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Air Squared, Inc.

Established: 2026-04-07 | Data sources: TechPort + web search (airsquared.com, sbir.nasa.gov, NASA JSC, Purdue)

Company Overview

Air Squared, Inc. (Thornton, CO) is a vertically integrated R&D and OEM firm specializing in oil-free scroll compressors, vacuum pumps, and expanders. Founded by engineering researchers, the company has built a significant aerospace portfolio by adapting its core scroll technology to space life support, propulsion support, and planetary exploration.

Core competency: Oil-free scroll machines that operate in any orientation without lubrication — solving a fundamental problem for microgravity environments where oil-sump lubrication fails.

Government funding footprint: Multiple NASA SBIR awards (Phase I, II, II-Extended) + one NASA FO flight test + contract awards totaling well over $5M across programs. Also funded by DoE and SOCOM.

NASA TechPort Projects

Flight Opportunities

106684 — Vapor Compression Refrigeration System for Cold Food Storage on Spacecraft - Status: Completed | TRL: 4→6 | Period: 2020-07-14 to 2021-08-18 - PI: Stephen Caskey | TX06.3.5: Food Production, Processing, and Preservation - Destinations: Moon and Cislunar - Description field: "To be written" (zero documentation in TechPort — data gap) - No library items

SBIR/STTR (confirmed via web sources, not all in TechPort)

  • Phase I (2017): Cold storage refrigeration for space travel — seed award
  • Phase II (2018): Zero-Gravity Vapor-Compression Refrigerator (ZVCR) development
  • Phase II-Extended (2020): Continued ZVCR with Purdue University + Whirlpool + JSC + Armstrong FRC — includes parabolic flight qualification (ZeroG Corp, May 2021)
  • Phase I/II (dates unclear): Spinning Scroll Boost Compressor (SSBC) for xEMU spacesuit — CO2/H2O removal for Mars EVA suits; Phase II ongoing as of 2024
  • SBIR 2022 Phase I: Helium Transfer Scroll Pump System (HTSPS) for Venus aerobot altitude control (JPL target: 250 L/min at 30 kPa)
  • SBIR (2023 award, $849,658, ends 2025): Venus aerobot scroll pump prototypes — two prototype helium transfer pumps for extreme atmospheric conditions
  • Mars MOXIE supply chain: Air Squared compressor used in Perseverance MOXIE CO2 compression — SBIR-to-mission technology infusion (confirmed via SBIR.gov abstract)
  • DoE / SOCOM: Additional SBIR awards for tritium handling, hyperbaric decompression systems

Technology Narrative

Air Squared has successfully converted one specific insight — scroll geometry + oil-free operation = orientation-independent pumping — into a portfolio spanning:

  1. ISS food cold chain — space fridge (FO [106684] + SBIR Phase II-E)
  2. xEMU life support — spacesuit CO2/H2O compressor for Mars EVA
  3. MOXIE Mars ISRU — confirmed infusion: compressor on Perseverance (TRL 9 in practice)
  4. Venus aerobot — altitude-control helium pump (SBIR 2022-2023)
  5. Cryogenic pumping — cryogenic scroll pump variants (DoE, ISS contamination-tolerant)

Outcome Classification: Air Squared FO Project [106684]

Field Assessment
Outcome category Active commercial development with partial NASA infusion
Flight test result Parabolic flight May 2021: first-ever documented vapor compression refrigeration in parabolic/suborbital environment (success)
TRL achieved 6 (target met)
ISS infusion status Stated as next step (CASIS testing); no confirmed ISS flight as of 2026-04
Most significant downstream MOXIE Perseverance (parallel SBIR track, not this FO project) — confirmed TRL 9
Whirlpool partnership Active co-development; commercial space fridge pathway exists
Downstream $ estimate SBIR Phase II-E + DoE + SOCOM awards suggest >$5M total federal investment; ISS deployment (if achieved) would represent ~$500K-$2M incremental NASA spend
Confidence Confirmed (parabolic flight success, multiple SBIR awards visible). ISS deployment: speculative

Notable Characteristics

  • Purdue + Whirlpool consortium: Unusually strong commercial co-investment for an FO project. Whirlpool's involvement suggests genuine commercial product pathway, not just NASA-captive technology.
  • Performance claim: COP of 3.5 vs ISS state-of-art COP 0.36 — order-of-magnitude efficiency improvement. If the ISS deploys this, it would dramatically reduce power load per food storage kilogram.
  • MOXIE link: The company's scroll compressor flying on Perseverance is the clearest infusion story, and it's a separate SBIR track from the FO food storage project. This is a strong company-level indicator of execution capability.
  • TechPort data gap: FO project [106684] has description = "To be written" and zero library items. All substantive information comes from company website and NASA JSC press releases, not TechPort.