Presenters Announced for NASA iTech Ignite the Night TAMPA

NASA iTech has selected 10 companies to present at its next fast-pitch Ignite the Night event March 9, 2021. Ignite the Night TAMPA is a virtual event that offers entrepreneurs an opportunity to present a technology that solves a real-world problem and might also address a challenge in space.

The public can watch Ignite the Night TAMPA live online March 9 from 3-5 p.m. EST at https://livestream.com/nasaitech. Please RSVP to attend at https://www.nasaitech.org.

For this event, NASA invited companies across the U.S. to enter the fast-pitch competition in five focus areas: power generation/energy, resource optimization, small satellite technology, space-age packaging solutions, and X-factor innovations. Entries in all five focus areas made it to the 10 presentation slots.

In the power generation/energy focus area, Farad Power Inc. of Sunnyvale, California, will present “high energy density lithium-ion batteries for electrified aircraft propulsion.” MITO Material Solutions of Stillwater, Oklahoma, also offers a technology relevant to that focus area, “thermally conductive and electrically insulating composites.”

Companies showcasing solutions in the area of resource optimization include Fluid Technology Solutions Inc. of Albany, Oregon, with “emergency water recovery” and Spira Inc. of San Pedro, California. Spira’s “carbon isolation algal nutrient orbital system” is a technology to remove atmospheric carbon dioxide gas and generate food and oxygen during human space missions.

Three companies are offering technologies in the small satellite technology focus area. Morpheus Space of Los Angeles will present their “strikingly small and efficient propulsion solutions enabling autonomous satellites.” Quest Remote Sensing Analytics from Cheyenne, Wyoming, will compete with their “precision agriculture service” CubeSat technologies, and Space Products and Innovation Inc. from New Castle, Delaware, will bring “MA61C,” a universal adapter to rapidly connect and integrate SmallSat subsystems.

Two companies will bring entries from the space-age packaging solutions focus area. DisSolves of Pittsburgh will present “edible packaging,” while Full Cycle Bioplastics of San Jose, California, will showcase a non-toxic and compostable replacement for oil-based plastics.

Physia Inc. of Denver rounds out the selected presenters with its “smart medical grade health monitoring garment.” The company entered the technology in the X-Factor Innovations focus area, a category designed for intriguing solutions that don’t neatly fit into another focus area.

The top innovator from Ignite the Night TAMPA earns a position as one of the 25 semifinalists for the current cycle where their technology will be evaluated and has a

chance to be selected as a top 10 finalist to present at the 2021 NASA iTech Cycle I Forum which will be held virtually May 27, 2021.

NASA iTech is an initiative of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) that seeks potentially trailblazing technologies from outside the agency that could enhance NASA’s space missions while also improving life on Earth.

For more details about Ignite the Night TAMPA virtual event presenters, visit: https://www.nasaitech.org.