The Space Act is the law that lets NASA enter partnerships. It produces 'Space Act Agreements' (SAAs), and the word 'agreement' hides a huge distinction: some send you money and some don't. Getting this backwards has wasted many a founder's quarter.
In a funded SAA, NASA transfers appropriated dollars to a partner to accomplish something NASA needs. These are relatively rare and legally constrained — NASA can only use them when a contract, grant, or cooperative agreement isn't the right instrument. If money is moving from NASA to you, it's funded.
In an unfunded SAA — the kind the Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity (ACO) uses — no government funds change hands. Instead, the agreement lists what each side contributes. NASA provides its unique thermal-vacuum chambers, arc-jets, shaker tables, wind tunnels, software, and engineering staff; you pay for your own hardware, travel, and people. You can see this spelled out in a real published unfunded SAA.
If you win an unfunded SAA for test access, your own analysis has to be airtight first. We can set up an Ansys evaluation so you arrive at NASA's facility with a validated model.
See if you qualify for an Ansys eval The MVP playbook →An unfunded SAA can be the best deal in the building. If your problem is 'I need a week in a NASA thermal-vacuum chamber and an expert who has run a hundred of these tests,' no amount of SBIR cash buys that as easily as an unfunded SAA does. You're trading NASA-unique capability for your own labor.
Think of it alongside the cash programs: SBIR/STTR and Tipping Point give money; ACO gives access. Many startups run both — SBIR to build the hardware, an unfunded SAA to test it in a facility they could never afford. See the full NASA funding map and why you simulate before you test.
Official sources: Space Tech Industry Partnerships · Example unfunded SAA (Stratolaunch). Figures change; confirm on the official page before relying on them.
