CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Muon Vision has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for $978,286 to conduct research and development (R&D) work on increasing the safety and yield of mine operations for critical metals.
The company is developing a platform X-ray technology able to measure bulk densities and monitor density changes over vast scales, with up to 100’s of meters of soil penetration.
Muon Vision’s technology is intrinsically safe, can be operated non-invasively from a distance and allows for novel long-term monitoring of high value assets such as leaching heaps, ore bodies, tailing storage facilities and dams. This allows mine operators to significantly reduce risks and increase throughput of their operations.
“Support from the National Science Foundation is incredibly valuable for early stage companies” says Tancredi Botto, the company’s CEO. “Mining remains an essential piece for our future, as there are no alternative to metals or to our planet. Our services are targeted directly at many of the large sustainability challenges the industry is currently facing.”
Once a small business is awarded a Phase I SBIR/STTR grant (up to $275,000), it becomes eligible to apply for a Phase II (up to $1,000,000). Small businesses with Phase II funding are eligible to receive up to $500,000 in additional matching funds with qualifying third-party investment or sales. All proposals submitted to the NSF SBIR/STTR program, also known as America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF, undergo a rigorous merit-based review process. To learn more about America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF, visit: https://seedfund.nsf.gov/
About the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Programs: America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF awards $200 million annually to startups and small businesses, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. Startups working across almost all areas of science and technology can receive up to $2 million to support research and development (R&D), helping de-risk technology for commercial success. America’s Seed Fund is congressionally mandated through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The NSF is an independent federal agency with a budget of about $8.5 billion that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering.