History
The ''NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts'' (NIAC) was a NASA-funded program that was operated by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) for NASA from 1998 until its closure on 31 August 2007. NIAC was to serve as "an independent open forum, a high-level point of entry to NASA for an external community of innovators, and an external capability for analysis and definition of advanced aeronautics and space concepts to complement the advanced concept activities conducted within NASA."NIAC 1998–2007
Studies funded by the original NIAC 1998–2007 include * Bio-Nano-Machines for Space Applications – Constantinos Mavroidis * System Feasibility Demonstrations of Caves and Subsurface Constructs for Mars Habitation and Scientific Exploration (Caves of Mars Project) – Penelope J. Boston *Closing of the Original NIAC
On July 2, 2007, NIAC announced that "NASA, faced with the constraints of achieving theRevised NIAC
Following the termination of the original NIAC program, Congress requested a review of the NIAC program by the2011 NIAC Project Selections
The revived NIAC, with the slightly-changed name "NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts," funded thirty phase-I studies in 2011 to investigate advanced concepts. *Duda, Kevin: Variable Vector Countermeasure Suit (V2Suit) for Space Habitation and Exploration *Ferguson, Scott: Enabling All-Access Mobility for Planetary Exploration Vehicles via Transformative Reconfiguration *Gilland, James: The Potential for Ambient Plasma Wave Propulsion *Gregory, Daniel: Space Debris Elimination (SpaDE) *Hogue, Michael: Regolith Derived Heat Shield for a Planetary Body Entry and Descent System with In-Situ Fabrication *Hohman, Kurt: Atmospheric Breathing Electric Thruster for Planetary Exploration *Howe, Steven: Economical Radioisotope Power *Khoshnevis, Behrokh: Contour Crafting Simulation Plan for Lunar Settlement Infrastructure Build-Up *Kwiat, Paul: Entanglement-assisted Communication System for NASA's Deep-Space Missions: Feasibility Test and Conceptual Design *Mankins, John: SPS-ALPHA: The First Practical Solar Power Satellite via Arbitrarily Large PHased Array *Miller, David: High-temperature Superconductors as Electromagnetic Deployment and Support Structures in Spacecraft *Paul, Michael: Non-Radioisotope Power Systems For Sunless Solar System Exploration Missions *Pavone, Marco: Spacecraft/Rover Hybrids for the Exploration of Small Solar System Bodies *Ritter, Joe: Ultra-Light "Photonic Muscle" Space Structures *Scott, Gregory: Low Power Microrobotics Utilizing Biologically Inspired Energy Generation *Short, Kendra: Printable Spacecraft *Sibille, Laurent: In-Space Propulsion Engine Architecture based on Sublimation of Planetary Resources: from exploration robots to NEO mitigation *Silvera, Isaac: Metallic Hydrogen: A Game Changing Rocket Propellant *Slough, John: Nuclear Propulsion through Direct Conversion of Fusion Energy *Staehle, Robert: Interplanetary CubeSats: Opening the Solar System to a Broad Community at Lower Cost *Strekalov, Dmitry: Ghost Imaging of Space Objects *Stysley, Paul: Laser-Based Optical Trap for Remote Sampling of Interplanetary and Atmospheric Particulate Matter *Swartzlander, Grover: Steering of Solar Sails Using Optical Lift Force *Tarditi, Alfonso: Aneutronic Fusion Spacecraft Architecture *Thibeault, Sheila: Radiation Shielding Materials Containing Hydrogen, Boron, and Nitrogen: Systematic Computational and Experimental Study *Tripathi, Ram: Meeting the Grand Challenge of Protecting Astronaut's Health: Electrostatic Active Space Radiation Shielding for Deep Space Missions *Werka, Robert: Proposal for a Concept Assessment of a Fission Fragment Rocket Engine (FFRE) Propelled Spacecraft *Westover, Shayne: Radiation Protection and Architecture Utilizing High Temperature Superconducting Magnets *Whittaker, William: Technologies Enabling Exploration of Skylights, Lava Tubes and Caves *Wie, Bong: Optimal Dispersion of Near-Earth Objects2012 NIAC Project Selections
In August 2012, NIAC announced selection of 18 new phase-I proposals, along with Phase-II grants for continuation of 10 projects selected in earlier solicitations. These include many projects ranging from Landsailing rovers on2013 NIAC Project Selections
