NASA INSTITUTE for ADVANCED CONCEPTS 7Th

Home , Magnetic sail, Plasma magnet, Star Thrust Experiment

NASA INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED CONCEPTS

7th A N N U A L R E P O R T

Performance Period July 12, 2004 - July 11, 2005

Supporting Revolutionary Ideas Today, With Advanced Concepts For Tomorrow USRA is a non-profit corporation under the aus- pices of the National Academy of Sciences, with an institutional membership of 97. For more information about USRA, see its website at www.usra.edu.

ANSER is a not-for-profit public service research corporation, serving the national interest since 1958.To learn more about ANSER, see its website at www.ANSER.org. NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts

7 t h A N N U A L R E P O R T

Performance Period July 12, 2004 - July 11, 2005 NIAC SUPPORTS THE NASA VISION NIAC inspires and investigates options for future missions that may reveal technologies and approaches which could impact near term missions. Advanced Concepts Institute for

Above: NIAC Director, Robert A. Cassanova, Ph. D. NASA

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Please join the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and NIAC in this exciting endeavor to help define the future of aeronautics and space.

Robert A. Cassanova, Ph.D. Director, NIAC

N I A C 7 t h A n n u a l R e p o r t 5 T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

5 DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

9 NIAC EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

10 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

10 Summary 11 Call for Proposals CP 02-01 (Phase II) 11 Call for Proposals CP 03-01 (Phase II) 12 Call for Proposals CP 04-01 (Phase I) 13 Call for Proposals CP 05-01 (Phase I) 15 Call for Proposals CP 05-02 (Phase II) 16 Survey of Technologies to Enable NIAC Concepts 18 Special Recognition for NIAC 18 Coordination with NASA 21 Infusion of Advanced Concepts into NASA 24 Inspiration and Outreach 25 Release and Publicity of Calls for Proposals 27 Recruitment of Technically Diverse Peer Reviewers 27 NIAC Sixth Annual Meeting 28 NIAC Fellows Meeting 28 NIAC Science Council Meetings 30 NIAC Student Visions of the Future Program 30 NIAC Student Fellow Publication 31 NIAC Student Fellows Prize 32 Financial Performance

33 DESCRIPTION OF THE NIAC

33 Mission 34 Organization 36 Facilities 36 Virtual Institute 38 The NIAC Process 39 Solicitation 40 Proposals 41 Peer Review 42 NASA Concurrence 42 Awards 42 Management of Awards T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

43 PLANS FOR THE EIGHTH CONTRACT YEAR

43 Key Milestones 44 Solicitation, Selection, and Advanced Concept Awards 44 Identifying Grand Visions 44 NIAC Annual Meeting and Phase I Fellows Meeting 45 Outreach to the Technical Community 45 Coordination with NASA and other Federal Agencies 45 Oversight by USRA Management

LIST OF TABLES

10 Table 1. Phase I and II Awards Performance Periods 10 Table 2. CP 02-01 Phase II Award Winners 11 Table 3. Summary of CP 03-01 Responding Organizations 11 Table 4. CP 03-01 Phase II Award Winners 12 Table 5. Summary of CP 04-01 Responding Organizations 13 Table 6. CP 04-01 Phase I Award Winners 13 Table 7. Summary of CP 05-01 Responding Organizations 14 Table 8. CP 05-01 Phase I Award Winners 15 Table 9. Summary of CP 05-02 Responding Organizations 15 Table 10. CP 05-02 Phase II Award Winners 16 Table 11. CP 02-01 Critical Enabling Technologies 17 Table 12. CP 03-01 Critical Enabling Technologies 19 Table 13. NASA - NIAC Support Team 19 Table 14. Visits and Contacts within NASA 22 Table 15. Advanced Concepts Infused Into NASA 36 Table 16. Current Membership of the NIAC Science Council 43 Table 17. Key Activities Planned for the Eighth Contract Year

APPENDICES

46 A. Descriptions of Enabling Technologies from NIAC 56 B. Infusion Status and Recommendations 62 C. Inspiration and Outreach Contacts 66 D. NIAC Publicity E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y Advanced Concepts Institute for NASA

