Company
Portfolio Data
Back to Company SearchPARAGON SPACE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
UEI: RMK3ANU9RLC7
Number of Employees: 137
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
SBIR/STTR Involvement
Year of first award: 2002
51
Phase I Awards
27
Phase II Awards
52.94%
Conversion Rate
$6,516,568
Phase I Dollars
$21,888,974
Phase II Dollars
$28,405,542
Total Awarded
Awards
Naval Shipboard Embedded Battery Containment System Ph II
Amount: $979,091 Topic: N241-063
The U.S. Navy has recognized the importance of developing a shipboard containment product for lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries that can effectively address their potential hazards in combat scenarios. Internal containment requirements are critical in mitigating battery thermal runaway fires and explosions, which can cause significant damage to the ship and its crew. To address this pressing need, Paragon proposes the Containment of Onboard Lithium-Ion Incidents and Operations (COOLIO) system. During Phase I, Paragon explored the trade-space of possible solutions to identify the most viable candidates. By leveraging our Coacting High Integrity Material Energetic Release Attenuation (CHIMERA) technology, Paragon developed a fully-passive thermal protection system capable of mitigating module thermal runaway. This system prevents failure propagation beyond the battery module of origin, protecting crew from harm and minimizing damage to the ship. Our fully-passive solution enables the Navy to safely store and operate arrays of large format (10+ kWh) Li-ion battery modules, supporting the high power (MW-scale) demands of upcoming systems, such as directed-energy weapons (DEW) currently being developed for guided missile destroyers (DDGs).In support of this initiative, Paragon proposes continuing COOLIO development in Phase II, including finalizing requirements, designing the full-scale battery containment product, manufacturing an engineering development unit (EDU), and validating the system performance with multiple, live Li-ion battery thermal runaway tests in the EDU. Phase II will transition COOLIO from TRL3 to TRL5, concluding with a prototype-level design informed from the generated analyses and conducted testing campaign. Beyond the challenges of Li-ion thermal runaway, COOLIO is also designed to be compatible with existing battery modules and Navy environments, allowing seamless integration into Navy ships with minimal impact on existing systems.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2025
DOD
NAVY
Deep-space Anomaly Solution for Habitat Assistance and Resolution Aid (DASHARA)
Amount: $149,022 Topic: T6
Future deep space smart habitats will need to balance human and autonomous system intervention during anomalies, with onboard autonomous systems collecting sensor data, diagnosing faults, predicting maintenance needs, and recommending resolutions. To support anomaly response, smart habitats must integrate data from multiple sensors, analyze large datasets onboard, and provide astronauts with decision-support tools that enhance situational awareness and predict potential upcoming failures. In response to this need, Paragon and ASU propose to develop an AI framework called Deep-space Anomaly Solution for Habitat Assistance and Resolution Aid (DASHARA). In Phase I, the DASHARA framework will be designed and applied to a relevant space habitat system to focus the project's scope while enabling in-depth development and virtual and physical demonstration. DASHARA will be applied to a “smart” CO2 removal system. The project will build upon proven methodologies in intelligent decision-making, environmental adaptation, and predictive analytics, and apply them to the vacuum swingbed CO₂ removal hardware Paragon has developed for space exploration and deep-space habitation. Paragon’s hardware and ASU’s AI will be combined for virtual and experimental testing. The project will virtually simulate human-in-the-loop and autonomous space habitat operations and utilize development hardware to conduct physical lab experiments, ensuring a validated, scalable, and mission-ready prototype for future lunar and Martian exploration. Paragon and ASU will target customers developing commercial space stations and permanent lunar habitats. This currently includes the Starlab space station, Blue Origin and Sierra Space’s Orbital Reef, and Lockheed Martin’s lunar habitat.
