FOR RELEASE:
September 21, 2007

For more information contact:
Eugene (Gene) Watson, Program Manager
Wyoming SBIR/STTR Initiative
Phone: 307.742.7162, Cell:  307.760.0456  

Jerad Stack, Vice President
Firehole Technologies
1000 E. University Ave.
Laramie, WY 82701
Phone: 307-766-3654 

Robert Viola, Square One Systems Design, Inc.
PO Box 10520
Jackson, WY 83002
Phone:  307.734.0211 

John Wickman, President
Wickman Spacecraft & Propulsion Company
A Division of Totally Benign Enterprises
3745A Studer
Casper, WY 82604
Phone:  307.265.5895
Web site:  www.wickmanspacecraft.com

Phase 0 winners for August have eyes on the skies

CHEYENNE – Three Wyoming firms who have given their research a slant towards the stars were awarded Phase 0 awards through the Wyoming Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer Initiative (WSSI) and the Wyoming Business Council in August.

The SBIR Phase 0 Program helps Wyoming companies develop competitive proposals for the federal SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. The WSSI receives funding from the Wyoming Business Council and gives out $120,000 in Phase 0 awards each year.

Firehole Technologies of Laramie was awarded an SBIR award to develop a proposal for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) along with their partner, Utah-based HyPerComp Engineering. The partnership will attempt to develop an improved design of pressure vessels, made of ultralight composite overwrapped pressure vessels, which would make for lighter fuel and propellant tanks on a vehicle which would take humans back to the moon and eventually Mars.

“Pressure vessel are what engineers call tanks, the orange fuel tanks on the back of the space shuttle are a good example,” said Firehole Vice President Jerad Stack. “Right now it costs somewhere between $10-30K a pound to launch something into space. We’re proposing to use carbon fiber materials like what you would see in your golf club or tennis racquet…. We want to use composites to make those (vessels or fuel tanks) 40-60 percent lighter.”

Firehole Technologies has been a frequent user of the SBIR program, having received four Phase 0 awards, seven Phase I’s and two Phase II awards.

Square One Systems Design, Inc. of Jackson received a Phase 0 award to aid them in the development of positioning devices for cryogenic and vacuum environments for the United States Department of Energy (DOE). The award will be used for research into cryo-motion devices for the United States’ Air Force’s space simulation chambers.

The space simulation chambers are high vacuum, very cold (generally around 200 degrees below zero Fahrenheit) areas which are used to see how machines and optics put into space will adapt to adverse conditions. According to Square One Design Systems’ Robert Viola, the company is going to work to understand what common failures exist in devices used in the space simulator, which will determine what sorts of materials and devices will work in space.

“Our hope is to try to understand what is causing the problem, then find ways to modify or redesign the equipment to make them more compatible with the cryogenic environment,” Viola said.

According to Michael Austin, Square One’s Vice President of Business Development, the award has already allowed representatives from Square One to visit Arnold Air Force Base to speak with those soliciting the technology as well as potential partners in the project.

Casper Scientist John Wickman is no stranger to the SBIR program having won awards in the past. Including his most recent award, Wickman has picked up nine Phase 0 awards, five Phase I’s, three Phase II’s and a Phase III.

Wickman’s latest Phase 0 award will help him prepare a proposal to NASA for a low-cost launch vehicle that can put a small satellite into orbit for $250,000, which is substantially less than a $50 million shuttle launch.

“NASA and the Department of Defense are moving away from the big satellites and going towards the smaller ones and the idea is to get them into orbit very cheaply,” Wickman said.

NASA, the Department of Defense, universities and small business are developing small satellites (under 22 lbs) to perform the same tasks now performed by much larger satellites. Wickman’s new vehicle would fill a market need for deploying these small satellites into orbit at an affordable price. The new vehicle combines commercial off-the-shelf electronics, materials and production techniques with the maturing of Wickman’s new rocket nozzle technology being developed under an Air Force contract. The company expects to increase its current staff of five engineers if a NASA contract is awarded this fall. The first flight of the new launch vehicle would be in 2010.

The federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs make up the WSSI alliance and provide more than $2 billion annually in Research and Development (R&D) awards and contracts to qualified small businesses.

Eleven federal agencies are required by law to provide these funds by setting aside 2.5 percent of their annual extra-mural R&D budgets for use exclusively by U.S. small businesses for new product R&D. Hence, these programs provide a unique source of start-up and seed capital for small businesses to develop new innovative product concepts.

The mission of the Wyoming Business Council is to facilitate the economic growth of Wyoming. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.wyomingbusiness.org.

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