Who Needs a Plumber on Mars?

Every week, we talk to founders building space companies. Companies you'd expect — rocket, satellite, and habitat builders.

And every week, we see the same missed opportunity: companies in terrestrial industries that don't think of themselves as “space companies” — but should.

If your business involves water treatment, waste management, HVAC, construction, food processing, or industrial hygiene, you have a pathway into the space economy that most rocket companies don't. And the federal government has billions in SBIR/STTR funding specifically for the problems you already know how to solve.

The Misconception

The conventional wisdom says you need a NASA connection, a security clearance, and a background in aerospace to win government space contracts.

The barriers for non-traditional entrants have lowered significantly over the past decade through expanded OTA authority, SBIR Open Topics, and the FAST program. But you still need to speak the language.

The SBIR/STTR program is the most accessible entry point, but it's not the only one. OTAs (Other Transaction Authority), BAAs (Broad Agency Announcements), and the Space Force's innovation arm have all been structured to lower the barrier for companies that have never done business with the government.

The catch, if you can call it that: you still need to frame your terrestrial expertise in terms that a program officer at NASA's ECLSS division or the Space Force's logistics directorate recognizes.

Where the Opportunities Are

Here are the terrestrial industries with the strongest SBIR/STTR pathways into space — and the specific topic areas funding as of 2026:

Water treatment. Every lunar base, Mars habitat, and orbital station needs closed-loop water recycling. NASA ECLSS topics fund this in most solicitation cycles. If your company builds membrane filtration, electrochemical treatment, or biological water purification for terrestrial municipal or industrial use, your technology is well on its way. The remaining work is adapting it for microgravity, vacuum, and radiation.

Waste management. Anaerobic digesters, waste-to-energy systems, composting technology — these are not space technologies. They are Earth technologies that need to operate in a sealed, low-gravity environment. The NSF's SBIR program funds circular economy and closed-loop systems. NASA funds waste management for deep space transit. NASA's ECLSS program under Artemis funds extended-duration life support research for lunar surface operations, including habitat environmental control.

HVAC and environmental control. Thermal management is one of the biggest unsolved problems in long-duration space habitation. The temperature swings on the lunar surface are approximately 300°C (ranging from roughly 127°C daytime to -173°C nighttime, per NASA LRO data). Every habitat needs heating, cooling, humidity control, and atmospheric scrubbing. Companies that build industrial HVAC systems for extreme terrestrial environments — cleanrooms, data centers, Arctic research stations — have directly transferable expertise.

Food processing and agriculture. NASA is actively funding research into off-world food production, including hydroponics, aeroponics, and controlled-environment agriculture (as of 2026). If your company builds commercial greenhouse or food processing equipment, the space application is a matter of re-packaging, not re-invention.

Construction and materials. 3D printing with lunar regolith, self-healing concrete, deployable structures, radiation shielding materials. The DoD's research agencies fund advanced construction materials for expeditionary bases that are directly applicable to lunar surface construction.

The SBIR Pathway

The sequence is straightforward:

1. Identify the topic. Every SBIR/STTR solicitation publishes specific topic descriptions. Search NASA SBIR, DoD SBIR, and NSF SBIR for keywords in your industry. Check sbir.gov for currently open solicitations — each agency runs its own cycle.
2. Frame for the environment. Your proposal doesn't need to invent new science. It needs to show how your existing technology can be adapted for the space environment. The key variables: microgravity, vacuum, radiation, thermal cycling, and resupply constraints.
3. Find a PI with space domain experience. This is one of the main friction points. SBIR proposals benefit from a Principal Investigator or co-PI who has experience with spaceflight hardware or government contracts. MWE can help with this — but even without it, a strong proposal can win if the technology is compelling and the adaptation path is clear.
4. Phase I → Phase II → Phase III. Phase I (up to $323,090 as of April 2026) proves the concept. Phase II (up to $2,153,927 as of April 2026) builds the prototype. Phase III transitions to a procuring customer — NASA, Space Force, or a commercial partner.

The Window Is Open

The space economy is not a speculative future. It is a ~$626 billion market (Space Foundation / Novaspace, 2025) growing at an estimated 5-9% annually. And the infrastructure layer — water, waste, air, food, temperature — is the least sexy and most necessary part of it.

The companies that will dominate these markets in 2040 are mostly not space companies right now. They are water treatment companies, waste management companies, and HVAC companies that decided to look at the SBIR topic list and saw their own expertise reflected back at them.

Who needs a plumber on Mars? Everyone. And the federal government is already accepting applications.