Sept. 28, 2004

Michael Braukus 
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-1979)

Bill Steigerwald
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone: 301/286 5017)

RELEASE: 04-315

NASA EXPLORES FUTURE SPACE WITH ADVANCED CONCEPT AWARDS

The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) has announced its 2004 
Phase 1 awards. Twelve proposals to boldly go beyond the frontiers of 
space exploration were selected for a six-month study period 
beginning in October 2004. 

The NIAC was created in 1998 to solicit revolutionary concepts from 
people and organizations outside the agency that could greatly 
advance NASA's missions. The proposals push the limits of known 
science and technology. The proposals are expected to take at least a 
decade to be fully realized. NIAC's intention is to discover ideas 
that may result in beneficial changes to NASA's long-range plans. 

"We are thrilled to team up with imaginative people from industry and 
universities to discover innovative systems that meet the tremendous 
challenge of space exploration and development," said Dr. Robert 
Cassanova of the Universities Space Research Organization (USRA), and 
NIAC director. The USRA runs the Institute for NASA.

The NIAC sponsors research in two phases. Proposals selected for Phase 
1 awards typically receive up to $75,000 for a six-month study that 
validates the viability of the concept and identifies challenges that 
must be overcome to make the proposal a reality. 

The results of the Phase 1 studies are evaluated. The most promising 
are selected for further research into the major feasibility issues 
associated with cost, performance, development time, and technology 
through a Phase 2 award. Phase 2 studies can be up to two years long 
and receive as much as $400,000. 

Proposals selected for the 2004 Phase 1 awards:

&ndash; A Deep-Field Infrared Observatory near the Lunar Pole 
(Principal Investigator (PI): Dr. Roger J. Angel, University of 
Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.) 

&ndash; Extremely Large Swarm Array of Picosats for Microwave/RF Earth 
Sensing, Radiometry, and Mapping (PI: Ivan Bekey, Bekey Designs Inc., 
Annandale, Va.)

&ndash; Redesigning Living Organisms to Survive on Mars (PI: Dr. Wendy 
F. Boss, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C.)

&ndash; Analysis of a Lunar Base Electrostatic Radiation Shield 
Concept (PI: Dr. Charles R. Buhler, ASRC Aerospace Corporation, 
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.)

&ndash; New Worlds Imager (PI: Dr. Webster Cash, University of 
Colorado, Boulder, Colo.)

&ndash; Efficient Direct Conversion of Sunlight to Coherent Light at 
High Average Power in Space (PI: Dr. Richard Fork, University of 
Alabama, Huntsville, Ala.)

&ndash; Use of Superconducting Magnet Technology for Astronaut 
Radiation Protection (PI: Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman, Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology, Boston)

&ndash; Wide-Bandwidth Deep-Space Quantum Communications (PI: Ricky 
Morgan, Morgan Optics Corporation, San Diego) 

&ndash; Lunar Space Elevators for Cislunar Space Development (PI: 
Jerome Pearson, Star Technology and Research, Inc., Mount Pleasant, 
S.C.)

&ndash; Large-Product General-Purpose Design and Manufacturing Using 
Nanoscale Modules (PI: Chris Phoenix, Center for Responsible 
Nanotechnology, Brooklyn, N.Y.)

&ndash; Magnetized Beamed Plasma Propulsion (PI: Dr. Robert M. Winglee 
of the University of Washington, Seattle)

&ndash; A Self-Sustaining, Boundary-Layer-Adapted System for Terrain 
Exploration and Environmental Sampling (PI: Dr. Craig A. Woolsey, 
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.)

For information including abstracts of the selected proposals on the 
Web, visit: 

http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2004/0930niac_phase1.html 

	
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