIAL ACCESS THAT CARRIES AN ONBOARD SCIENCE PAYLOAD OPTIMIZED FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION AND LIFE DETECTION. THOR WILL BE DEPLOYED AT THE EASTERN SKAFTAFELL SUBGLACIAL LAKE IN VATNAJOKULL ICELAND WHERE IT WILL PENETRATE THE THICK ICE COVER OF THE LAKE. SUCCESSFUL FIELDING OF THOR WILL MARK THE FIRST CRYOBOT DESCENT INTO A SUBGLACIAL LAKE THUS ENABLING UNIQUE INVESTIGATIONS OF BOTH THE LAKE'S GEOMICROBIOLOGY AND OF CONOPS STRATEGIES FOR A CRYOBOT'S ENTRY INTO AND DESCENT THROUGH A SUBGLACIAL BODY OF WATER. THE THOR TEAM LEVERAGES SUCCESSFUL WORK FROM THE VALKYRIE AND SPINDLE PROJECTS AND OFFERS FIDELITY TO PSTAR IN THE AREAS OF SCIENCE SCIENCE OPERATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY. A) SCIENCE: INVESTIGATIONS OF THE EASTERN SKAFTAFELL LAKE WILL CENTER AROUND DETECTING AND CHARACTERIZING MICROORGANISMS IN THE WATER COLUMN AND VOLCANIC VENTS TO DECIPHER THE CONTRIBUTION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY LIBERATED FROM GEOTHERMAL VS. GLACIOLOGICAL PROCESSES. TO AID THESE INVESTIGATIONS THOR WILL CARRY A SUITE OF INSTRUMENTS CHOSEN TO CHARACTERIZE THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE ICE AND SUBGLACIAL LAKE WITH A SPECIFIC FOCUS ON LIFE-DETECTION STRATEGIES. ONBOARD INSTRUMENTS WILL INCLUDE A FLUORESCENCE SPECTROMETER A HOLOGRAPHIC MICROSCOPE CAPABLE OF IMAGING PROKARYOTIC CELLS AN INORGANIC CHEMISTRY MEASUREMENT SUITE A TRANSMISSOMETER / BACKSCATTERING SENSOR AND A WATER SAMPLER. A NANOPORE DNA SEQUENCER WILL BE USED ON-SITE TO ANALYZE WATER SAMPLES ACQUIRED BY THOR. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS WILL UTILIZE WATER COLUMN AND VENT MATERIAL SAMPLES WHICH WILL BE RETURNED TO THE SURFACE AND ANALYZED. B) SCIENCE OPERATIONS: AT SKAFTAFELL THE THOR CRYOBOT WILL PENETRATE A 300 M THICK GLACIER AND ENTER THE SUBGLACIAL LAKE IN THE VOLCANO'S CRATER. UPON REACHING THE ICE-WATER INTERFACE THE CRYOBOT WILL TRANSITION INTO AN INSTRUMENT SONDE AND SPOOL ITSELF TO THE LAKE FLOOR WHILE SAMPLING AND ANALYZING THE WATER COLUMN. THIS PENETRATOR-TO-SONDE STRATEGY IS A NEW STEP-WISE APPROACH TO THE INITIAL EXPLORATION OF AN ALIEN OCEAN. AS THE VEHICLE DESCENDS INPUT FROM THE SENSOR SUITE WILL GOVERN DECISION-TO-COLLECT BEHAVIORS TO TRIGGER PROCESSES SUCH AS WATER SAMPLING. THE SYSTEM WILL BE RETRIEVED AFTER EACH MISSION AND WE ANTICIPATE COMPLETING SEVERAL DESCENTS IN EACH OF TWO FIELD SEASONS. EXPLORING METHODS WHICH COULD BE USED TO DETECT EXTANT LIFE ON OCEAN WORLDS IS OF HIGH IMPORTANCE. TO THAT END WE WILL ASSESS HOW WELL AND IN WHAT WAYS THE SUITE OF INSTRUMENTS FUNCTION TOGETHER TO DETERMINE WHETHER LIFE IS PRESENT AND AT WHAT QUANTITIES. CONVENTIONAL LIMNOLOGICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES USING WATER SAMPLES ACQUIRED BY THOR WILL BE USED TO EVALUATE AUTONOMOUS SAMPLING DECISIONS. C) TECHNOLOGY: THE CRYOBOT DESIGN WILL USE A CLOSED-CYCLE HOT WATER DRILL APPROACH WHEREIN THE WATER IS HEATED IN A NOVEL WAY: HIGH VOLTAGE IS APPLIED ACROSS A FLOWING COLUMN OF WATER WHICH SERVES AS THE RESISTIVE ELEMENT IN AN ELECTRO-RESISTIVE HEATER. ENERGY TRANSFER FROM THE ELECTRICAL SOURCE TO THE WATER IS INSTANTANEOUS AND OCCURS AT 100% EFFICIENCY. DIRECT HIGH VOLTAGE HEATING COMBINED WITH NEW INSULATION TECHNOLOGY MAKES POSSIBLE A COMPACT CRYOBOT THAT IS CAPABLE OF RAPID DESCENT AND DEEP SUBGLACIAL ACCESS WITH A SMALL FIELDLOGISTICS FOOTPRINT. GIVEN ITS SIMPLICITY THE CRYOBOT WILL BE INEXPENSIVE EASILY DEPLOYABLE AND FIELD SERVICEABLE. THE THOR PLATFORM WILL ENABLE UNPRECEDENTED ACCESS TO SUBGLACIAL ENVIRONMENTS MAKING IT AN IDEAL PAYLOAD DELIVERY SYSTEM FOR OCEAN WORLDS TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AND ANALOG RESEARCH IN THIS PSTAR PROJECT AND BEYOND.$3,630,850