In 2013 NIAC conducted a third solicitation for proposals, with projects to start in the summer of 2013. NASA selected 12 phase-I projects with a wide range of imaginative concepts, including 3-D printing of biomaterials, such as arrays of cells; using galactic rays to map the insides of asteroids; and an "eternal flight" platform that could hover in Earth's atmosphere, potentially providing better imaging, Wi-Fi, power generation, and other applications. They selected 6 phase II projects, including photonic laser thrusters, extreme sample return, and innovative spherical robots designed for planetary exploration. Phase I selections were: *Adams, Rob: Pulsed Fission-Fusion (PuFF) Propulsion System *Bradford, John: Torpor Inducing Transfer Habitat For Human Stasis To Mars *Hemmati, Hamid: Two-Dimensional Planetary Surface Landers *Jerred, Nathan: Dual-mode Propulsion System Enabling CubeSat Exploration of the Solar System *Longman, Anthony: Growth Adapted Tensegrity Structures - A New Calculus for the Space Economy *Moore, Mark: Eternal Flight as the Solution for 'X' *Prettyman, Thomas: Deep Mapping of Small Solar System Bodies with Galactic Cosmic Ray Secondary Particle Showers * Rothschild, Lynn: Biomaterials out of thin air: in situ, on-demand printing of advanced biocomposites *Rovey, Joshua: Plasmonic Force Propulsion Revolutionizes Nano/PicoSatellite Capability *Stoica, Adrian: Transformers For Extreme Environments2014 NIAC Project Selections
In 2013, NIAC conducted a fourth solicitation, and selected 12 projects for Phase-1 studies and 5 projects to continue on to phase II projects. Projects selected include a study of hibernation for astronauts and a submarine operating on Saturn's moon Titan 2014 Phase I selections were: *Atchison, Justin: Swarm Flyby Gravimetry *Boland, Eugene: Mars Ecopoiesis Test Bed *Cash, Webster: The Aragoscope: Ultra-High Resolution Optics at Low Cost * Chen, Bin: 3D Photocatalytic Air Processor for Dramatic Reduction of Life Support Mass & Complexity *Hoyt, Robert: WRANGLER: Capture and De-Spin of Asteroids and Space Debris *Matthies, Larry: Titan Aerial Daughtercraft *Miller, Timothy: Using the Hottest Particles in the Universe to Probe Icy Solar System Worlds *Nosanov, Jeffrey: PERISCOPE: PERIapsis Subsurface Cave OPtical Explorer *Oleson, Steven: Titan Submarine: Exploring the Depths of Kraken *Ono, Masahiro: Comet Hitchhiker: Harvesting Kinetic Energy from Small Bodies to Enable Fast and Low-Cost Deep Space Exploration *Streetman, Brett: Exploration Architecture with Quantum Inertial Gravimetry and In Situ ChipSat Sensors *Wiegmann, Bruce: Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System (HERTS)2015 NIAC Project Selections
The 2015 Phase-1 projects included a hopping vehicle to visit2016 NIAC Project Selections
Phase I projects selected were: *Bayandor, Javid: Light Weight Multifunctional Planetary Probe for Extreme Environment Exploration and Locomotion *Bugga, Ratnakumar: Venus Interior Probe Using In-situ Power and Propulsion (VIP-INSPR) *Dunn, Jason: Reconstituting Asteroids into Mechanical Automata *Hughes, Gary: Molecular Composition Analysis of Distant Targets *Janson, Siegfried: Brane Craft *Mann, Chris: Stellar Echo Imaging of Exoplanets *Mueller, Robert: Mars Molniya Orbit Atmospheric Resource Mining *Ono, Masahiro: Journey to the Center of Icy Moons *Quadrelli, Marco: E-Glider: Active Electrostatic Flight for Airless Body Exploration *Rothschild, Lynn: Urban biomining meets printable electronics: end-to-end destination biological recycling and reprinting *Sauder, Jonathan: Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments (AREE) *Thomas, Stephanie: Fusion-Enabled Pluto Orbiter and Lander *VanWoerkom, Michael: NIMPH: Nano Icy Moons Propellant Harvester In addition, eight projects were selected for continuation into Phase II: *Bradford, John: Advancing Torpor Inducing Transfer Habitats for Human Stasis to Mars *Engblom, William: Flight Demonstration of Novel Atmospheric Satellite Concept *Kirtley, David: Magnetoshell Aerocapture for Manned Missions and Planetary Deep Space Orbiters *Lubin, Philip: Directed Energy for Interstellar Study *Rovey, Joshua: Experimental Demonstration and System Analysis for Plasmonic Force Propulsion *Skelton, Robert: Tensegrity Approaches to In-Space Construction of a 1g Growable Habitat *Ulmer, Melville: Further Development of Aperture: A Precise Extremely Large Reflective Telescope Using Re-configurable Elements *Youngquist, Robert: Cryogenic Selective Surfaces2017 NIAC Project Selections
