NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts
Encyclopedia
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) was a NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
-funded program that was operated by the Universities Space Research Association
Universities Space Research Association
The Universities Space Research Association was incorporated on March 12, 1969 in the District of Columbia as a private, nonprofit corporation under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences . Institutional membership in the Association has grown from 49 colleges and universities when it was...
(USRA) for NASA from 1998 until its closure on 31 August 2007. NIAC sought proposals for revolutionary aeronautics
Aeronautics
Aeronautics is the science involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of airflight-capable machines, or the techniques of operating aircraft and rocketry within the atmosphere...
and space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
concepts that could dramatically impact how NASA developed and conducted its missions. It provided a highly visible, recognizable, and high-level entry point for outside thinkers and researchers. NIAC encouraged proposers to think decades into the future in pursuit of concepts that would "leapfrog" the evolution of contemporary aerospace systems. While NIAC sought advanced concept proposals that stretch the imagination, these concepts were expected to be based on sound scientific principles and attainable within a 10 to 40-year time frame. Since February 1998, NIAC has received a total of 1,309 proposals and has awarded 126 Phase I grants and 42 Phase II contracts for a total value of $27.3 million.
It was announced on March, 1, 2011 that a new NIAC would be formed, with similar goals.
Studies Funded by NIAC 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)Caves of Mars ProjectThe Caves of Mars Project was a program funded through Phase II by the NASA Institute for Advanced Conceptsto assess the best place to situate the research and habitation modules that a manned mission to Mars would require....
- Penelope J. Boston - Lunar space elevatorLunar space elevatorA lunar space elevator is a proposed cable running from the surface of the Moon into space.It is similar in concept to the better known Earth space elevator idea...
- Jerome Pearson final report.pdf - Magnetic sailMagnetic sailA magnetic sail or magsail is a proposed method of spacecraft propulsion which would use a static magnetic field to deflect charged particles radiated by the Sun as a plasma wind, and thus impart momentum to accelerate the spacecraft...
- Robert ZubrinRobert ZubrinRobert Zubrin is an American aerospace engineer and author, best known for his advocacy of the manned exploration of Mars. He was the driving force behind Mars Direct—a proposal intended to produce significant reductions in the cost and complexity of such a mission... - Mini-magnetospheric plasma propulsion - Robert M Winglee
- New Worlds Mission - Dr. Webster Cash
- Space elevatorSpace elevatorA space elevator, also known as a geostationary orbital tether or a beanstalk, is a proposed non-rocket spacelaunch structure...
- By Dr. Bradley C. EdwardsBradley C. EdwardsIn space engineering, Bradley C. Edwards is a researcher who is notable for having worked on Space elevators. He received funding from NIAC from 2001 to 2003 to write a paper proposing a way in which one could be built... - Mars EntomopterEntomopterThe Entomopter is a multimode insect-like robot developed by Prof. Robert C. Michelson and his design team from the Georgia Tech Research Institute , University of Cambridge , ETS Labs and others. The name 'Entomopter' is derived from entomo + pteron...
- Anthony Colozza/Robert Michelson
Closing of the NIAC
On July 2, 2007, NIAC announced thatNew NIAC formed
It was announced on March, 1, 2011 that a new NIAC would be formed, with similar goals.External links
- http://www.niac.usra.edu/ - The official NIAC site
- http://www.niac.usra.edu/studies/studies.jsp - List of studies that have been funded