· FY2020 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration

WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP, INTEGRATE, AND FIELD TEST SPINDLE (SUB-GLACIAL POLAR ICE NAVIGATION, DESCENT, AND LAKE EXPLORATION)-AN AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE SYST$2,885,680

· FY2015 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration

WE PROPOSE TO ADVANCE A CRYOBOT DESIGN THAT USES CLOSED-CYCLE HOT WATER DRILLING (CCHWD) TECHNOLOGY AS THE PRIMARY MEANS OF PENETRATING ICE. THE PRIMARY ROLE OF THE PROMETHEUS (NUCLEAR-POWERED ROBOTIC MECHANISM TECHNOLOGY FOR HOT-WATER EXPLORATION OF UNDER-ICE SPACE) VEHICLE WILL BE TO ENABLE ACTIVELY CONTROLLED DESCENT THROUGH THE ICE SHELL INTO EUROPA S SUBSURFACE OCEAN. IN PROMETHEUS WE WILL DESIGN DEVELOP AND TEST A CCHWD CRYOBOT THAT IS COMPATIBLE WITH A SMALL FISSION REACTOR AND WHICH CAN BE DEVELOPED BY 2022 INTO A REALISTIC FLIGHT CRYOBOT. THE DESIGN IS A NUCLEAR FISSION POWERED SUCCESSOR TO STONE AEROSPACE S VALKYRIE AND SPINDLE CRYOBOTS CAPABLE OF ACHIEVING A 15 KM DESCENT THROUGH A EUROPAN ICE PROFILE IN UNDER A YEAR AND UNDER 200 KG VEHICLE MASS NOT COUNTING REACTOR MASS. BASED ON ANALYSES AND DESIGN WORK FROM PRIOR AND ON-GOING STONE AEROSPACE CRYOBOT PROJECTS WE ANTICIPATE THE FLIGHT CRYOBOT TO HAVE A 37 CM DIAMETER AND 4 M LENGTH.DESIGN ISSUES WE WILL ADDRESS INCLUDE: CREATING AND USING A NUCLEAR SURROGATE HEAT SOURCE FOR REALISTIC TESTING CRYOBOT SUBSYSTEMS OPTIMIZING AN END-TO-END SYSTEM DESIGN TAILORED TO THE EUROPAN ICE COLUMN DESIGNING AN EFFECTIVE HEAT EXCHANGER TO USE REACTOR WASTE HEAT FOR HOT WATER DRILLING DEVELOPING A ROBUST JET PUMP DESIGN FOR WATER JETTING INCORPORATING A PASSIVE MELTING DEFAULT CAPABILITY IN THE EVENT OF CCHWD FAILURE DESIGNING AN EFFICIENT HEAT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR THE VEHICLE VALIDATING THERMAL ANALYSES IN EUROPAN CONDITIONS DEVELOPING AN ONBOARD SPOOLER FOR VERTICAL MOTION CONTROL OF THE CRYOBOT DESIGN AND TESTING OF A PRESSURE SHELL THAT WILL ENABLE CCHWD INITIATION AT THE SURFACE DESIGN AND TESTING OF A NOSE GEOMETRY OPTIMIZED FOR PASSIVE MELTING AT THE SURFACE INVESTIGATION OF DIRTY ICE PROPERTIES AND CRYOVAC TESTING OF CRYOBOT CAPABILITIES WITHIN DIRTY ICE WE WILL TEST A FUNCTIONAL SUB-SCALE CCHWD CRYOBOT AND VARIOUS PROMETHEUS SUBSYSTEMS BOTH IN PURE WATER ICE AND DIRTY ICE IN THE STONE AEROSPACE EUROPA TOWER CRYOGENIC/VACUUM FACILITY. THE INTERNAL VOLUME OF THE EUROPA TOWER CRYOVAC CHAMBER IS 0.75 M IN DIAMETER AND 2 M TALL AND THE CHAMBER CAN SIMULATE THE TEMPERATURES AND VACUUM CONDITIONS BELIEVED TO EXIST IN EUROPA S SURFACE BRITTLE AND DUCTILE ICES.$2,713,893

