NASA offers fixes to local businesses - Westfair Communications

Attention earthlings: Did you know NASA will provide free help for your business, even if it is local and terra based?
It doesn”™t take a rocket scientist to see that”™s a good deal.

The Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program (SATOP) is funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, providing up to 40 hours of free technical assistance to businesses utilizing the vast engineering expertise of NASA and participating Alliance Partners, that is, NASA”™s many high-tech contractors and partners among universities.

The program is accessed locally through the nonprofit Hudson Valley Technology Development Center in Fishkill. It is open to all types of businesses including manufacturers and industrial firms as well as small businesses and entrepreneurs.

“Companies that contract with NASA have to provide voluntary hours with other small businesses,” said Phyllis Levine, manager of administration and marketing for HVTDC. “They have to give back. So they offer these mini-assessments. A company or person would give their dilemma to NASA and they would run it past their scientists and work on the problem.”

The problems SATOP addresses include:

manufacturing and assembly;
instrumentation;
machinery and precision machining;
fiber optics;
optics and image processing;
production processes;
robotics and automation;
electronics;
logistics;
electrical circuitry;
pneumatics and hydraulics;
facilities design, maintenance and operation;
sensors and detectors;
power systems;
controllers and control systems;
fuel cells;
actuators, regulators and motion control;
chemical or material selection and analysis; and
statistical analysis.

Following an initial contact to the HVTDC, the inquiring company would be visited by a representative of the center and given assistance in completing a Request for Technical Assistance (RTA).Â A SATOP project engineer would then contact that company to discuss the submitted request and verify the extent of the technical challenge. The SATOP project engineer would work to match the RTA with an engineering team that possesses the necessary expertise. Once an RTA is accepted, the project engineer would act as a liaison between the company and the Alliance Partner engineers. Most RTA”™s are resolved within 90 days. In 2007 alone, NY SATOP serviced nearly 150 requests for new solutions to problems that affected the everyday functions of businesses across the Northeast.

Since 2001, SATOP has worked on more than 2,000 requests from small businesses throughout the country. Levine said the Hudson Valley is a fertile place forÂ SATOP services. “There are a lot of really talented folks who”™ve got ideas in their head that are pretty intriguing,” said Levine. “But launching it and doing all the things you need to do is daunting.”

To access the SATOP program, contact HVTDC and Levine at 896-6934, ex. 3001.