Tagged as:
STTR
Phase I
2025
NASA
Multistage Umbilical Disconnect (MUD) System
Amount: $149,915 Topic: Z-LIVE
Paragon proposes a novel universal umbilical quick disconnect assembly designed to protect against intrusion of lunar regolith and extreme temperature changes on the surface of the Moon and beyond for extended periods of time. The MUD system protects the umbilical internal flow or electrical path from regolith intrusion and thermal flux by utilizing four protection systems: softgoods cover, exterior active protection via vibration/resonance, exterior mechanical protection and interior coupling protection. The protection systems are dissimilar mechanisms which allows for additional mitigation of regolith intrusion and will be designed to be operated with space suit gloves. The MUD quick disconnect assembly is a practical solution to one of the biggest challenges in lunar exploration: regolith intrusion. As Lunar and Martian missions become more complex, the MUD assembly will play a key role in maintaining reliable infrastructure, supporting long-duration operations, and enabling sustained human and robotic presence on other planetary surfaces. Additionally, vibrational resonance removal for regolith could prove to be a very compelling way to mitigate intrusion in areas other than disconnecting hardware such as solar panel, radiators, habitats, optics, sensors, landing zones, sample collection tools, suits, and rovers. With Phase I funding, Paragon will design, test, and prepare analyses of this new technology using low cost materials and manufacturing methods to validate the design concepts with the objective of moving to Phase II and, ultimately, developing an innovative product within the quick disconnecting hardware market. The primary go-to-market strategy for MUD system focuses on securing partnerships with space agencies such as NASA to integrate the technology into lunar and Mars missions. Simultaneously, the products simple mechanical nature makes it easily adapted for industrial markets where contamination resistance is critical such as oil, gas and defense.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2025
NASA
Passive Cooling/Heating Thermal Suit
Amount: $139,826 Topic: N251-013
Air crews in the Navy, Marine Corps, and other DoD branches are exposed to both heat during normal aircraft operations and extreme cold in the water during emergencies. To address this, there is a need for a single protective suit that keeps aircrew members cool in warm cabin environments for up to 12 hours and warm in cold, wet conditions for up to 24 hours.Paragon proposes the "Coveralls Optimized for Variable Environmental Requirements" (COVER) suit, designed to address aircrew thermal regulation and comfort across various environments. The COVER suit will replace current CWU garments, offering extended operational time by providing moisture control and cooling during normal operations. When immersed in water, the suit will activate its dry suit functionality, enhancing thermal insulation. The design ensures comfort and mobility in normal operations and allows automatic conversion to an emergency mode when necessary.Paragon introduces two key innovations to revolutionize aircrew dry suit technology: (1) an active ventilation system, similar to space suit designs, that circulates cooling air through the suit, and (2) an inflatable network of tubes that transitions the suit from flexible, low-insulation in normal use to high-insulation when inflated in water. A CO2 inflation system, activated by the user or water contact, inflates the insulation network and seals the vent tube and neck seal during emergencies.The ventilation system, adapted from Paragon’s NASA-developed "vent tree" technology, uses a small blower to supply up to 6 cubic feet per minute of air to the suit's arm/leg tubing. Air vents to the extremities drive cool dry airflow across the body, exiting through the neck. Paragon has tested the airflow rates to ensure effective cooling during low to medium metabolic activity, ensuring long-term comfort with a self-contained, low-power miniature blower.The inflatable insulation network design is based on Paragon’s proven inflatable Liquid Cooling Garment (LCG), adapted for use in the COVER suit. This system provides flexibility when deflated and minimizes weight for both normal and emergency use. Low-pressure CO2 inflates the insulation network, creating a water-tight insulating barrier at the neck. A ˝-inch thick inflated COVER suit will offer over 10 times the thermal insulation of even high-insulation dry suits, ensuring the suit provides 24-hour survivability in extreme cold.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2025
DOD
NAVY
Spacesuit Cover against the Abrasive Lunar Environment (SCALE) & eXploration Textile for high Oxygen eNvironments (xTON)
Amount: $849,999 Topic: T6
NASA has entered a new era of human space exploration with the Artemis Program, hoping to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon. To meet NASA needs, new textiles will have to be developed that keep astronauts safe, while still enabling those astronauts to perform at their best. In the solicitation, NASA has identified two specific areas for textile innovation: (Part A) the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) Environmental Protection Garment (EPG) and (Part B) crew clothing fabrics for shirt-sleeve environments in oxygen-rich atmospheres. To address these challenges in Part A of NASArsquo;s call, Paragon Space Development Corporation (Paragon) and North Carolina State University (NCSU) are developing a new EPG outer layer material for the xEMU known as the Spacesuit Cover against the Abrasive Lunar Environment (SCALE). SCALE uses a bio-inspired design, with segmented corundum chips to give the outer layer of the EPG enough strength to withstand the abrasiveness of lunar dust without significantly reducing its flexibility. The second area of textile innovation identified by NASA (Part B) is crew clothing fabrics for shirt-sleeve environments in oxygen-rich atmospheres. Those oxygen-rich atmospheres also carry an increased risk of fire, which necessitates the use of flame-retardant materials whenever practicable, including in the clothing worn by the crew. To that end, this proposal also introduces a new clothing material, known as the eXploration Textile for high-Oxygen eNvironments (xTON) that will be comfortable and flame retardant.
