FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE WEBINAR
Leveraging SBIR Awards for Suborbital Flight Tests
Speakers:
- Stephen Caskey, Ph.D., Air Squared
- Michael Ewert, NASA’s Johnson Space Center
- Alexander Van Dijk, Flight Opportunities Technologist
January 5, 2022
Abstract
Accessing a suborbital flight test via a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award is a lesser-known but highly valuable avenue into the Flight Opportunities program. In this session, Dr. Stephen Caskey of manufacturer Air Squared and NASA’s Michael Ewert will share how they collaborated with Alexander van Dijk to secure Flight Opportunities as an external investor for Air Squared’s SBIR award. The conversation will highlight how NASA stakeholders and the Flight Opportunities program can work together to support small businesses with technology advancement, especially into the later stages of technology readiness.
Download the slides
Speaker Bios
Dr. Stephen Caskey is a thermal systems engineer with Air Squared, Inc. His research includes studying heat transfer improvements, designing oil-free refrigeration systems, and laboratory and parabolic flight testing and characterization. Stephen is a graduate of Purdue University where he received a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Science, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering.
Michael Ewert is a life support and thermal systems analyst and NASA’s Johnson Space Center. He is currently the Deputy Project Manager for NASA’s Exploration Life Support Project, which is developing new technologies needed to sustain human life on long-duration space exploration missions. In 2001, he developed and patented a unique solar-powered vapor-compression refrigeration system that operates without batteries or external power. His work aims to advance refrigeration on long-duration space missions and also build more environmentally friendly refrigeration systems here on Earth.
Alexander van Dijk is a technologist with the NASA Flight Opportunities program where he performs due diligence on funding requests from researchers for commercial suborbital flight testing. His responsibilities include requests originating from the SBIR/STTR pipeline, the Small Satellite Technology Program, NASA EPSCoR, the ISS Research Office, the NASA Postdoctoral Program, and inbound flight requests from NASA researchers. Alexander holds a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from Delft University of Technology and is an International Space University (ISU) alum of the 2006 summer session.