THE NIAC STAFF. Network Engineer, Robert J. Mitchell, (above left), Business Manager, Dale K. Little, (above center), NIAC Director, Dr. Robert Cassanova (above right), Associate Director, Diana Jennings, Ph.D., (bottom left) Senior Science Advisor, Ronald E. Turner, Ph.D. (bottom center), Publication Specialist, Katherine Reilly (bottom right)

N I A C 7 t h A n n u a l R e p o r t NIAC Executive Summary NIAC is a unique organization and a process where creativity and imagination, inspired by curiosity and the eternal quest for knowledge, are necessities, not luxuries. NIAC provides a pathway for innovators with the ability for non-linear creativity to: (1) define grand visions for a future world of aeronautics and space, (2) explore the possibility of redefining realities of the future, (3) offer revolutionary solutions to the grand challenges of future aerospace endeavors. By operating as a virtual institute with succinct proposal requirements and efficient peer review, NIAC's mode of operation emphasizes a flexible and open development of creative concepts with a minimum of technical direction. However, appropriate oversight and nurturing is provided by NIAC's contractual management and technical leadership plus timely collaboration with NASA's technical staff.

During this seventh contract year, NIAC awarded 5 Phase II contracts totaling $2 million (with options), and 24 Phase I grants totaling $1.7 million. Since the beginning of the first NIAC contract, Feb. 1998, NIAC has received a total of 1016 proposals and has awarded 115 Phase I grants and 32 Phase II contracts for a total value of $22.5 million. The awards spanned all categories of businesses with 44.2% to universities, 47% to small and disadvantaged business, 2% to historically black colleges and universities and minority institutions and 6.8% to large businesses. During this seventh year of operation, NIAC continued to meet the contract performance goals and, as in previous years, received an "excellent" rating from NASA in all categories of performance.

NIAC's method of open review of its advanced concepts continued this year with a combination of open access to reports and briefings on the NIAC website, the NIAC Annual Meeting and the NIAC Phase I Fellows Meeting. Recipients of NIAC awards are designated as “NIAC Fellows”. The NIAC Annual Meeting in October 2004 was especially well attended and included status briefings by Phase II Fellows, notable presentations by invited keynote speakers and presentations by student Fellows.

NIAC's technical leadership continued its vigorous activities for education, outreach and inspiration with presentations at universities, private industry and technical society meetings. NIAC and NIAC sponsored advanced concepts received widespread recognition in the popular and technical press. NIAC Fellows were highly visible in technical society meetings with numerous presentations and publication of technical papers.

In addition to inspiring proposals from the established technical community, NIAC began a special program to encourage undergraduate students who have the potential for extraordinary creativity and the ability to stretch well beyond typical undergraduate course work. The NIAC Student Fellows Prize (NSFP), sponsored by Universities Space Research Association and managed by NIAC, was initiated in 2005 to attract these students and facilitate their advanced aerospace concepts. Five students were selected in May 2005 to receive a $9,000 grant and will carry out their efforts during the 2005-2006 academic year.

Highlights for the eighth contract year include the beginning of the development of new Phase I and Phase II concepts, release of new Phase I and Phase II Calls for Proposals, peer review and selection of new Phase I and Phase II awards, hosting the Annual Meeting in October 2005 and the Fellows Meeting in March 2006, participation in a special broadcast on Space Exploration through Georgia Public Television for the MIT Forum and selection of the next group of NIAC Student Fellows.

N I A C 7 t h A n n u a l R e p o r t 9 A C C O M P L I S H M E N T S Summary

During the seventh contract year of operation, NIAC has continued the processes that it successfully established to inspire, solicit, review, select, fund, nurture, and infuse revolutionary advanced concepts into NASA. The performance periods for all completed and currently planned awards are summarized in Table 1. The following sections describe the Calls that were awarded or initiated during the past year.

