Program Lends NASA Know-How to Small Business

Bob Rafaels has been working for two years to develop a wearable miniature video camera for the visually impaired.

This year, the Hobe Sound entrepreneur enlisted the help of NASA.

By:
Lori Becker
Palm Beach Post

http://www.nasvf.org/web/allpress.nsf/pages/9477

Through the agency’s Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program, Rafaels teamed up with engineers at Science Applications International Corp.’s Melbourne office and NASA’s test facility in White Sands, N.M., to make his concept a reality.

Rafaels, who hopes to finish the device next year, is one of several Martin County small business owners getting free help from engineers and scientists who work with NASA to improve their businesses or develop products. This year, Martin became Florida’s largest participant in the space outreach program.

The 10-year-old program — which also has participants from Palm Beach, St. Lucie and Indian River counties — gives a small business up to 40 hours of assistance from NASA and its aerospace partners to find solutions to technical challenges.

"Businesses get access to technical experts that normally might be difficult to engage or hire," said Rafaels, who founded Second Vision Inc. after his own vision began to decline. "I can’t do it all by myself. SATOP is sort of like my outsourced ad hoc engineering department."

The space outreach program, based at the Technological Research and Development Authority in Titusville, is aimed at bringing the technology of the space program to small businesses. The NASA-funded program, with an annual budget of $3.3 million, pairs businesses with one of 49 alliance partners, such as Lockheed Martin Corp., The Boeing Co. and Pratt & Whitney.

"It shows the benefits of space beyond launching a shuttle," said Paul Secor, director of the outreach program. "This is a way to bring NASA into the community. Sometimes what takes us a few hours can be a tremendous impact on a small business."

The outreach program, which expects to handle 500 requests from across the country this fiscal year, has already gotten 11 from Martin County — more than anywhere else in Florida, Secor said. At least 27 Martin companies have participated in the program since it started in 1994.

The Martin County Business Development Board was one of the first organizations to sign an agreement to promote the NASA program, which now has contracts with 35 economic development organizations around Florida.

Through the program, aquaculture company Proaquatix in Sebastian found a better way to ship its aquarium fish so they reach their destinations in good health.

And Aerospace Industrial Coatings Inc. in Lantana is working with engineers from AJT & Associates Inc. in Cape Canaveral to find a more efficient and environmentally friendly treatment system for the metal-finishing company’s rinse water.

"They have contacts in many technical areas that I wouldn’t even know about," said owner John Bill, who filed a request through the NASA program last month.

John Rizzotto Sr. went to NASA last spring to verify the earthquake resistance of his new steel framing system.

A veteran mason, the Stuart builder founded Innovative Structural Systems three years ago and began developing the steel system, which he says surpasses the durability of wood-framed or block homes. He’s built 10 homes in the Treasure Coast using the system.

Rizzotto needed outside validation of his young technology, so he requested help through the space outreach program. The University of Central Florida’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, a NASA partner, conducted a seismic analysis of the system to show that it could withstand earthquake forces.

"It just gave me credibility that my building system meets or exceeds all of the building codes," Rizzotto said. "The biggest problem with any entrepreneur is money. I could have had testing done on my own, but it would have cost $50,000 to $100,000."