Cryocooler small business innovation research opportunities

This paper presents an overview of the opportunities for small businesses to participate in the advancement of the state of the art in long-life active cryocooler technology for Space systems. It first describes the background, state of the art, and goals of the Air Force´s cryocooler development program. This indicates what the Air Force is expecting from its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) cryocooler tasks. There will likely be 4 topics for the year 2001 cycle. They will focus on developing larger scale coolers and technologies for spacecraft storage and handling of cyrogens. The second half of the paper describes the SBIR program. This program streamlines the government contracting process, which allows businesses with limited resources and experience to win government contracts for research and development