TABLETABLE 1.1. PhasePhase I and I and II Awa II Awardsrds Performance Performance Periods Periods

CY02 CY03 CY04 CY05 CY06 CY05 CY06 Jan-Dec Jan-Dec Jan-Dec Jan-Dec Jan-Dec Jan-Dec Jan-Dec

CP 01-01 Phase II Contracts 0101 Completed CP 01-02 Phase I Grants 0102 Completed CP 02-01 Phase II Contracts 0201 CP 02-02 Phase I Grants 0202 Completed CP 03-01 Phase II Contracts 0301 CP 04-01 Phase I Grants 0401 Completed CP 05-01 Phase I Grants 0501 CP 05-02 Phase II Contracts 0502

First USRA Second USRA Contract Ends Contract Ends February 11 July 17 Call for Proposals CP 02-01 (Phase II)

During this reporting period, these concepts (see Table 2) were in their second and final year of contract performance. Descriptions of these concepts are available on the NIAC web site (http://www.niac.usra.edu). Principal Investigator & Organization CP 02-01 Concept Proposal Title ANTHONY COLOZZA Solid State Aircraft Ohio Aerospace Institute STEVEN HOWE Antimatter Driven Sail for Deep Space Missions Hbar Technologies JOHN MANOBIANCO Global Environmental MEMS Sensors (GEMS): A ENSCO, Inc. Revolutionary Observing System for the 21st Century DAVA NEWMAN Astronaut Bio-Suit System for Exploration Class Massachusetts Institute of Technology Missions RAY SEDWICK Electromagnetic Formation Flight (EMFF) Massachusetts Institute of Technology PARVIZ SOROUSHIAN Inherently Adaptive Structural Systems Technova Corporation

TABLE 2. CP 02-01 Phase II Award Winners 10 Call for Proposals CP 03-01 (Phase II)

CP 03-01, a NIAC Phase II solicitation, was released on December 10, 2003. Under a new NIAC policy, it was released to Phase I winners who had not previously been awarded a Phase II contract and had not submitted a Phase II proposal for the same concept more than twice. The respective business categories distribution of the 14 proposals received on April 30, 2004 are summarized in Table 3.

Business Category Proposals Received Awarded Universities 7 3 Small Businesses 6 2 Large Businesses 1 0 Total Proposals Received for CP 03-01 14 5 TABLE 3. Summary of CP 03-01 Responding Organizations

Five awards, as reflected in Table 4 were made at the conclusion of Peer Review and the Concurrence Briefing (June 25, 2004). The contract start date for these awards was August 1, 2004. The proposals that were selected for award under CP 03-01 are summarized in Table 4 and descriptions of these concepts are available on the NIAC Web site (http://www.niac.usra.edu).

Principal Investigator & Organization CP 03-01 Concept Proposal Title

NARAYANAN KOMERATH Tailored Force Fields for Space-Based Georgia Institute of Technology Construction

CONSTANTINOS MAVROIDIS Bio-Nano-Machines for Space Applications Northeastern University

ALEXEY PANKINE Sailing the Planets: Science from Directed Global Aerospace Corporation Aerial Robot Explorers

JOHN SLOUGH The Plasma Magnet University of Washington

PAUL TODD Robotic Lunar Ecopoiesis Test Bed Space Hardware Optimization Technology

TABLE 4. CP 03-01 Phase II Award Winners

11 Call for Proposals CP 04-01 (Phase I)

Phase I solicitation, CP 04-01, was released on April 2, 2004 with a proposal due date of June 7, 2004. On this date, 113 proposals were received and the applicable statistics pertaining to type of submitting organization are summarized in Table 5.

Business Category Proposals Received Awarded Universities 35 7 Small Disadvantaged Businesses 12 1 Small Businesses 64 4 National Labs 1 0 Large Businesses 1 0 Total Proposals Received for CP 04-01 113 12 TABLE 5. Summary of CP 04-01 Responding Organizations

A total of 12 awards were made from the 113 proposals received in response to CP 04-01. The applicable concurrence briefing to NASA was made on August 19, 2004 with the award date for the 12 being October 1, 2004. The proposals that were selected for award under CP 04-01 are summarized in Table 6 and abstracts are available on the NIAC Web site (http://www.niac.usra .edu).

