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    Ignite the Night CHICAGO

    November 14, 2019

    TechNexus Venture Collaborative
    20 N Upper Wacker Drive #1200
    Chicago, IL 60606

    Focus Areas
    • Advanced Manufacturing
    • Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning
    • Biotechnology
    • System Autonomy
    • X-Factor Innovations

    Winner
    • Stofiel Aerospace
    More Details

     

    View archived livestream

     

     

    PRESENTERS

     

    Advanced Ionics

    Hydrogen for Industrial Materials Production

    Advanced Ionics is building game-changing electrolyzers specifically tailored for industrial processes to produce hydrogen for space exploration missions and here on Earth. Hydrogen is one of the most critical raw materials used in extraterrestrial environments. It is required for a variety of applications, including power and propulsion. Hydrogen will also be used as a reducing agent to make industrial materials, such as metals on lunar bases. Improving in-situ access to abundant hydrogen in a small, lightweight configuration that operates in a simple, reliable and predictable manner is a pre-requisite for future space efforts. 

    View Advanced Ionics' Presentation 

     

    Energetically PBC

    Energetically Platform

    Energetically PBC is building a new patented class of entrochemical devices to drive a modular, sustainable platform that can provide clean potable water, hydrogen, electricity generation, and heating and cooling solutions. Environmental heat powers the platform, which is designed to be infinitely scalable with no byproducts. The platform requires only water, which does not have to be potable. 

    View Energetically PBC's Presentation 

     

    NiveauUp Inc.

    eXtreme Fast Charging (XFC) Batteries

    NiveauUp Inc. is the definitive leader in developing eXtreme Fast Charging (XFC) battery technology. Original equipment manufacturers have validated NiveauUp’s commercialization-ready samples. For a given specific energy density, their XFC batteries achieve 10-times faster charging and three-times longer life – outperforming what today’s state of the art offers. This technology enables electrified fleets, operating both on the ground and in the air, to harness the most powerful chargers to maximize their ranges and Return on Assets (ROA). 

    View NiveauUp Inc.'s Presentation 

     

    Noland Industries

    ELFRAM Electricity from Artificial Material

    Noland Industries proposes a solution to wake up the Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. Spirit is not working due to dying batteries. Opportunity is not working due to Martian sand covering the surface of the solar cell. Neither is physically damaged. This concept deploys an innovative device, ELFRAM. A photon emitter is placed atop the rover’s solar cell to act as a physical Martian sun. Then, the solar cell and photon emitter are enclosed. The enclosure protects the solar cell from the environment and confines photons to the surface of the solar cell, so no photons are wasted. 

    View Noland Industries' Presentation 

     

    Orbital Transport Inc.

    Payload Return for SmallSat Missions

    Orbital Transport Inc. is developing a solution for small satellite-based cellular and molecular research that requires the return of research materials back to Earth. This will enable new opportunities for space-based research that can be conducted without human intervention, freeing that research from limitations inherent to the International Space Station. It consists of four primary elements: a Payload Return Capsule, self-contained Laboratory Modules, a hosted payload Service Module, and a Propulsion Module. Research materials can be returned to Earth with 95% landing precision and delivered to customers within hours. 

    View Orbital Transport Inc.'s Presentation 

     

    ParaNetics Inc.

    ParaNetic Ion Propulsion Drive

    The team at ParaNetics Inc. has created a breakthrough in magnetics technology that will fundamentally change multiple applications and products which currently use magnets. Applications include electric motors, sensors, valves and linear acceleration “carrier launch systems” that turn today’s designs inside out. The company has filed patents for the ParaNetic magnetic field generator, an electric aircraft motor based on the ParaNetic field, and several other applications, including an ion propulsion engine smaller than a hockey puck, used to power microsatellites. 

    View ParaNetics Inc.'s Presentation 

     

    Stofiel Aerospace

    Positive Structural Molding

    Stofiel Aerospace looks toward eliminating heavier and consumable metals and replacing them with lighter and stronger 3D-printed ceramics that can be constructed and customized as the need arises, or mass-marketed here on Earth. Positive structural molding was designed as a biologically renewable resource. This allows for in-situ construction of complex ceramics through common additive manufacturing processes. Using various construction methods for the mold and ceramics allows this new manufacturing capability to adapt to changing environments and uses. 

    View Stofiel Aerospace's Presentation 

     

    Xenesis

    Software Defined Optical Comms

    Xenesis has developed the World’s first Software Defined Optical Communications Terminal (SDOT). Plenty of companies have flight-tested optical terminals. Xenesis is the first to offer a truly “standards agnostic comms terminal,” allowing any user to incorporate optical comms into any ConOps from LEO to Cislunar/Mars and between. The USAF/AFRL, Airbus and many LEO satellite operators have adopted this technology. Xenesis’ clients have chosen to use their hardware and services to achieve low latency, high data-rate throughput at a 10-times cost advantage over existing RF solutions. 

    View Xenesis's Presentation 

     

     

    KEYNOTE SPEAKER

    Frank Gruber | Co-Founder and Co-CEO | Established

     

    Frank Gruber is a CEO, entrepreneur, new media journalist, startup adviser, public speaker and angel investor. Author of “Startup Mixology: Tech Cocktail’s Guide to Building, Growing and Celebrating Startup Success,” Gruber is perhaps best known as co-founder of Tech.Co (formerly Tech Cocktail), which he led from 2006 through MVF Global’s acquisition of the enterprise in 2018.

