TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER OPPORTUNITY: Supersonic Spike Diffuser (SSC-TOPS-10)
Special Notice from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Due Aug 10, 2027, 3:00 PM (UTC-5), 296 days left.
| Solicitation number | TP2-SSC-00009 |
|---|---|
| Agency | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| Office | NASA Marshall Space Flight Center |
| Notice type | Special Notice |
| Set-aside | None |
| Trade (NAICS) | Space Research and Technology (927110) |
| Product or service code | 9999 |
| Posted | Aug 10, 2026 |
| Response deadline | Aug 10, 2027, 3:00 PM (UTC-5) (296 days left) |
Official notice and attachments
Description
NASA’s Technology Transfer Program solicits inquiries from companies interested in obtaining license rights to commercialize, manufacture and market the following technology. License rights may be issued on an exclusive or nonexclusive basis and may include specific fields of use. NASA provides no funding in conjunction with these potential licenses.
THE TECHNOLOGY: Standard cylindrical and second-throat diffusers allow supersonic gas flows to expand within their walls and pull a vacuum on any upstream void. However, the high-Mach-number shock reflections that occur in the center of the plume create substantial losses and result in an inefficient pumping process. Centerbody diffuser designs provide an improvement by reducing the maximum Mach number of the core flow, but also increase the number of oblique shocks in the system by introducing multiple turns into the system.
A new type of spike diffuser recently developed by NASA Stennis Space Center is able to provide approximately double the pumping performance of second-throat diffusers via Pareto-efficient reduction of both core Mach number and flow deflection. This enables substantially lower vacuum pressures to be achieved for a given feed pressure/mass flow via the use of higher-expansion-ratio driving nozzles.
Spike diffusers are also spatially compact, requiring only ~25% of the length of second-throat designs. To express interest in this opportunity, please submit a license application through NASA’s Automated Technology Licensing Application System (ATLAS) by visiting https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/SSC-TOPS-10 If you have any questions, please e-mail NASA’s Technology Transfer Program at [email protected] with the title of this Technology Transfer Opportunity as listed in this SAM.gov notice and your preferred contact information.
For more information about licensing other NASA-developed technologies, please visit the NASA Technology Transfer Portal at https://technology.nasa.gov/ These responses are provided to members of NASA’s Technology Transfer Program for the purpose of promoting public awareness of NASA-developed technology products, and conducting preliminary market research to determine public interest in and potential for future licensing opportunities.
No follow-on procurement is expected to result from responses to this Notice.
About the buyer
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration awarded $16.3 billion in contracts in the last 12 months; its biggest suppliers were California Institute Of Technology, The Boeing Company and Blue Origin, LLC. See what NASA is buying now.