ThermAvant Technologies Awarded $1.27 Million NASA Contract to Advance Ceramic Oscillating Heat Pipes

NASA SBIR Phase II project will explore lighter thermal components for future space nuclear power and propulsion systems

COLUMBIA, MO., [September 18th, 2026] — ThermAvant Technologies has been awarded a $1.27 million NASA Small Business Innovation Research Phase II contract to develop large-format ceramic oscillating heat pipes for future space nuclear power and propulsion systems.

The 24-month project will extend ThermAvant’s work in high-temperature oscillating heat pipes from metallic to ceramic construction. The company aims to develop improved components for acquiring heat from nuclear reactor cores and transporting it to a spacecraft’s power conversion system.

Future nuclear electric propulsion systems will require thermal technologies capable of moving substantial amounts of heat at extremely high temperatures without adding unnecessary mass. Because certain ceramics absorb fewer neutrons than the metals traditionally considered for these components, ceramic oscillating heat pipes could reduce shielding requirements and produce meaningful mass savings for future missions.

“Ceramic oscillating heat pipes could give reactor designers a fundamentally different way to approach thermal management within nuclear power and propulsion systems,” said Alex Miller, Principal Engineer & Technology Advancement Sales Lead at ThermAvant Technologies. “This project builds on our high-temperature metallic OHP work and allows us to explore a material platform with the potential to make these systems lighter and more practical for long-duration missions.”

During the Phase II program, ThermAvant will design, manufacture, and test large-format ceramic oscillating heat pipes intended for high-temperature heat acquisition and transport.

The work builds upon ThermAvant’s ongoing development of metallic high-temperature oscillating heat pipes for NASA applications. By translating that experience into ceramic construction, the company seeks to address one of the thermal-management challenges associated with future nuclear electric propulsion and space power architectures.

The project, “Large Format Ceramic Oscillating Heat Pipes,” was selected through NASA’s fiscal year 2025 SBIR program under the Power Distribution, Generation, and Energy Storage subtopic. The work will be performed under NASA contract 80NSSC26C0172.