SBIR/STTR Research Award

Reentry Plasma Onset and Emergence Sensor

Award identifier 85d3d1fa1dcdd5beaaa2666c9a19fc25b383f1e9cfbedf1e5cb7799e50fc630eAwarding agency Department of Defense · Navy

Award amount

$240,000

Program and phase

SBIR · Phase I

Award year

2025

Award details

Awarding agency: Department of Defense
Branch: Navy
Recipient company: TOYON RESEARCH CORPORATION
Proposal award date: 2024-11-20
Contract end date: 2026-01-20
UEI: PK1CB3L39XX8
Solicitation number: 24.2
Topic code: N242-101

Research abstract

The interruption of communication due to the formation of a plasma sheath around high speed reentry bodies (RB) is a known problem for communication. The velocity of these bodies is high enough to ionize the atmosphere by disassociating electrons from nuclei. The preponderance of unbound electrons in this sheath effectively reflects radio frequency (RF) energy, depending the plasma frequency, inhibiting all communication. Analysis and careful planning have been used to overcome the plasma blackout, but future non-traditional flights cannot use the same assumptions. A method to directly measure the existence of a plasma sheath and relay that information to the TLM controller in real time is proposed.

Technology keywords

Not reported

Other awards by this recipient

Verified by the same UEI. These are other public SBIR/STTR award pages, not a merged company record.

Awards with the same topic code

Verified by an exact topic code match. This is not a text-similarity match.

Research funding history

601 SBIR/STTR records share this UEI (1986–2026). Reported award amounts total $249,287,075. Reported amounts are not federal obligations.

Phases: Phase I, Phase II, Phase II – Direct to Phase II

Agencies: Department of Defense, Department of Commerce, Department of Homeland Security, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Transportation, Department of Energy