· FY2020 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration

THROUGH-ICE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN AN ICE-PENETRATING VEHICLE (CRYOBOT) AND A SURFACE LANDER IS CRITICAL FOR SCIENCE RETURN ON OCEAN WORLD SUBSURFACE MISSIONS. IT WILL BE DESIRABLE TO SPOOL OUT A HIGH-BANDWIDTH COMMUNICATION TETHER BEHIND A DESCENDING$1,775,821

· FY2021 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration

ROBOTIC SCIENCE MISSIONS TO THE SUB-SURFACE OCEANS OF EUROPA AND ENCELADUS, AS WELL AS DEEP INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE MARTIAN ICE CAP, ALL REQUIRE A SM$500,000

· FY2010 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration

SUBSURFACE EXPLORATION OF OCEAN WORLDS ULTIMATELY REQUIRES SIGNIFICANT ICE PENETRATION. WE PROPOSE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF AN ENTIRELY NOVEL ICE PENETRATING TECHNOLOGY USING LASER LIGHT CARRIED BY AN OPTICAL FIBER TETHER AND EMITTED FROM THE PROBE S NOSE CONE DIRECTLY INTO THE ICE. THIS TECHNOLOGY HAS CRITICAL BENEFITS OVER CONVENTIONAL HOT POINT MELT PROBES AND MECHANICAL DRILLS AND IS PARTICULARLY ADVANTAGEOUS FOR THE EXTREME COLD AND VACUUM ENVIRONMENT ON OCEAN WORLDS. CURRENTLY OUR DIRECT LASER PROBE IS TARGETED FOR VERY EFFICIENT PENETRATION OF 1 TO 10 METERS DEPTH AND SCALES WELL FOR PENETRATION OF 10S TO 100S OF METERS. PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED AT STONE AEROSPACE OVER A RANGE OF POWER LEVELS AND ICE PENETRATION RATES PRODUCED EXCELLENT RESULTS EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS (TRL 3) AND ACHIEVING THE FASTEST RECORDED CRYOBOT DESCENT SPEED TO DATE. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP BUILD AND CHARACTERIZE A DIRECT-LASER-BASED PENETRATOR SYSTEM REFINING AND ADVANCING THIS TECHNOLOGY TO TRL 5. WE WILL TEST A RANGE OF PROBE DIAMETERS AND LASER POWER LEVELS UNDER RELEVANT EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS. ADDITIONALLY WE WILL INVESTIGATE FIBER-COUPLED OPTICAL BIOMARKER SENSORS THAT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE LASER S FIBER OPTIC TETHER. CONVENTIONAL HOT POINT MELT PROBES TESTED UNDER VACUUM HAVE SHOWN EXTREME DIFFICULTY INITIATING PENETRATION (KAUFMANN ET AL. 2009) AS THERE IS VIRTUALLY NO THERMAL CONTACT BETWEEN THE PROBE NOSE AND ROUGH ICE SURFACE. THE ICE SIMPLY SUBLIMATES AND ANY TRANSFERRED HEAT IS QUICKLY DISSIPATED DUE TO THE LOW POWER DENSITY AND EXTREME COLD. WITH DIRECT LASER