SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
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.
Among the selections are 16 new concepts and seven studies that previously received at least one NIAC award. A full list of the 2020 Phase I, II and III selections can be found here.[*]
"NIAC is an innovative program that encourages researchers—and the agency—to think outside of the box for solutions that could overcome challenges facing future science and exploration missions," said Walt Engelund, the deputy associate administrator for programs within NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). "We're excited about the new concepts and to see how additional time and resources advances the research selected for follow-on Phase II and III studies."
[...] The selected Phase I and II studies will explore the overall viability of a technology and develop them into mission concepts. Areas researchers will study include mapping asteroids and other small bodies in the solar system with hopping probes, making pharmaceuticals on-demand in space, and extracting water on the Moon. Several of the concepts could inform capabilities relevant to NASA's Artemis program, which will land the first woman and next man on the Moon in 2024 and establish a sustainable presence on and around the Moon by 2028.
NASA selected the proposals through a peer-review process that evaluates innovation and technical viability. All projects are still in the early stages of development, with most requiring a decade or more of technology maturation, and are not official NASA missions.
[*] It seems there is no link provided in the original story; it appears to be intended to link to: NIAC 2020 Phase I, Phase II and Phase III Selections.[--martyb]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 17 2020, @07:42AM
What kind of new weapons system even matters? Mutually assured destruction is still on the table. Hypersonic missiles will extend that. It's the defense systems that you have to worry about.