2014 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program Awardees

Here are the 12 proposals that were selected under Phase 1 of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program for 2014.

“The latest NIAC selections include a number of exciting concepts for planetary exploration,” Michael Gazarik, NASA’s associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington, said in a statement.

Each funded Phase 1 proposal receives about $100,000 for nine months to a year of initial analysis studies. Awardees can later apply for a Phase 2 grant, which gives out up to $500,000 for two more years of concept development.

The 12 selected concepts, along with their principal investigators, are:

Swarm Flyby Gravimetry (Justin Atchison, Johns Hopkins University)

Mars Ecopoiesis Test Bed (Eugene Boland, Techshot, Inc.)

The Aragoscope: Ultra-High Resolution Optics at Low Cost (Webster Cash, University of Colorado)

3D Photocatalytic Air Processor for Dramatic Reduction of Life Support Mass & Complexity (Bin Chen, NASA’s Ames Research Center)

WRANGLER: Capture and De-Spin of Asteroids and Space Debris (Robert Hoyt, Tethers Unlimited)

Titan Aerial Daughtercraft (Larry Matthies, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory [JPL])

Using the Hottest Particles in the Universe to Probe Icy Solar System Worlds (Timothy Miller, Johns Hopkins University)

PERISCOPE: PERIapsis Subsurface Cave OPtical Explorer (Jeffrey Nosanov, JPL)

Titan Submarine: Exploring the Depths of Kraken (Steven Oleson, NASA’s Glenn Research Center)

Comet Hitchhiker: Harvesting Kinetic Energy from Small Bodies to Enable Fast and Low-Cost Deep Space Exploration (Masahiro Ono, JPL)

Exploration Architecture with Quantum Inertial Gravimetry and In Situ ChipSat Sensors (Brett Streetman, Draper Laboratory)

Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System (HERTS) (Bruce Wiegmann, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center)