NASA R&D data, wired into your chat client.
An open-source MCP server that gives LLMs and chat clients live, grounded access to NASA's public TechPort database — ~20,000 R&D projects funded through SBIR/STTR, Flight Opportunities, NIAC, Game Changing Development, and other STMD programs.
Endpoint
https://nasatechport.alexandervandijk.com/mcp
Paste this URL into any MCP-compatible client's connector field to give the model live access to TechPort data. No authentication required.
Why this exists
LLMs are good at reasoning about technology but bad at remembering which specific projects NASA is funding, at what TRL, through which program, at which organization. TechPort has that data — in structured form, with PDFs and images attached — but it lives behind a REST API that LLMs can't call directly.
TechPort MCP closes that gap. The model calls structured tools
(find_projects, portfolio_aggregate,
get_document, …) against the live TechPort API and reasons
over the results. Claims are grounded in tool responses, not training
data.
How it works
The server wraps the public TechPort REST API (techport.nasa.gov) and exposes it to any MCP client over streamable HTTP. It's written in Python, open-source, and hosted on fly.io.
Tools exposed to the model
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
techport_find_projects | Search by keyword, program, TRL, dates, org, taxonomy |
techport_get_project | Full record for one project, including attached documents |
techport_get_document | Fetch attached PDFs, briefing slides, images |
techport_portfolio_aggregate | Group and count across programs, orgs, TX areas, years |
techport_programs | List and describe funding programs |
techport_organizations | Orgs and their project activity |
techport_find_contacts | PIs and program managers |
techport_opportunities | Open solicitations and opportunities |
techport_classify_technology | Map free text onto NASA's TX taxonomy |
techport_whats_new | Recently added or updated projects |
techport_capabilities | Server capabilities and schema |
Grounding rule
Every data claim the model makes about NASA projects, programs, organizations, or technology areas should come directly from a tool call. The server ships a system prompt that tells the model to say "I can't answer that from the data" rather than fill gaps with plausible-sounding guesses.
Using it in a chat client
Claude (claude.ai or Claude Desktop)
Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector. Paste the endpoint URL. The TechPort tools will appear in any new conversation.
ChatGPT / other MCP clients
Wherever the client accepts a remote MCP server URL, paste the endpoint. If your client only supports stdio MCP, you can run the server locally from the GitHub repo.
Prompts to try
- "What NIAC Phase II awards have been made in the last three years in the space of in-space manufacturing?"
- "Summarize the current Flight Opportunities portfolio by technology area."
- "Find projects at TRL 6+ related to cryogenic fluid management, and pull the briefing slides."
- "Which small businesses have won the most SBIR Phase II awards from NASA since 2020?"
Caveats
- Data freshness. TechPort is updated by project owners; some records lag reality by months or more. Treat counts as directional, not authoritative.
- Coverage gaps. Some programs track outcomes and publications better than others. The server surfaces what's there; it can't invent fields that aren't.
- No warranty. This is an independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.
See it in action
Agent TechPort is an autonomous research agent that uses this MCP server to build knowledge bases over the TechPort portfolio. The published KBs are a good way to see what the data supports.