Real programs, real numbers, real official links — verified July 29, 2026. Amounts and deadlines change constantly, so confirm on each official source before you rely on it. Not sure which fits what you're building? Ask us.
The anchor non-dilutive program for small businesses. Phase I proves feasibility; Phase II builds and tests the prototype; Phase II-E and post-Phase-II vehicles push toward infusion and commercialization.
How to apply: Register in SAM.gov and NSPIRES, watch the SpaceTech-REDDI BAA appendices for subtopics that match your tech, then submit a Phase I proposal to a specific subtopic.
Milestone-based, firm-fixed-price public-private partnerships for technologies that are close to a market 'tipping point' and need a demonstration to get over the line. Heavy focus on lunar, Mars, and commercial LEO capabilities.
How to apply: Respond to the Tipping Point appendix of the annual SpaceTech-REDDI NRA on NSPIRES with a milestone payment schedule and your cost-share commitment.
Funds visionary, early, potentially game-changing concepts (10+ years out) at TRL 1–3. Companies, not just universities, can and do win. Phase I studies feasibility; Phase II matures the concept; Phase III transitions it.
How to apply: Submit a Phase I proposal to the annual NIAC solicitation on NSPIRES; Phase II is open only to prior Phase I awardees.
Grants that pay for test flights, not the technology itself. Winners buy suborbital, high-altitude, or orbital flight time from commercial providers to mature their tech in relevant environments.
How to apply: Respond to the annual TechFlights appendix under SpaceTech-REDDI on NSPIRES with your test objectives, flight provider, and readiness.
UNFUNDED Space Act Agreements. NASA transfers no money; instead it gives you access to its unique test facilities, software, and engineers. You pay your own development and personnel costs.
How to apply: Respond to the ACO synopsis on SAM.gov/NSPIRES describing what NASA resource you need and what you'll contribute; selection results in an unfunded SAA.
Multi-phase awards (with the ISS National Lab) for demonstrating in-space manufacturing of products with a terrestrial market — fiber optics, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, bioprinting — using the microgravity environment on ISS and future commercial LEO stations.
How to apply: Respond to the InSPA NASA Research Announcement (submitted via the ISS National Lab pathway) with your production concept, market case, and phased plan.
The defense off-ramp. For dual-use space startups that already hold a Phase II SBIR/STTR, these programs unlock much larger funding by matching your government and private dollars to cross the 'valley of death.'
How to apply: Line up your matching commitments first, then apply through the SpaceWERX STRATFI/TACFI program-year process.
For companies ready to build at scale. The Space Development Agency buys proliferated LEO satellites (Transport and Tracking Layers) largely through Other Transaction Authority awards on a fast, tranche-based cadence.
How to apply: Track SDA solicitations on SAM.gov and respond to the relevant tranche/layer OTA; expect to show manufacturing readiness, not just a prototype.
Not cash — free (or heavily subsidized) rides to orbit for experiments with DoD relevance. A way to fly your payload without buying a launch, if your tech has a national-security use case.
How to apply: Work through a DoD sponsor to nominate your experiment to the Space Test Program manifest.
NIAC Phase I ~$175K / SBIR Phase I ~$225K · 6–9 months
Prove the idea is physically credible and worth building — the architecture, the numbers, the show-stoppers.
This is where cheap simulation earns its keep: trade studies, first-order thermal/structural/orbit sizing, and killing bad architectures before you spend a dollar on hardware.
SBIR Phase II ~$850K / NIAC Phase II ~$600K · 1–2 years
Build a working prototype and characterize it — the engineering model, subsystem tests, TRL 4–5.
Detailed FEA and CFD replace expensive test iterations: random-vibration, modal, thermal-vacuum, and propulsion CFD guide the design before you build the qual unit.
ACO (in-kind), TechFlights ~$1M, Tipping Point ~$1M–$20M · 1–2 years
Show the tech works in a relevant environment — thermal-vac, vibration table, parabolic flight, suborbital, or a real orbital demo.
Simulation correlates to test: match your FEA to the shaker data, your thermal model to TVAC, and your CFD to hot-fire — so the flight article is trusted, not guessed.
Tipping Point, InSPA, STP (free ride) · 1–3 years
Qualify flight hardware and fly the first mission that proves operational capability and a customer.
Coupled-loads analysis, MMOD survivability, radiation, and link-budget/coverage modeling close out the flight-readiness review with defensible margins.
STRATFI/TACFI ~$3M–$15M, SDA OTAs $10M+ · 2+ years
Move from one-off to production — a defense customer, a constellation, or a manufacturing line.
Simulation-driven design-for-manufacture, reliability (solder fatigue, thermal cycling), and digital-twin workflows keep quality high as volume climbs.
The technology behind most of these awards has to be proven with physics. We can arrange an Ansys evaluation license with live engineering support so you can build the feasibility evidence reviewers and investors want to see — at no cost while you're pre-funding.
See if you qualify for an Ansys eval The MVP playbook →Chasing one program often means you qualify for others you haven't heard of. These sister guides cover more of the U.S. non-dilutive landscape — same honest, no-nonsense approach. Not sure which fits what you're building? Ask us — we'll point you at the right doors, even the ones that aren't ours.
America's ~$4B/yr non-dilutive seed fund across 11 agencies.
Visit →Air Force & Space Force open topics and $3–15M matching funds.
Visit →Commercial tech to DoD via fast OTA prototype contracts.
Visit →Army prize competitions with a fast lane into Army SBIR.
Visit →