NASA selects artificial gravity habitats and 16 other futuristic space tech concepts for study

NASA has selected 17 new futuristic space technology concepts for study including a spacecraft that could harness the Sun's heat to propel it out of the solar system at unprecedented speeds, small climbing robots that could explore subsurface caves on Mars and a deployable rotating habitat with artificial gravity, among others.

With a new round of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) funding, a total of USD5.1 million will be provided to 17 researchers. The NIAC program nurtures visionary ideas that could transform future NASA missions with the creation of breakthroughs.

Below are the titles of the proposals selected for NIAC Phase I and Phase II grants:

NIAC Phase I grants

1. Cryospheric Rydberg Radar 
2. Silent, Solid-State Propulsion for Advanced Air Mobility Vehicles
3. Combined Heat Shield and Solar Thermal Propulsion System for an Oberth Maneuver
4. CREW HaT: Cosmic Radiation Extended Warding using the Halbach Torus
5. The Spacesuit Digital Thread: 4.0 Manufacture of Custom High Performance Spacesuits for the Exploration of Mars
6. Breathing Mars Air: Stationary and Portable O2 Generation
7. Pi - Terminal Defense for Humanity
8. Hybrid Observatory for Earth-like Exoplanets (HOEE)
9. In-situ Neutral-Optics Velocity Analyzer for Thermospheric Exploration (INOVATE)
10. Starburst: A Revolutionary Under-Constrained Adaptable Deployable Structure Architecture
11. Venus Atmosphere and Cloud Particle Sample Return for Astrobiology
12. SCOPE: ScienceCraft for Outer Planet Exploration

NIAC Phase II grants

1. BREEZE: Bioinspired Ray for Extreme Environments and Zonal Exploration
2. Kilometer-Scale Space Structures from a Single LaunchE
3. Atomic Planar Power for Lightweight Exploration (APPLE)
4. ReachBot: Small Robot for Large Mobile Manipulation Tasks in Martian Cave Environments
5. SWIM: Sensing with Independent Micro-swimmers

While Phase I fellows will each receive USD175,000 for a nine-month study, Phase II fellows will receive USD600,000 each for study over a two-year period.

The aforementioned projects are still in the early stages of development and are not considered official NASA missions, the agency said on Saturday.

More information can be found here.

✅an inflatable bird-like drone to study Venus' atmosphere✅spacecraft with enhanced radiation protection for its crew✅a deployable rotating habitat with artificial gravitySound like sci-fi?We selected these futuristic space tech concepts for study: https://t.co/7rfIxVHoJd pic.twitter.com/OxPsErc4TB

— NASA Technology (@NASA_Technology) February 25, 2022