About Scott Leonardi

Celebrate Pi Day with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center small satellite, named appropriately for the day, Pi-Sat!  The primary goal for the project is to create a low-cost and easy-to-use test bed to facilitate research and development of the next generation Distributed Spacecraft Missions (DSM).

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A Low Cost Small Satellite and Distributed Mission Test Platform

The Innovative Technology Partnerships Office (ITPO) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, invites the educators, students and the general public to celebrate Pi Day and discover Pi-Sat. Current technology trends indicate a shift in satellite architectures from large, single-satellite missions to small, distributed spacecraft missions. At the center of this shift is the SmallSat/CubeSat architecture.

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RELEASE 15-014 (Goddard)

NASA Goddard Signs Exclusive Patent License With Millennium Space Systems

The Innovative Technology Partnerships Office (ITPO) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, announced the signing of an exclusive production license with Millennium Space Systems of El Segundo, California.

This exclusive license allows Millennium Space Systems to produce and market NASA Goddard’s patented Demisable Integrated Reaction Wheel Assembly (DIRWA) for satellite platforms that can range in mass from a few hundred pounds to several thousand pounds. Made from aluminum, which has a low melting point, the demisable momentum wheels do not require controlled re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, thus reducing the costs for satellite end of life mitigation scenarios.

For more information on the DIRWA, please contact the NASA Goddard Innovative Technology Partnerships Office at 301-286-5810 or email techtransfer@gsfc.nasa.gov
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The Innovative Technology Partnerships Office (ITPO) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has announced that public voting for the fourth NASA Goddard OPTIMUS PRIME Spinoff Challenge runs through March 22, 2015.

The purpose of the contest is to raise awareness of NASA Goddard’s Technology Transfer Program and to inspire interest in all NASA Goddard missions, programs and projects. Students in grades 3 through 12 are provided a unique experience using 21st century engineering design technology and purposeful interactions with tech transfer, science, and engineering professionals to create unique technology spinoff applications derived from actual NASA Goddard innovations and the James Webb Space Telescope.

Through participation in the challenge, students:

• Learn about NASA technology transfer and technology commercialization processes
• Deepen their understanding of current, real-world, NASA Goddard-inspired design challenges, with a focus on the Webb telescope
• Gain experience with the engineering design process
• Develop creative and problem-solving skills
• Learn to work in a collaborative environment
• Work with students from across the nation
• Develop modeling and simulation skills
• Build confidence and interest in future careers, particularly computer science and engineering

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A non-exclusive patent license was signed with Space Vector Corporation for use of NASA GSFC’s Radiation Hardened Fast Acquisition Weak Signal Tracking System and Method, and The Goddard Enhanced Onboard Navigation System (GEONS)” technologies.

Case Number: GSC‐ 14793‐1
Patent Number: 7,548,199
Patent Exp. Date: 9/20/2025

DESCRIPTION

This invention is a global positioning system receiver for use in low earth orbit. The receiver has an antenna receiving global positioning system (GPS) signals. An analog radio frequency device converts the signals from an analog to a digital format. GPS signal acquisition components connected to the device calculates a maximum vector on a data bit correlation grid. A microprocessor compares the vector with a preset correlation threshold to allow the signal to be fully acquired and tracked.

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ChiTAG attendees build with littleBits — NASA Goddard Space Flight Center scientists from NASA’s Aura Mission have entered into a Space Act Agreement with littleBits Electronics, Inc., New York, N.Y., to collaborate with the Aura Mission on activities to stimulate student interest in science and technology. Image Credit: NASA/Goddard

The Innovative Technology Partnerships Office (ITPO) attended the Chicago Toy & Game Fair (ChiTAG) on November 22-23, 2014 at the Navy Pier in Chicago, IL. ITPO’s Chief, Nona Cheeks, was the keynote speaker at the International Toy & Game Innovation Conference on November 21st. ITPO met with several toy developers and company executives regarding partnerships with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Highlighted technologies included Gear Bearings and Aeropods. Approximately 10,000 people attended ChiTAG. ITPO provided information about partnering with NASA and the Goddard OPTIMUS PRIME Spinoff Challenge. In addition, educational toy kits developed as a result of a partnership between Goddard and littleBits Electronics were highlighted.

Author Steven Johnson, How We Got to Now, Innovative Initiatives workshop, Innovative Technology Partnerships Office (IPTO); Credit: NASA/Goddard/Bill Hrybyk

To facilitate a conversation about managing innovations (both technology and business management practices), Goddard management, scientists, engineers, and innovators were invited to participate in the Innovative Technology Partnerships Office’s (ITPO) Innovative Initiatives Workshop Fall 2014 on November 13, 2014. Steven Johnson, author of How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World and host of the PBS series How We Got to Now with Steven Johnson, spoke with over 100 attendees about exploring connections between often unrelated disciplines and how these subjects are often interdependent—and essential to the collective interest at Goddard. Mr. Johnson also co-facilitated a Roundtable Meeting with Center management.