A new era of space exploration and travel has begun, fueled by a wave of technologies enabling safer and smarter access to this frontier. Collins is honored by our long history serving NASA with our Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), otherwise known as our space suit and the world’s smallest spacecraft. We are looking to collaborate with providers of miniaturized, low-power approaches to temperature and pressure sensing with experience in deploying systems in extreme environments. Providers with unique approaches to multi-functional sensors are also sought. Collaborators will work with Collins to understand the unique mission requirements for space mobility, conduct evaluation tests of their technology and incorporate their solutions as part of ongoing design activities for EMU upgrades.

Powertrain electrification has the demonstrated potential to significantly reduce the environmental footprint of transportation technologies. Collins is committed to commercializing these advancements for aerospace, with over $3B invested in the last decade to advance more-electric architectures, including a recent $50M investment in a multi-megawatt power system test facility set to open in 2023. We are looking to collaborate with providers of cell chemistry, system packaging or management/optimization technologies or physical and digital methodologies with a 5-year or less commercialization roadmap. Proposed technologies must dramatically improve safety, life and charge/discharge (??) performance, while still retaining at least 200 Wh/kg of pack level energy density. Such providers will work with Collins to demonstrate their capabilities and incorporate their solutions into ongoing design and validation activities.

Technology miniaturization continues to accelerate the ability of small, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to assist in a broad range of life-saving missions, from disaster response to search & rescue, law enforcement and beyond. Collins has developed the RapidEdge™ Mission System to enable such vehicles to execute complex missions effectively, including multi-vehicle collaboration. We are looking to collaborate with smart payload and data integration providers through the open interfaces of the RapidEdge™ Mission System. Such providers will work with Collins to deliver new perception capabilities across the electromagnetic spectrum and to optimize those capabilities using existing platform data streams (weather, mission planning, etc.) for a range of small UAS platforms.

Composite materials have become ubiquitous in aerospace, offering strength and resilience, while reducing component weight. Collins is an industry leader in next-generation composite materials, including thermoplastics. We are looking to collaborate with providers of recycling technologies or manufacturers utilizing upcycled materials to reuse current composite scrap in novel applications. Such providers will work with Collins to understand our current remanent stream, demonstrate their capabilities in small scale, and develop a scalable roadmap for continued material utilization.