NASA awards license to Tellus Aerospace to commercialize invention

NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland recently signed a non-exclusive license with Tellus Aerospace of San Jose, California, to commercialize its compact, lightweight acoustic liner technology.

The acoustic liner, which is made from strong, lightweight and temperature-resistant materials, will reduce aircraft engine noise and noise pollution near airports.

Developers of the acoustic liner are James D. Kiser, Christopher J. Miller, James D. Heidmann, and Joseph E. Grady of Glenn, and Michael G. Jones of NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Tellus Aerospace was one of 15 teams that won a competition called Space Race in 2016. NASA collaborated with the Center for Advancing Innovation to run this multi-phase business plan competition to launch startups and to encourage the adoption of NASA technologies.

NASA offers many licensing options to interested companies, and Tellus Aerospace selected the Startup NASA license. This license is a non-exclusive license that waives initial licensing fees and requires no minimum fees for the first three years, allowing the licensee to retain capital for use in advancing product development.

"Offering Glenn's technologies for commercial use through Startup NASA is an opportunity to assist bright minds and high-tech entrepreneurs in forming new companies to commercialize NASA technology," said Harvey Schabes, chief, Technology Transfer Office at Glenn.

NASA's Technology Transfer Program ensures that technologies developed for exploration and discovery missions are made available to the public for commercialization.

"We believe the initiative of providing start-ups with access to federally funded technologies will benefit society," said Bruno Selva, co-founder, Tellus Aerospace. "We expect great things in the future as we move toward developing our acoustic liner that will provide a giant leap forward in minimizing aircraft noise."