Tagged as:
STTR
Phase II
2024
NASA
COOLIO - Containment of Onboard Lithium-Ion Incidents and Operations
Amount: $239,857 Topic: N241-063
The United States Navy has recognized the importance of developing a shipboard containment system for lithium-ion batteries that can effectively address their potential hazards in combat scenarios. Internal containment requirements are critical in mitigating possible battery thermal runaway fires and explosions, which can cause significant damage to the ship and its crew. The containment system must be designed to separate the adjacent volumes from potential fire and explosive hazards, ensuring that the risk of a cascading battery failure is minimized. This will enable the Navy to deploy and conduct missions with the equipment they need, while reducing the risk to platforms and crew. Paragon has previously developed such an enclosure in a small form factor in a Navy SBIR Phase II award and is currently executing a Phase III program to deliver the product to USSOCOM and USN Expeditionary forces. The technology is a modular, scalable storage solution designed for safe storage, transportation, management, and employment of primary Li-Ion batteries on Navy ships, submarines, and in other special operations. It is lightweight and compact, tolerant of high temperature and has been proven with extensive testing to withstand high levels of released energy resulting from a Li-Ion battery casualty while mitigating cascading failures. The cornerstone of the product is Paragon’s proprietary design of softgoods insulation panels. In the proposed Phase I Paragon will focus on scaling up the existing product to the larger footprint required for shipboard applications. The first steps will include thermal and structural analyses to drive the necessary design adaptations for a larger containment system, testing of a single prototype thermal insulation sidewall panel, and design a full CAD model of the full-scale system. In the Option period, Paragon will build a full-scale prototype (72” height) appropriate for development testing and will conduct structural analysis of the prototype to verify that mechanical performance requirements, at the system level, are met.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2024
DOD
NAVY
Softgoods Webbing Integrated Strain Sensor for Inflatable
Amount: $849,795 Topic: H5
This SBIR project focuses on design, fabrication, and testing of textile based strain sensors to measure the health of structural softgoods elements.nbsp;nbsp; In Phase I Paragon iterated through dozens of sensor configurations and down-selected to a single embroidered configuration with exceptional linear and cyclical trends.nbsp; The Phase II effort will include further iteration of the down-selected design configuration to optimize for repeatability and manufacturability.nbsp; Iteration and testing will utilize a dead-weight system to inform further configurations and include long duration testing of at least 1 month.nbsp; Phase II will integrate conductive traces directly into the webbing to minimize wiring needed across a structure.nbsp; The SWISS Phase II effort will develop a software and electronics interface to multiplex an array of sensors, giving simple usable data output.nbsp; Paragon will design and build a subscale inflatable test article, deploy the SWISS sensors on the article, and test/evaluate the system in a relevant environment of plain-woven restraint lines under constant load over a multi-week evaluation.nbsp; The culminating test will utilize optical tracking to evaluate the sensor performance.nbsp; Deliverables will include the actual test article for NASA evaluation and a single-strand sensor, as well as the detailed reports therein.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2024
NASA
Fine Aqueous Mist Extinguisher (FAME) for Army Ground Vehicles Phase II Proposal
Amount: $1,699,533 Topic: A234-002
Following recent global agreements to reduce production and usage of high Global Warming Potential (GWP), the Army is looking to replace the HFC-227ea used in its safety-critical ground vehicle crew fire protection systems without significantly impacting performance or crew safety. Paragon proposes the development of an aqueous fire suppressant atomized and delivered as a fine mist to maximize fire protection performance. ParagonÆs Phase I work indicated that atomized aqueous agents can match or exceed current HFC227-BC extinguisher performance in pool fire tests. Furthermore, previous Army studies found aqueous agents performed well in the standard rapid fire ball suppression tests. To develop a drop-in replacement for current Army suppression systems, Paragon will expand on its Phase I work by developing and testing a new high-flow automatic fine mist fire extinguisher design. Prototypes will be assembled, and their performance evaluated in ParagonÆs own fire ball generation test apparatus. Paragon will also address personnel injury risks (burn, frostbite, impact force) in Phase II. Beyond just fire suppression performance benefits, Paragon will determine if fine atomization can also eliminate these hazards through drastically reducing the agent droplet size compared to previous Army studies. Paragon will work with subcontractor ThermoAnalytics to refine their human thermal and skin damage models, using boundary conditions from Paragon test data.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2024
DOD
ARMY
Softgoods Webbing Integrated Strain Sensor for Inflatable
Amount: $149,682 Topic: H5
In this effort, Paragon will design, fabricate, and test 3 different styles of webbing integrated strain sensors. The design of these sensors will utilize Paragonrsquo;s significant experience in soft goods manufacturing for the space industry and include trade studies, electrical integration, and rapid design iteration. These tests will demonstrate the tensile accuracy, cyclic hysteresis, and creep hysteresis of each of these sensors. Using the experimental results obtained, Paragon will perform a down select for follow on development of the best sensor.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2023
NASA