     

    An early blogger and one of the first contributors to TechCrunch, Frank has had the pleasure of sharing a stage and a microphone with some of the most noteworthy entrepreneurs in history during his interviews with thought-leaders from some of theworld’s most successful businesses. His work has appeared on HuffPo, Fortune, ReadWrite and more. Before his success with TechCo, Gruber spent time at AOL, Tribune and Classified Ventures, where he built and launched products for the masses along with his startup efforts. In 2018, he co.founded Established, a consultancy to help organizations with strategy, communications and innovation programs aimed at helping them achieve their goals. Established manages its innovative startup program, Startup of the Year, a competition, a community, and a resource focused on fostering connections.

     

    Gruber is also the managing partner of Established Ventures, which invests in startups through an investment community that he created to support some of the top companies that come through the program. A founding member of the first network-driven venture firm, the NextGen Venture Partners, he continues to invest in startups through NextGen. Frank currently pulls double duty hosting two podcasts, “Somewhat Frank” and “Startup of the Year,” both launched in 2018. You can follow him on Twitter @FrankGruber and Instagram @FrankGruber.

     

     View Frank Gruber's Presentation

    •  

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      Innovators Wanted.

    • NASA SBIR Ignite

      The NASA SBIR Ignite solicitation is now closed. 

      NASA anticipates sending notifications in mid-November for projects selected for negotiation of a Phase I contract.

      As the entrepreneurial aerospace ecosystem continues to evolve, NASA recognizes that public-private partnerships produce greater impact. SBIR Ignite is a new way for small businesses that have a commercially-viable technology idea to use NASA as a stepping stone in their path towards commercial success. With a greater emphasis on commercialization, SBIR Ignite funds U.S. early-stage, high-risk technology development to help make companies and their technologies more attractive to private sector investors, customers, and partners.

      Learn More about SBIR Ignite
      NASA SBIR Ignite 2022 Program Solicitation
      Research Topics
      SAM.gov | Solicitation

      Watch video | Read transcript

      Watch video | Watch videos: topics | Read transcript

    • NASA is fully committed to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) for our entire workforce and all our workplaces.

      Learn More
    • 2022 Focus Event Presentations

      BLUECUBE Aerospace Inc.

      WolfSat-T

      Read More

      Crystal Sonic Inc.

      Sonic Lift-off

      Read More

      GrowMars

      GrowMars Expanding Loop Process

      Read More

      Kyma Technologies Inc.

      Low-Cost III-V PVs for Space by D-HVPE

      Read More

      re:3D Inc.

      3D Printing Directly From Recycled Flake

      Read More

      Solestial Inc.

      Space-stable Si Solar Cells and Panels

      Read More

      Swift Solar

      Perovskite Solar Cells

      Read More
    • Together, we can go further.

      NASA iTech searches for and identifies advancements in technologies that are solving problems on Earth and have the potential to address existing challenges to enable NASA missions.

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      Innovators

      Join an elite group of inventors and entrepreneurs who have participated in this program. Browse through past NASA iTech events, watch archived livestream broadcasts, and learn about our alumni and their innovative technologies.

      Get Involved
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      Investors

      Investors are a key part of the NASA iTech program. From being involved in evaluations and events, to getting some of the best deal-flow you'd ever imagine, if you are an investor we invite you to connect with us to learn how to get involved.

      Get involved
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      Industry

      From aerospace to biotech, electronics manufacturers and more, we invite industry leaders to work with us. You will meet the most promising innovators out there.​ Our industry participants have sourced new partnerships and investments via NASA iTech.

      Get Involved
    • Collaboration is our strength.

      NASA leads the way in scientific discovery of Earth, other worlds and the cosmos. Advancing new technologies in aeronautics and space systems, NASA's missions expand the frontiers of human experience and allow American industry to cultivate a growing space marketplace. Through NASA iTech, we reach beyond traditional partnerships into early, independent innovation. NASA iTech helps us identify the innovations we will need in the future (and the people behind them). We connect innovators with investors who can help propel them forward, and industry leaders who can partner or invest in the technologies.

    • Meet Some of Our iTech Judges

      John Dankanich
      Harry Partridge
      Misty Snopkowski
      Ralph Jansen
      Kathleen Loftin
      David Voracek
      Get Involved
      Nikunj Oza
      Kurt Sacksteder
    • "Although public space agencies like NASA and major aerospace companies worldwide continue to be the driving forces behind humanity’s journey to Mars, an increasing number of startups…are jumping in to provide critical supporting technologies.

       

      When we do finally put a person on Mars, don’t be surprised if many of the machines and devices that make it possible are stamped with company names and logos you’ve never heard of. Just as it takes hundreds of companies of all sizes to create and maintain our physical infrastructure here on Earth, so too will it take many ideas and many voices to build infrastructure on Mars that supports exploration and, ultimately, habitation."

       

      FORBES Magazine

      September 2018

    • Be Part of NASA iTech

      Be the first to know about new NASA iTech challenges, events and other updates.

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    About Us

    NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate

     

    National Institute of Aerospace

    The material contained in this document is based upon work supported by a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) grant or cooperative agreement. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of NASA.

     

    © 2016-2022 NASA iTech/National Institute of Aerospace

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