Window opens on 1$bn opportunity

Window opens on 1$bn opportunity

Sintered Products (CISP) at Penn State for sintering. CISP is well known as a centre of excellence in the earth-bound scientific disciplines involved ...

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Sintered Products (CISP) at Penn State for sintering. CISP is well known as a centre of excellence in the earth-bound scientific disciplines involved in powder metallurgy and ceramics, but what role is envisaged for sintering in space? NASA's idea is to build a caterpillar tractor train that includes a nuclear power source, powder scoop and particle size separation, a shaping stage, sintering stage and so on. The target is to produce simple shapes such as bricks, tubes and plates for direct use in construction on the moon.

Although early missions would be of 30 to 90 days duration to demonstrate technical feasibility, the intention is that local materials would be used to build rocket launching and landing pads, emergency shelters and, more speculatively, tubes for storing hydrogen and water. CISP's role would lie in determining the sintering cycle, furnace design, determination of shaping technologies, and testing sintered products for density, strength, permeability and other important features.

Fanciful? Well in all probability it is - at the moment. CISP's director, Professor Randall German can see one large piece of grit in the ointment in the shape of the proposal for a nuclear power source. “To my mind the demand for a nuclear power source may be the thing that stops it in its tracks," he said. But if solar energy could be harnessed as a power source? Perhaps the safest thing would be to say: Never say never...

Richard Felton

Window opens on 1$bn opportunity WHILE THE Space Race may offer distant prospects for earthling businessmen and women, the US Government has at least $1 billion worth of small business opportunities rooted firmly in the here-and-now. And now is the essence of this story. For the month-long window for proposals for Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) projects for the Department of Defense (DoD) opens on December 15, and closes on January 14 at 6am EST. These programmes are the ones most likely to be of interest to small business, the sector that includes most PM companies, and together they total around $1 billion. So there is great potential for a very good return in exchange for some extra planning and drafting during the festive season. Neither should PM companies ignore US Government-funded health services initiatives that offer programmes which together total hundreds of millions of dollars. The SBIR and STTR programmes are all three-phased. SBIR programmes have to establish Phase I feasibility in six months, attracting up to $100 000 in funding. STTR programmes allow 12 months for this phase, with the same funding level. Phase II - development to prototype allows two years and up to $750 000 in both types of programme, before moving into Phase III, commercialisation. Applications for US Government business are not restricted to US

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companies, though a consortium approach with one or more US partners for overseas companies is thought to be more likely to succeed. And it's worth remembering also that governments drive hard bargains and expect value for money, so these deals are by no means "money for old rope". Applications have to be painstakingly prepared and must demonstrate co-operative and team-building skills, while having clear management lines of communication. Interestingly, a distribution analysis of companies winning Phase I contracts carried out last year showed that while oneman bands took only 3.2 per cent of awards, those employing between two and nine people won more than 40 per cent. Companies with 10 - 24 staff took another 25 per cent and those with 25 49 staff another 20 per cent. Together,

these small businesses took an 86 per cent bite from the budget for projects that are prestigious as well as profitable. • Web information on DoD opportunities can be found at http://www.acq.osd.mil/ sadbu/sbir/solicitations/sbir051 , but there are other portals to US Government and institutional opportunities that are well worth checking too. One is the Community of Science (COS) at www.cos.com. Registration is free and the site's Funding Opportunities section is the largest source of grant information on the web, totalling 400 000 opportunities worth a staggering $33 billion! The Government's Federal Business Opportunities operation features procurement opportunities over $25 000 at www.FedBizOpps.gov. For the $195 registration fee, your profile can be matched against every notice issued.

Hot stuff! Nano-iron 'cancer cure' NANO-SIZED iron is being investigated as a potential weapon in the fight against cancer by researchers at the Charité medical school attached to the Humboldt University in Berlin. Methods have been developed there to introduce colloidal suspensions of superparamagnetic biocompatible iron oxide nanoparticles into tumours. The magnetic fluid hyperthermia technique works by the application of an external magnetic field, which heats the nanomagnetic particles and the surrounding tissue. As a result, some of the cancer cells die and liquidise. The magnetic particles are homogenously distributed throughout the liquid containing the dead cancerous cells, which then extends further into the tumour. The magnetic field is reapplied and further areas of the tumour are treated. At the end of the treatment, the necrotic fluid with the iron particles is degraded by the body's immune system.

December 2004 MPR

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