Space Technology Mission Directorate
Technology drives exploration and the space economy. NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) aims to transform future missions while ensuring American leadership in aerospace. STMD develops, demonstrates, and transfers new space technologies that benefit NASA, commercial, and other government missions.
Ranked Civil Space Shortfalls
STMD is refining its strategy for prioritizing technology investments, with the goal of evolving into a stronger and more resilient national tech base for civil space.
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Programs
Center Innovation Fund
The purpose of the Center Innovation Fund is to stimulate and encourage creativity and innovation within the NASA Centers in addressing the technology needs of NASA and the nation.
Flight Opportunities
Flight Opportunities rapidly demonstrates promising technologies for space exploration, discovery, and the expansion of space commerce through suborbital testing with industry flight providers. The program matures capabilities needed for NASA missions and commercial applications while strategically investing in the growth of the U.S. commercial spaceflight industry.
Game Changing Development
GCD seeks to identify and rapidly mature high-impact capabilities and technologies, and investigate innovative ideas that have the potential to revolutionize future space missions.
Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative
NASA’s Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII) works across industry, academia, non-profits, and with other government agencies to catalyze the development of technology that will enable robotic and human exploration of the Moon and future operations on Mars.
NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts
NIAC nurtures visionary ideas that could transform future NASA missions with the creation of breakthroughs—radically better or entirely new aerospace architectures, systems, or missions.
Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing
NASA connects the public to the agency’s missions and explores creative possibilities for addressing the agency’s needs through prizes, challenges, and crowdsourcing opportunities.
SBIR/STTR
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs provide an opportunity for small, high tech companies and research institutions.
Small Spacecraft Technology
The Small Spacecraft Technology program expands the ability to execute unique missions through rapid development and demonstration of capabilities for small spacecraft applicable to exploration, science and the commercial space sector.
Space Tech Research Grants
Space Technology Research Grants will accelerate the development of high risk/high payoff technologies to support the future space science and exploration needs of NASA.
Technology Demonstration Missions (TDM)
The mission of NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions is to bridge the gap between need and means, between scientific and engineering challenges and the technological innovations.
Technology Transfer and Spinoff
The NASA Technology Transfer program ensures that innovations developed for exploration and discovery are broadly available to the public, maximizing the benefit to the nation.
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First Woman
Discover the First Woman digital universe. Read the graphic novels in English and Spanish, access educational tools and experiences, and learn about real space technologies for our missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond!
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NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) develops technologies through a community of entrepreneurs, researchers, and innovators to solve the nation’s toughest challenges and enable future NASA and commercial missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
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