Tag: NIAC
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NASA awards funds to study deep-space interferometer and other far-out ideas
This collage highlights several concepts proposed by 2024 NIAC Phase I awardees, including miniaturized interstellar spacecraft, a Venus glider, a water detoxifier for Mars, a solar-system-scale interferometer and an electric aircraft flying above Mars. (NASA Illustration) A proposal to build a far-flung set of radio antennas to measure the cosmos is one of 13 far-out…
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NASA provides funding for way-out space proposals, including a flying boat for Titan
Artwork shows a probe flying through the skies of Titan, one of Saturn’s moons. (Image via Quinn Morley) NASA says it’ll distribute up to $2.45 million to 14 teams in support of experimental projects that would be right at home in the pages of a science-fiction novel — including a plan to send a flying…
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NASA backs concepts for deep-drilling Mars rover and interstellar-object probe
An illustration shows the deployment of an autonomous borebot into a layered deposit on Mars. The inset shows a closeup of the borebot drive system. (Planet Enterprises Illustration / James Vaughan) The latest crop of NASA-backed concepts for far-out space exploration includes “borebots” that could drill as far as a mile beneath the Martian surface…
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Far out! Xplore teams up with JPL and Aerospace Corp. on gravity-lens telescope
An artist’s conception shows Xplore’s advanced solar sail for NASA’s Solar Gravity Lens Focus mission. (Visualization by Bryan Versteeg, SpaceHabs.com / via Xplore) NASA has awarded a $2 million grant to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, The Aerospace Corp. — and Xplore, a Seattle-based space venture — to develop the design architecture for a far-out telescope…