Psionic, a Hampton Roads technology company developing advanced navigation systems for GPS-denied environments, has been selected by NASA as part of the agency’s 2025 Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity.
NASA announced that it selected 41 proposals from 37 U.S. companies to advance technologies supporting future lunar exploration and human missions to Mars. Through the ACO program, companies gain access to NASA facilities, hardware, software and technical expertise to help mature technologies for future missions.
For Psionic, the selection creates another opportunity to work with NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California and continue testing technology designed to help spacecraft, aircraft and autonomous systems navigate where GPS is unavailable.
“These announcements of collaborative opportunity come out once or twice a year, normally from NASA,” said Rob Fleishauer, Senior Vice President of Operations and Engineering at Psionic. “We submitted this proposal back in September of last year, and they’re just announcing the awards on these now.”
Psionic will work with NASA Armstrong to demonstrate its PSNDL-L, or Space Navigation Doppler Lidar-lander, sensor during high-altitude, high-speed flight tests. The company previously worked with NASA Armstrong on F/A-18 research aircraft testing, and Fleishauer said this new opportunity builds on that work.
“This is really a similar opportunity where we will fly again,” Fleishauer said. “And this time we want to demonstrate TERCOM — using terrain matching and contours to help constrain our navigation solution.”
TERCOM, short for terrain contour matching, gives a navigation system another way to confirm where it is. In plain terms, the technology compares known terrain maps with real-time elevation readings from the surface below. That can help the system course correct when GPS is unavailable or unreliable.
“It uses the terrain below,” Fleishauer said. “And of course, there are terrain maps for the lunar surface as well. So it helps us to land on the moon and in those areas as we’re coming through, navigating and coming into our landing cycle.”
That capability matters as NASA and its partners work toward more frequent lunar missions and future human exploration of Mars. The challenge is not simply getting to space. It is being able to navigate, descend and land with precision in places where GPS does not exist.
Psionic’s Navigation Doppler Lidar technology provides velocity and range measurements that support precision navigation in those environments. Fleishauer said the next step is moving from a single navigation sensor toward a broader navigation suite.
“Right now, we have a navigation sensor,” he said. “It does velocity and range measurements, but the idea is to make it a navigation suite.”
The NASA connection is especially significant because Psionic’s technology is rooted in research and development that began at NASA. Fleishauer, who spent years as a NASA contractor, said the agency understands the capability because of that history.
“They’re very interested in our technology,” Fleishauer said. “Obviously, it was developed — the research and development was done at NASA — so they know it’s tried and tested, and it’s highly accurate.”
The NASA selection follows another regional milestone for Psionic. The company was named the 2025 757 TechNite Emerging Company winner, recognizing its growth and role in Hampton Roads’ technology ecosystem.
Together, the two moments point to the same larger story: high-value space, defense and autonomy technology is being built in Hampton Roads by companies with deep ties to NASA, aviation and advanced engineering.
Fleishauer said Psionic is continuing to move forward on qualifications and testing, with additional work expected in the coming weeks.
For now, the NASA collaboration gives Psionic another opportunity to prove its technology in demanding flight conditions and continue advancing systems that could help future spacecraft navigate the Moon, Mars and other GPS-denied environments.
Psionic is also part of the IHR200, Innovate Hampton Roads’ rolling list of the 200 most important privately owned businesses in the region. Its NASA collaboration shows why: this is locally built deep tech with relevance across aerospace, defense, autonomy and space.
Learn more about Psionic in their episode of IHR’s Disrupting the Tide documentary series.
