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The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program awards researchers $100,000 grants to help them prepare feasibility studies of their space exploration and aerospace ideas. The Phase I selections for 2015 are listed here.
Mason Peck of Cornell University has proposed a "robotic squid" (or eel) that could be used to explore the oceans of Europa. Other proposals include "In-Space Manufacture of Storable Propellants", asteroid mining, and directed energy propulsion. From NASA's press release:
NIAC Phase I awards are valued at approximately $100,000, providing awardees the funding needed to conduct a nine-month initial definition and analysis study of their concepts. If the basic feasibility studies are successful, awardees can apply for Phase II awards, valued up to $500,000 for two additional years of concept development.
One of the selected proposals calls for the use of a soft-robotic rover for missions that can't be accomplished with conventional power systems. This rover would resemble an eel with a short antenna on its back that harvests power from locally changing magnetic fields. The goal is to enable amphibious exploration of gas-giant moons like Europa.
Another proposal will look at using two glider-like unmanned aerial vehicles connected by an ultra-strong cable at different altitudes that sail without propulsion. The vehicle would use wind shear in the lower stratosphere (approximately 60,000 ft.), similar to a kite surfer, where the upper aircraft provides lift and aerodynamic thrust, and the lower aircraft provides an upwind force to keep it from drifting downwind. If successful, this atmospheric satellite could remain in the stratosphere for years, enabling NASA's Earth science missions, monitoring capabilities or aircraft navigation at a fraction of the cost of orbital satellite networks.
Also at Wired and The Register.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 12 2015, @09:31PM
The NIAC program is a nice idea in principle, but they've basically morphed (consciously or not) into a way to shovel money to the same handful of places over and over. You're supposed to propose far-out, scifi-like ideas, but if you submit from somewhere not in "the club", your idea somehow always turns out either not innovative enough, or too far-out to be realistic.