SBIR Ignite

SBIR Ignite is sponsored by NASA. SBIR Ignite reduces the gap between startups and investors by funding U.S. small businesses in their early-stage, high-risk technology development to make them more attractive to private sector investors and customers. The program focuses on technologies with a strong commercial pull.

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This initiative is ideal for high-growth, product-oriented entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses that have not worked with NASA before. It provides an opportunity to use NASA as a stepping stone on the path toward commercial success.

SBIR Ignite reduces the gap between startups and investors, funding U.S. small businesses in their early stage, high-risk technology development to help make the company and their technologies more attractive to private sector investors, customers, and partners. Ultimately, Ignite drives the nation’s economy, increases capabilities delivered to commercial markets, and adds growth in jobs, revenue, and valuation.

View the 2025 NASA SBIR Ignite Solicitation (Phase II closes Oct. 15, 2026) about SBIR Ignite In 2023, H3X Technologies was one of the first participants of the recently-established SBIR Ignite initiative which perfectly aligned to their own business goals of rapid development, prototyping, and focusing on the learning cycle.

This approach allowed the company to mature their products faster and achieve the best test results, which prepared them for working with commercial customers as well. Read about their success story below.

Photo courtesy of H3X Technologies Your Journey through SBIR Ignite SBIR Ignite offers the same three phases, non-dilutive funding levels and other opportunities available to all Phase I and Phase II participants, such as I-Corps and TABA. Your Journey through SBIR Ignite What makes SBIR Ignite unique from the rest of the program?

Commercialization: Through SBIR Ignite, NASA seeks to collaborate with entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses who will attract strong private sector investment after their Phase I and II contracts for commercially viable products in NASA-relevant fields.

While the NASA SBIR and STTR Phase I solicitations also evaluate commercial potential and feasibility, many technologies address a specific NASA challenge or need, and many companies we work with have a primary goal of contributing to a NASA mission or being sustained with NASA as a key customer.

Engagement: NASA SBIR Ignite offers engagement opportunities throughout the year, including Catalyst events , Ask Me Anything sessions , individual and group coaching, and access to a digital community. Topics: The NASA SBIR Ignite solicitation includes a select few topics relevant to emerging commercial markets in aerospace.

Less Prescriptive Solicitation: The NASA SBIR Ignite solicitation encourages companies to maintain their go-to-market strategies. Accelerated Award Schedule: The NASA SBIR Ignite Phase II proposal is due earlier in the Phase I period, allowing Phase II awards to be made faster. Companies are also encouraged to accelerate their Phase II period of performance.

A Catalyst is a curated event that brings together startups, investors, industry partners, and government stakeholders around a defined, commercially relevant problem area aligned to NASA priorities. Catalysts are structured to surface real companies, real technologies, and real market pathways, creating early visibility into solutions that could advance into initiatives like NASA SBIR Ignite.

The 2026 NASA SBIR Ignite Catalyst series: Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (pLEO) Purpose : To address the technical and operational challenges of scaling ground control architectures to manage massive, proliferated satellite constellations. The event focused on identifying commercial solutions in autonomous operations software, optical inter-satellite links, network orchestration, and on-orbit edge computing.

Core Problem Focus : Mitigating operational burdens by shifting the bottleneck from simple data sensing to producing decision-grade outputs fast enough for constellation-scale operations, particularly within the communications, orchestration, and compute stack. Watch the recording, here .

Purpose : To evaluate component-level commercial innovation opportunities, supply chain and industrial base readiness, testing and qualification gaps, and commercial or investor barriers within space nuclear power and propulsion ecosystems. Core Problem Statement : How do we turn space nuclear from a strategic priority into an executable capability?

This involves resolving architectural friction points for system-level integration, mitigating supply chain fragilities (such as fuel, cryogenics, and low-enriched uranium constraints), and establishing clear environmental standards for reactor-adjacent components.

Advanced Hybrid Electric Propulsion Supply Chain / Drone Catalyst Purpose : To identify and resolve critical technology bottlenecks within high-priority propulsion verticals, ensuring emerging commercial UAS innovations align with strict defense and aerospace requirements. Core Problem Focus : Overcoming the domestic industrial-base challenges that place American-made UAS platforms at a cost disadvantage.

The event tackled fragmented domestic supply chains, heavy reliance on international components, and limited vertical integration required to build Blue sUAS-compliant propulsion and power systems for advanced, high-endurance platforms.

Tech Spotlights follow their related Catalyst events, bringing together industry leaders, founders, investors, technical experts, and NASA stakeholders for a focused discussion around specific technical challenges surfaced through the Catalyst process. Upcoming topics include space nuclear power and propulsion and the domestic drone supply chain.

Each hour-long session will be recorded, and recordings will be shared with all registrants following the event. Register for an upcoming Tech Spotlight: Drone Supply Chain (Sept.