The fifteen projects selected for Phase I were: *Adam Arkin: A Synthetic Biology Architecture to Detoxify and Enrich Mars Soil for Agriculture *John Brophy: A Breakthrough Propulsion Architecture for Interstellar Precursor Missions *John-Paul Clarke : Evacuated Airship for Mars Missions *Heidi Fearn: Mach Effects for In Space Propulsion: Interstellar Mission *Benjamin Goldman : Pluto Hop, Skip, and Jump Global *Jason Gruber: Turbolift *Kevin Kempton : Phobos L1 Operational Tether Experiment (PHLOTE) *Michael LaPointe: Gradient Field Imploding Liner Fusion Propulsion System *John Lewis : Massively Expanded NEA Accessibility via Microwave-Sintered Aerobrakes *Jay McMahon: Dismantling Rubble Pile Asteroids with AoES (Area-of-Effect Soft-bots) *Raymond Sedwick: Continuous Electrode Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion *Joel Sercel: Sutter: Breakthrough Telescope Innovation for Asteroid Survey Missions to Start a Gold Rush in Space *Slava Turyshev: Direct Multipixel Imaging and Spectroscopy of an exoplanet with a Solar Gravity Lens Mission *Robert Youngquist: Solar Surfing *Nan Yu: A direct probe of dark energy interactions with a solar system laboratory In addition, seven projects were selected for continuation into Phase II: *Ratnakumar Bugga: Venus Interior Probe Using In-situ Power and Propulsion (VIP-INSPR) *Gary Hughes: Remote Laser Evaporative Molecular Absorption Spectroscopy Sensor System *Siegfried Janson: Brane Craft Phase II *Chris Mann: Stellar Echo Imaging of Exoplanets *Jonathan Sauder: Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments (AREE) *Joel Sercel: Optical Mining of Asteroids, Moons, and Planets to Enable Sustainable Human Exploration and Space Industrialization *Stephanie Thomas: Fusion-Enabled Pluto Orbiter and Lander2018 NIAC Project Selections
The sixteen projects selected for Phase I were: *Aliakbar Aghamohammadi: Shapeshifters from Science Fiction to Science Fact: Globetrotting from Titan's Rugged Cliffs to its Deep Seafloors *David Akin: Biobot: Innovative Offloading of Astronauts for More Effective Exploration *Jeffrey Balcerski: Lofted Environmental and Atmospheric Venus Sensors (LEAVES) *Sigrid Close: Meteoroid Impact Detection for Exploration of Asteroids (MIDEA) *Christine Hartzell: On-Orbit, Collision-Free Mapping of Small Orbital Debris *Chang-kwon Kang: Marsbee - Swarm of Flapping Wing Flyers for Enhanced Mars Exploration *John Kendra: Rotary Motion Extended Array Synthesis (R-MXAS) *Chris Limbach: PROCSIMA: Diffractionless Beamed Propulsion for Breakthrough Interstellar Missions *Gareth Meirion-Griffith: SPARROW: Steam Propelled Autonomous Retrieval Robot for Ocean Worlds *Hari Nayar: BALLET: BALloon Locomotion for Extreme Terrain *Lynn Rothschild: Myco-architecture off planet: growing surface structures at destination *Dmitry Savransky: Modular Active Self-Assembling Space Telescope Swarms *Nickolas Solomey: Astrophysics and Technical Study of a Solar Neutrino Spacecraft *Grover Swartzlander: Advanced Diffractive MetaFilm Sailcraft *Jordan Wachs: Spectrally-Resolved Synthetic Imaging Interferometer *Ryan Weed: Radioisotope Positron Propulsion In addition, nine projects were selected for continuation into Phase II: *Robert Adams: Pulsed Fission-Fusion (PuFF) Propulsion Concept *John Brophy: A Breakthrough Propulsion Architecture for Interstellar Precursor Missions *Devon Crowe: Kilometer Space Telescope (KST) *Jay McMahon: Dismantling Rubble Pile Asteroids with AoES (Area-of-Effect Soft-bots) *Steven Oleson: Triton Hopper: Exploring Neptune's Captured Kuiper Belt Object *John Slough: Spacecraft Scale Magnetospheric Protection from Galactic Cosmic Radiation *Slava Turyshev: Direct Multipixel Imaging and Spectroscopy of an Exoplanet with a Solar Gravity Lens Mission *Michael VanWoerkom: NIMPH: Nano Icy Moons Propellant Harvester *James Woodward: Mach Effect for In Space Propulsion: Interstellar Mission2019 NIAC Project Selections
