The US National Aeronautical and Space Administration is looking to make non-fiction out of some very sci-fi concepts. The organization has selected 8 proposals with "the potential to transform future aerospace missions," including manned missions to Mars.
Its NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts, or NIAC Program, allows "proposers to further develop concepts funded by NASA." Proposals can be worth up to $500,000 USD after demonstrating "initial feasibility and benefit."
Among the proposals are an "interplanetary habitat configured to induce deep sleep" for long-term missions such as a Mars trip, the "Magnetoshell," which utilizes magnetized plasma to impede "atmospheric flow" and help slow high-velocity spacecraft, and others, such as the construction of a growable space habitat with equivalent Earth gravity.
It's all very 2001, but the 1968 film rather than the actual year. NASA points out "all projects are still in the early stages of development," with at least 10 or more years of "concept maturation and technology development" before being mission-ready.
Recent images from the New Horizons spacecraft show what appears to be a frozen lake on the surface of Pluto. Given the enormous distance between Earth and Pluto, we probably won't see anyone setting foot on the dwarf planet in our lifetime. However, these new proposals will help us get a few steps closer to our nearest neighbors.
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