30) Recording: pLEO Tech Spotlight In the webinar “Scaling Proliferated Low Earth Orbit,” participants focused on the infrastructure required to translate growing on-orbit capacity into operational utility, including the tradeoffs between on-orbit processing, downlink throughput, and ground segment infrastructure. Watch the recording .

Ask Me Anything (AMA) Sessions (2025 & 2024) Watch a recording of the 6/3/2025 virtual AMA titled "Keys to a Winning SBIR Ignite Proposal" where we discussed the SBIR Ignite opportunity, how to prepare for it, and how to get engaged and involved. This session focused on a general program overview.

2025 | AI-Powered Design for Multidisciplinary Space Hardware Watch a recording of the 6/5/2025 virtual AMA where we discussed one of the three 2025 technology subtopics: AI-Powered Design for Multidisciplinary Space Hardware.

2025 | Advanced Manufacturing (AM) & Robotics for Space Applications Watch a recording of the 6/10/2025 virtual AMA where we discussed one of the three 2025 technology subtopics: Advanced Manufacturing (AM) & Robotics for Space Applications 2025 | Low-Cost Radar for Planetary Navigation and Autonomy Watch a recording of the 6/12/2025 virtual AMA where we discussed one of the three 2025 technology subtopics: Low-Cost Radar for Planetary Navigation and Autonomy Watch a recording of the 3/27/24 virtual AMA where we discussed the SBIR Ignite opportunity, how to prepare for it, and how to get engaged and involved.

This session focused on a general program overview. 2024 | Climate Data Informatics & Green House Gas Monitoring Watch a recording of the 4/11/24 virtual AMA where we discussed the SBIR Ignite opportunity, how to prepare for it, and how to get engaged and involved. This session focused on Climate Data Informatics and Green House Gas Monitoring.

2024 | Aviation Batteries & Point-of-use Recycling for Optimized Space-Age Logistics Watch a recording of the 4/18/24 virtual AMA where we discussed the SBIR Ignite opportunity, how to prepare for it, and how to get engaged and involved. This session focused on Aviation Batteries and Point-of-use Recycling for Optimized Space-Age Logistics.

2024 | Microgravity Simulators, Leak Free Cryogenic Valves, Radio-isotope Power Systems, & Lunar Surface Payloads Watch a recording of the 5/1/24 virtual AMA where we discussed the SBIR Ignite opportunity, how to prepare for it, and how to get engaged and involved. This session focused on Microgravity Simulators, Leak Free Cryogenic Valves, Radio-isotope Power Systems, and Lunar Surface Payloads.

2025 AMA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) AI-Powered Design for Multidisciplinary Space Hardware FAQ Advanced Manufacturing (AM) & Robotics for Space Applications FAQ Low-Cost Radar for Planetary Navigation and Autonomy FAQ Advice from Astral Materials CEO, Jessica Frick Ph. D.

NASA SBIR-STTR/ Valentina Valderrama Perez Advice from Benchmark Space systems Director of Business Development, Kevin DiMarzio NASA SBIR-STTR/ Valentina Valderrama Perez Advice from Astrobotic Chief Research Scientist, Andrew Horchler.

NASA SBIR-STTR/ Valentina Valderrama Perez Recent SBIR Ignite Selections 2024 SBIR Ignite Phase II On July 25, 2025, NASA selected seven small businesses to receive Phase II awards through its SBIR Ignite initiative , which focuses on technologies with a strong commercial pull.

Each small business will receive up to $850,000 and have 24 months to continue developing their technologies in one of these three areas: Aviation-Ready Electrical Energy Storage for All-Electric or Hybrid Electric Aircraft, Leak-Free Cryogenic Valves and Quick Disconnects, and Decision Support Tools Leveraging NASA Earth Science Data.

Find more about the selections in the 2024 NASA SBIR Ignite Phase II Awardees (July 25, 2025) PDF under Solicitations & Awardees below. Older SBIR Ignite Award Announcements 2023 SBIR Ignite Phase II In August 2024, NASA selected 10 small businesses to receive SBIR Ignite Phase II awards, worth up to $850,000 each.

In December 2023, NASA announced its second round of SBIR Ignite Phase I awards, selecting 10 small businesses to receive up to $150,000 each. 2022 SBIR Ignite Phase II In June 2023, NASA selected 12 small businesses to receive SBIR Ignite Phase II awards, totaling ~$10 million. This feature includes information about 2022 SBIR Ignite Phase I as well.

2025 NASA SBIR Ignite Phase I Awardees 2025 NASA SBIR Ignite Phase I & II Solicitation 2024 NASA SBIR Ignite Phase I & II Solicitation 2024 NASA SBIR Ignite Phase I Awardees 2024 NASA SBIR Ignite Phase II Awardees 2023 NASA SBIR Ignite Phase I & II Solicitation 2023 NASA SBIR Ignite Phase I & II Awardees 2022 NASA SBIR Ignite Phase I & II Solicitation 2022 NASA SBIR Ignite Phase I Awardees 2022 NASA SBIR Ignite Phase II Awardees Discover More Topics From NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) / Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)