NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase I Award
Amount: $125,000
Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (LCRT) on the Far-Side of the Moon
Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
An ultra-long-wavelength radio telescope on the far-side of the Moon has tremendous advantages compared to Earth-based and Earth-orbiting telescopes, including
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NASA Innovative Advance Concepts (NIAC)
Phase II Award
Amount: $500,000
Enceladus Vent Explorer
Masahiro Ono
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Enceladus Vent Explorer (EVE) is a robotic mission to enter an Enceladus. Her mission objective is to collect samples of ocean water that could contain intact organisms (i.e., cells) to
(more…)i) draw an unambiguous conclusion on the existence of life in the ocean of Enceladus and
ii) should a positive result be obtained, characterize the life and ecosystem of Enceladus through biochemical, taxonomic, ethological, and ecological studies.
by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
NASA has provided funding to Masten Space Systems to begin development of instant landing pads for the vehicles that will carry astronauts to the lunar surface in the space agency’s Artemis program.
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NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC)
Phase II Award
Amount: $500,000
Lightweight Multifunctional Planetary Probe for Extreme Environment Exploration and Locomotion
Javid Bayandor
State University Of New York, Buffalo
With many characteristics similar to Earth, Venus has long been considered of high scientific interest to NASA. The Venus surface temperatures near 460°C and pressures of 93 bar have made long duration surface missions infeasible.
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NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC)
Phase III Award
Amount: $2 million
Direct Multipixel Imaging and Spectroscopy of an Exoplanet with a Solar Gravitational Lens Mission
Slava Turyshev
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The solar gravitational lens (SGL) is characterized by remarkable properties: it offers brightness amplification of up to a factor of ~1e11 (at 1 um) and extreme angular resolution (~1e-10 arcsec). As such, it allows for extraordinary observational capabilities for direct high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy of Earth-like exoplanets.
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NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC)
Phase II Award
Amount: $500,000
Lunar Polar Propellant Mining Outpost (LPMO): A Breakthrough for Lunar Exploration & Industry
Joel Sercel
Trans Astronautica Corporation
The Lunar Polar Mining Outpost (LPMO) (see quad chart graphic) is a breakthrough mission architecture that promises to greatly reduce the cost of human exploration and industrialization of the Moon.
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WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — Future technologies that could enable quicker trips to Mars and robotic exploration of ocean worlds might have started out as NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC). The program, which invests in early-stage technology ideas from NASA, industry and academic researchers across the country, has selected 23 potentially revolutionary concepts with a total award value of $7 million.
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PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) — NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, under a grant from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, is running a public challenge to develop an obstacle avoidance sensor for a possible future Venus rover. The “Exploring Hell: Avoiding Obstacles on a Clockwork Rover” challenge is seeking the public’s designs for a sensor that could be incorporated into the design concept.
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WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA’s Space Technology Program is looking for visionary advanced concepts. This year’s annual call for NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts Program (NIAC) is seeking proposals for revolutionary concepts with the potential to transform future aerospace missions. Proposed concepts should enable new missions or significantly improve current approaches to achieve aerospace objectives.