The twelve projects selected for Phase I were: *Javid Bayandor: BREEZE- Bioinspired Ray for Extreme Environments and Zonal Exploration *Erik Brandon: Power Beaming for Long Life Venus Surface Missions *Ana Diaz Artiles: SmartSuit: A Hybrid, Intelligent, and Highly Mobile EVA Spacesuit for Next Generation Exploration Missions *Tom Ditto: Dual Use Exoplanet Telescope (DUET) *Yu Gu: Micro-Probes Propelled and Powered by Planetary Atmospheric Electricity (MP4AE) *Troy Howe: SPEAR Probe - An Ultra Lightweight Nuclear Electric Propulsion Probe for Deep Space Exploration *Noam Izenberg: RIPS: Ripcord Innovative Power System *Geoffrey Landis: Power for Interstellar Fly-by *Joel Sercel: Lunar-Polar Propellant Mining Outpost (LPMO): Affordable Exploration and Industrialization *John Slough: Crosscutting High Apogee Refueling Orbital Navigator (CHARON) for Active Debris Removal *George Sowers: Thermal Mining of Ices on Cold Solar System Bodies *Robert Staehle: Low-Cost SmallSats to Explore to Our Solar System's Boundaries In addition, six projects were selected for continuation into Phase II: *Tom Ditto: The High Étendue Multiple Object Spectrographic Telescope (THE MOST) *John Kendra: Rotary-Motion-Extended Array Synthesis (R-MXAS) *Chris Limbach: Self-Guided Beamed Propulsion for Breakthrough Interstellar Missions *Nickolas Solomey: Astrophysics and Technical Lab Studies of a Solar Neutrino Spacecraft Detector *Grover Swartzlander: Diffractive Lightsails *Doug Willard: Solar Surfing Also, two projects were selected for Phase III: *William Whittaker: Robotic Technologies Enabling the Exploration of Lunar Pits *Joel Sercel: Mini Bee Prototype to Demonstrate the Apis Mission Architecture and Optical Mining Technology2020 NIAC Project Selections
The sixteen projects selected for Phase I were: *Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay: LCRT - Lunar Crater Radio Telescope on the Far-Side of the Moon *John Christian: StarNAV: An Architecture for Autonomous Spacecraft Navigation by the Relativistic Perturbation of Starlight *Artur Davoyan: Extreme Metamaterial Solar Sails for Breakthrough Space Exploration *Caroline Genzale: Fueling a Human Mission to Mars *Davide Guzzetti: Flat Fabrication of Progressively Self-Assembling Space Systems *Benjamin Hockman: Gravity Poppers: Hopping Probes for the Interior Mapping of Small Solar System Bodies *Steven Howe: Pulsed Plasma Rocket: Shielded, Fast Transits for Humans to Mars *Troy Howe: High Irradiance Peltier Operated Tungsten Exo-Reflector (HI-POWER) *Gerald Jackson: Deceleration of Interstellar Spacecraft Utilizing Antimatter *Matthew Kuhns: Instant Landing Pads for Artemis Lunar Missions *Richard Linares: Dynamic Orbital Slingshot for Rendezvous with Interstellar Objects *Philip Metzger: Aqua Factorem: Ultra Low-Energy Lunar Water Extraction *Robert Moses: Advanced Aerocapture System for Enabling Faster-Larger Planetary Science & Human Exploration Missions *Eldar Noe Dobrea: Heat Exchange-Driven Aircraft for Low Altitude and Surface Exploration of Venus *Robert Romanofsky: Magneto-Inductive Communications for Ocean Worlds *Lynn Rothschild: An Astropharmacy In addition, six projects were selected for continuation into Phase II: *David Akin: Innovative Offloading of Astronauts for More Effective Exploration *Javid Bayandor: Lightweight Multifunctional Planetary Probe for Extreme Environment Exploration and Locomotion *Troy Howe: SPEAR Probe - An Ultra Lightweight Nuclear Electric Propulsion Probe for Deep Space Exploration *Masahiro Ono: Enceladus Vent Explorer *Joel Sercel: Lunar Polar Propellant Mining Outpost (LPMO): A Breakthrough for Lunar Exploration & Industry *Nan Yu: Gravity Observation and Dark Energy Detection Explorer in the Solar System Also, one project was selected for continuation into Phase III: * Slava Turyshev: Direct Multipixel Imaging and Spectroscopy of an Exoplanet with aSee also
* Advanced Propulsion Physics Laboratory *References
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