Quest Invited to Johnson Space Center to Attend NASA Workshop
Quest Product Development Corp was one of 22 small companies participating in the NASA Small Business Innovation Research program invited to a technology infusion workshop. The NASA Kennedy Space Center SBIR/STTR Infusion Office has a mission to bridge NASA program technology needs with potential technology solutions developed through the thousands of projects funded by the SBIR/STTR program. The Infusion Office, working with the NASA Lunar Surface Systems (LSS) technology leadership, identified ten technology need areas.
Quest was invited to participate in the Lunar Surface Systems and SBIR Technology Workshop because the company is among 22 SBIR-funded companies that have been pre-qualified as potential solution providers. The intent of this workshop is to facilitate technical discussions and interaction between both the NASA LSS technology domain sponsors who have technical needs and the SBIR companies with potential technology solutions to fill those needs. Quest presented several new thermal insulation and structure systems under development, that could help NASA meet mission objectives for long duration manned missions to the moon, Mars or other deep space missions.
Quest technologies described included Integrated MultiLayer Insulation, a next generation, advanced MLI, Load Responsive MLI, a dynamic system that operates both in-atmosphere and on-orbit, and MMOD-MLI, a structural insulation system that provides protection from micrometeoroids and orbital debris. These systems could provide benefits to NASA exploration missions with specific applications for Cryogenic propellant systems on Altair and Ares V EDS, life support cryogenic systems on Altair or Lunar Bases, surface cryogenic storage of in-situ propellants, and MMOD protection. Potential benefits include mass savings from elimination of SOFI or vacuum shell for large cryo tanks, cost and schedule savings relative to very labor intensive current cryogenic MLI applied to large cryo tanks, cost and resource savings from potential elimination of ground He and N2 purge, and MMOD protection for manned long space durations missions.