HEATING NO THERMAL CONTACT IS NEEDED AND 100% OF THE LASER POWER IS DEPOSITED DIRECTLY INTO THE ICE WITH NO THERMAL HANDLING LOSSES. FURTHERMORE 1070 NM RADIATION HAS GREATER ABSORPTION IN ICE THAN IN WATER WHICH LIMITS ATTENUATION THROUGH ANY WATER POCKET IN FRONT OF THE PROBE. HIGHER POWER DENSITIES AND FASTER CRYOBOT PENETRATION TIMES ARE NOW MADE POSSIBLE WHICH IS CRITICAL BECAUSE PROBE EFFICIENCY CLIMBS DRAMATICALLY AT HIGHER SPEEDS BY AVOIDING EXTREME CONDUCTIVE LOSSES IN COLD ICE. A MAJOR BENEFIT OF DEPOSITING ENERGY INTO A VOLUME OF ICE RATHER THAN UPON A SURFACE IS A LOWER RESULTING TEMPERATURE FOR SAMPLING COMPARED TO HOT POINT PROBES WHICH MUST GENERATE LARGE TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS TO FORCE THE HEAT THROUGH LAYERS OF ICE AND WATER. DURING PROOF OF CONCEPT TESTING WE OBSERVED ONLY MODERATE TEMPERATURE RISES AT THE ICE-WATER INTERFACE IMPLYING THAT SAMPLES WILL NOT BE EXCESSIVELY HEATED. ANOTHER ADVANTAGE TO THIS LASER APPROACH IS THAT THE PROBE S FIBER OPTIC TETHER ALONG WITH A DEDICATED SENSOR FIBER ENABLE A FORM OF "OPTICAL ACCESS" TO THE SUBSURFACE ENVIRONMENT. THIS ACCESS CAN BE UTILIZED BY A LANDER S ON-BOARD INSTRUMENTS (RAMAN SPECTROMETER ETC.) OR INSTRUMENTS DEDICATED TO THE PENETRATOR (FIBER SPECTROMETER EM SENSOR FOR LIGHT SPECTRUM ETC). THESE SENSORS CAN SEARCH FOR BIOMARKERS AND CHARACTERIZE THE RADIATION/LIGHT ENVIRONMENT FOR SUBSURFACE HABITABILITY INCLUDING PHOTOSYNTHETIC POTENTIAL AND RADIATION ENVIRONMENT AS A SOURCE FOR ENERGY AND DAMAGE. THIS COMBINATION LASER PENETRATOR AND INTEGRATED FIBER INSTRUMENTS COULD BE A POWERFUL NEW LIGHTWEIGHT TOOL FOR AN OCEAN WORLD LANDER. TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECT ARE: 1. DEVELOP AND BUILD A DIRECT-LASER PENETRATOR 2. TEST AND CHARACTERIZE THE PENETRATOR IN ICE UNDER VACUUM AND AT 100K TEMPERATURE OVER A RANGE OF PENETRATOR DIAMETERS. 3. INVESTIGATE FIBER-COUPLED OPTICAL SENSING STRATEGIES INCLUDING BOTH PAIRING THE FIBER WITH POTENTIAL ON-BOARD INSTRUMENTS AS WELL AN IN-SITU DEMONSTRATION OF INTEGRATED SPECTROGRAPHIC AND EM INSTRUMENTS. CO-I HOGAN WILL LEAD DIRECT LASER MELTING DEVELOPMENT AND CRYOBOT DESIGN. CO-I BRAMALL A LIFE-DETECTION INSTRUMENT DESIGNER WILL MANAGE FIBER SENSING AND SPECTROSCOPY INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT AND INTEGRATION. CO-I CHRISTNER WILL SERVE AS MICROBIOLOGY ADVISOR.$242,255

· FY2017 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration