NASA Selects Indiana Company for Research Effort

A West Lafayette company is one of 17 selected by NASA for partnerships designed to accelerate the development of emerging space capabilities. IN Space LLC, which specializes in advanced propulsion technologies, was chosen as part of an effort to “mature industry-developed space technologies for the Moon and beyond.”

IN Space is located at the Purdue Research Park. As part of the NASA collaboration, the company will work with the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama to explore the development of a regeneratively cooled chamber for rotating detonation engines.

NASA says the engines, which are a conceptual rocket engine design, could potentially reach higher specific impulses than what is currently possible, allowing spacecraft to operate with more crew and equipment and less mass.

However, the conceptual engines have a technical risk of high heat and pressure lead to the engine chamber, which is why IN Space was chosen for the collaboration with the Marshall center.

“Space technology development doesn’t happen in a vacuum,” said Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, which made the selections and will manage the partnerships. “Whether companies are pursuing space ventures of their own or maturing cutting-edge systems to one day offer a new service to NASA, the agency is dedicated to helping bring new capabilities to market for our mutual benefit.”

NASA says the selections will result in unfunded Space Act Agreements, each of which is expected to last between 12 and 24 months. The total estimated value of the agency’s resources being made available to support the agreements is about $15.5 million.

You can learn more about the other companies selected for partnerships by clicking here.