Every year , NASA laurels fund to a selection of futuristic ideas , with the hope that some of might conduct to fully - fledged missions in the hereafter .
Known as the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts ( NIAC),previous ideashave included a steampunk Venus rover and a hopping Pluto lander . Now , NASA ’s released the late plenty of idea . And they do n’t disappoint .
In this year ’s 2018 choice , there are 25 proposals that have been pick out . About half are given “ Phase I ” funding , which consists of about $ 125,000 over nine calendar month . The other half are given Phase II funding , about $ 500,000 over two years . This class ’s first appearance were whittled down from 230 proposals .
" The NIAC program give NASA the opportunity to research visionary ideas that could transform next NASA mission , " said Jim Reuter , acting associate administrator of NASA ’s Space Technology Mission Directorate , in astatement .
So what are some of the high spot this time around ? Well , one Phase I contrive you might haveread aboutthe other twenty-four hour period is theMarsbee . These flapping robots , the size of a humblebee , are designed to fly in swarms over the Red Planet , collecting data from a variety of venue .
Then there ’s a neat melodic theme for aninterstellar missioncalled PROCSIMA . Building on theme of beamed propulsion to speed to a meaning fraction of the speed of light , it line how you could use a photon beam to reach our nearest star – Proxima Centauri – in 42 years .
That image at the top of this clause shows the awing thought to sendshapeshifting robotsinto the seas of Titan . Known as a flying amphibious robot ( FAR ) , it consists of two small automaton units that can combine to shapeshift into different motion . For illustration , it can act like a ball on the airfoil , a hovercraft - similar vehicle , or a hoagie to research Titan ’s lakes and seas .
A steam - powered golem calledSPARROW , meanwhile , could be used to study the surface of ocean worlds like Saturn ’s synodic month Enceladus and Jupiter ’s moonshine Europa . These would hop-skip across the Earth’s surface , using ice as a propellent , and acquire samples to analyze .
If astronomy ’s your thing , then you might be concerned in theKilometer Space Telescope(KST ) . This immense telescope , tens of fourth dimension more muscular than both Hubble and the upcoming James Web Space Telescope ( JWST ) , would give us an incredible view of the universe , launch in a compact var. and unfolding in space .
Probably my favourite idea , though , is a proposal todirectly image exoplanetsby using our Sun as a lens . To do this , a ballistic capsule would need to fly to the focal peak of the solar gravitative lens ( SGL ) , which is 548.7 astronomical units ( AU , 1 AU is the Earth - Sun aloofness ) from the Sun .
Doing this would enable multipixel imaging of an Earth - like exoplanet up to 100 light - years away , give us a detailed view of its surface . With just a low spacecraft at the SGL location , we ’d be able to put to work out if it was habitable and detect sign of life .
“ The resulting mission construct could allow exploration of exoplanets rely on the SGL capabilities decades , if not C , earlier than potential with other extant technologies , ” enunciate Slava Turyshev from NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL ) , the conception ’s lead , in the mission proposal .
How would you get a spacecraft to the SGL position though ? Well , there ’s another NIAC marriage offer that has a solution . Usinglaser beam actuation , this survey read it would be possible to place a space vehicle at the SGL in less than 15 years , which is pretty impressive .
Many of these ideas will never see the Inner Light of day , but it ’s possible some of these concept might one Clarence Shepard Day Jr. be turned into existent missions . It kind of makes you inquire what NASA could do with myriad money , but for now we can just dream about some of the next missions that might be .
