WASHINGTON -- Space agency leaders are awarding 280 contracts worth more than $19 million for research projects involving communications, computers and electronics, sensors, and unmanned vehicles. The selected firms will be awarded fixed-price contracts worth as much as $70,000 each to perform a six-month Phase I feasibility study.

These contracts, awarded Dec. 22, are part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program. The goals of the SBIR program are to stimulate technological innovation and increase the use of small business in federal research and development.

NASA received 1,847 proposals, submitted by small, high-technology businesses from across the country. The proposals were reviewed for technical merit and feasibility and relevance to NASA research and technology requirements.

Companies selected for Phase 1 are eligible to compete for Phase II selection the following year. The phase 2 award allows for a two-year, fixed-price contract of as much as $600,000.

For more information on the latest crop of NASA SBIR awards, contact NASA on the World Wide Web at http://sbir.nasa.gov/SBIR/sbir2000/phase1/awards/index.html. The NASA SBIR program management office is at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Here are some of the latest NASA SBIR awards:

COMMUNICATIONS

Intelligent Automation Inc.

Rockville, Md.

Phone: 301-590-3155

Time-modulated ultra-wideband interspacecraft communication

Radiant Research Inc.

Austin, Texas

Phone: 512-339-0500

Optical backplane using substrate-holograms for high-speed data communications

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COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS

Cell Matrix Corp.

Salt Lake City

Phone: 801-414-8900

Autonomously self-repairing circuits

Energy Science Laboratories Inc.

San Diego

Phone: 858-552-2034

Lightweight passive vaporizing heat sink

GPD Optoelectronics Corp.

Salem, N.H.

Phone: 603-894-6865

Germanium semiconductor devices for high-performance cryogenic power electronics

Intelligent Optical Systems Inc.

Torrance, Calif.

Phone: 310-530-7130

Three-dimensional digital memory

Los Gatos Research

Mountain View, Calif.

Phone: 650-965-7772

Wafer-based microfluidic system for lab-on-a-chip technologies

Physical Optics Corporation, EP Division

Torrance, Calif.

Phone: 310-320-3088

Low-cost true 3-D virtual reality system for scientific data visualization

PRE Associates

Mission Viejo, Calif.

Phone: 949-215-4803

Single-event latchup mitigation in commercial microelectronics

Rannoch Corp.

Alexandria, Va.

Phone: 703-838-9780

Low-cost general aviation traffic information system

SRS Technologies

500 Discovery Drive

Huntsville, Ala.

Phone: 256-971-7000

Biomimetic fabricated solar sail technologies

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SENSORS

High Technology Corp.

28 Research Drive

Hampton, Va.

Phone: 757-865-0818

A photogrammetric imaging system for measurement of flight control surfaces

WaveBand Corp.

Torrance, Calif.

Phone: 310-212-7808

Sensor integrated synthetic vision system

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UNMANNED VEHICLES

Continuum Dynamics Inc.

Ewing, N.J.

Phone: 609-538-0444

Next-generation adaptive design technology for micro and autonomous rotorcraft

Deep Sea DNA

Richmond, Calif.

Phone: 415-789-8742

A new class of deep-sea vehicles for sample collection

Environmental Robots Inc.

Albuquerque, N.M.

Phone: 505-265-4479

Development of synthetic muscle systems for NASA space robotics/EVA applications