inXitu, Inc. specializes in developing technologies required to enable the next generation of scientific instruments used for materials analysis. The technology used in inXitus portable rock and mineral analyzer received a prestigious R&D 100 award and was chosen to fly on the Mars Science Laboratory rover scheduled for launch in 2009. www.inxitu.com
Transcript
00:00:02 Green cheese, a blue moon, the red planet. As we explore new worlds, we learn their true composition, looking at the materials that may hold the key to understanding a planet's origins and life forms. Through NASA's Small Business Innovation Research or SBIR program, a small company in Mountain View, California is creating new technologies for sampling and
00:00:28 analyzing materials on other planets and here at home. NC2 Incorporated develops innovative X-ray techniques and tools that identify and examine those materials wherever they may be. One of the firm's technologies has been integrated into NASA's 2009 Mars Science Laboratory mission. They had a really serious problem with the reliability of the system. And as part of the SBIR, we
00:00:55 developed an mechanical implementation that made it reliable and easy to drive and, you know, something that would really work. In an effort to improve the technologies they created for the 2009 Mars mission, the firm is now exploring new concepts through SBIR contracts with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. With funding from Ames Research Center, the firm is developing an air purification
00:01:19 technology that uses carbon nano tube cathodes for future space travel. The intention is to miniaturaturize it to the point that we can put it inside a vehicle. And the vehicle could be a space shuttle. It could be, you know, a spacecraft, a inhabited spacecraft, or it could be an airplane. Who knows, even a car. In C2's technology is also being transferred to other applications here
00:01:44 on Earth. They've commercialized a portable sampling unit for field research. The unit is called Terra. Terra is a direct byproduct of all the development we have done uh for NASA for these uh this flight mission and that includes the technology we've developed under the SB project. Uh so it's a small instrument that does pretty much everything the Mars instrument does but
00:02:10 in a much more affordable package that people can use out in the field. Compared to other similar X-ray defraction units, Terra is very small and compact. It's the first time researchers have been able to actually use this type of method in the field. Scientists have used a prototype of terror in the field to simulate how to remotely interact with the instruments
00:02:32 when conducting experiments on Mars. Partnering with Ames and the Department of Homeland Security, the firm has received an SBIR phase 3 contract to develop a new type of airport baggage screening system. The new system would speed up the screening process for the art world. Inc2 received funding from the Getty Trust to create a non-destructive unit for cultural
00:02:56 heritage research. That's a derivative of the the Mars project. So, it's really taking the technology that we have developed, you know, back to Earth on very practical uh issues. In that case, it's a it's a paint analyzer. So the the Getty uh conservation institute is interested in having an extra diffraction instrument that can be used uh on site. The instrument will allow
00:03:21 the institute to examine artwork in place rather than having to take the art to another location. In the world of science, research performed in C2 means in the original position. As NASA explores the galaxy, NC2 Incorporated plans to have its technologies help with experiments done in place wherever that may be.
