NASA Seeks Partners For Johnson Testing R&D

NASA has released a Request for Information (RFI) to explore the potential interest and use of its unique facilities, labs, and technical expertise for structural testing at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. The facilities and capabilities could support commercial, government, and academic activities, and possibly lead to new technology developments.

The RFI is seeking responses from prospective partners interested in using Johnson's extensive testing facilities to provide high-performance solutions for a variety of structural testing in diverse industries, including aerospace. These solutions can help businesses meet their challenges by helping engineers develop deeper insight in their materials and building processes.

Structure testing capabilities at Johnson include a full range of end-to-end test labs and tools, and the expertise of NASA scientists and engineers in analyzing data and operations. Core areas include material properties and advanced manufacturing techniques research, as well as rapid prototyping or fabrication of aircraft, spaceflight vehicle systems and industrial structures.

Johnson's structural analyses are able to evaluate many different types of designs and can be conducted with environmental conditioning to analyze composites in extreme environments and verify design predictions that may support industry goals.

New partnerships using Johnson structural testing facilities and expertise would be consistent with NASA's missions and are expected to be on a reimbursable basis.