Principal Investigator & CP 04-01 Concept Proposal Title Organization

ROGER ANGEL A Deep Field Infrared Observatory Near the University of Arizona Lunar Pole

Extremely Large Swarm Array of Picosats for IVAN BEKEY Microwave/RF Earth Sensing, Radiometry, and Bekey Designs Incorporated Mapping WENDY BOSS Redesigning Living Organisms to Survive on North Carolina State University Mars CHARLES BUHLER Analysis of a Lunar Base Electrostatic Radiation ASRC Aerospace Corporation Shield Concept WEBSTER CASH New Worlds Imager University of Colorado

RICHARD FORK Efficient Direct Conversion of Sunlight to University of Alabama, Huntsville Coherent Light at High Average Power in Space

TABLE 6. CP 04-01 Phase I Award Winners (continued on next page)

12 Principal Investigator & CP 04-01 Concept Proposal Title Organization

JEFFREY HOFFMAN Use of Superconducting Magnet Technology for Massachussetts Institute of Astronaut Radiation Protection Technology

RICKY MORGAN Wide Bandwidth Deep Space Quantum Aerospace Missions Corporation Communications

JEROME PEARSON Lunar Space Elevators for Cislunar Space Star Technology and Research Development

CHRIS PHOENIX Large-Product General-Purpose Design and Center for Responsible Manufacturing Using Nanoscale Modules Nanotechnology

ROBERT WINGLEE Magnetized Beamed Plasma Propulsion University of Washington (MagBeam)

A Self-Sustaining, Boundary-Layer-Adapted CRAIG WOOLSEY System for Terrain Exploration and Virginia Polytechnic Institute Environmental Sampling

TABLE 6. CP 04-01 Phase I Award Winners (continued from previous page)

Call for Proposals CP 05-01 (Phase I)

November 12, 2004 was the release date for Phase I CP 05-01. The corresponding due date was February 14, 2005 at which time NIAC received 158 proposals and the peer review process began. A Concurrence Briefing was given to NASA on May 12, 2005 followed by the award of 12 grants to begin on September 1, 2005.

Business Category Proposals Received Awarded Universities 56 3 Small Disadvantaged Businesses 12 3 Small Businesses 86 6 National Labs 1 0 Large Businesses 3 0 Total Proposals Received for CP 05-01 158 12 TABLE 7. Summary of CP 05-01 Responding Organizations

The proposals that were selected for award under CP 05-01 are summarized in Table 8 and abstracts are available on the NIAC Web site (http://www.niac.usra.edu).

13 Principal Investigator & CP 05-01 Concept Proposal Title Organization

A Contamination-Free Ultrahigh Precision Formation Flight YOUNG K. BAE Method Based On Intracavity Photon Thrusters and Bae Institute Tethers

JAMES BICKFORD Extraction of Anitparticles Concentrated in Planetary Draper Laboratory Magnetic Fields

ERIC BONABEAU Customizable, Reprogrammable, Food Preparation, Icosystem Corporation Production and Invention System

BRIAN GILCHRIST Scalable Flat-Panel Nano-Particle MEMS/NEMS University of Michigan Propulsion Technology for Space Exploration

GERALD P. JACKSON Antimatter Harvesting in Space Hbar Technologies, LLC

GEORGE MAISE Multi-Mice: A Network of Interactive Nuclear Cryoprobes Plus Ultra Technologies, Inc. to Explore Ice Sheets on Mars and Europa

PAMELA A. MENGES Artificial Neural Membrane Flapping Wing Aerospace Research Systems

MASON PECK Lorentz-Actuated Orbits: Electrodynamic Propulsion Cornell University College of Without a Tether Engineering

JAMES POWELL Magnetically Inflated Cable (MIC) System for Space Plus Ultra Technologies Applications

HERBERT SCHNOPPER Ultra-High Resolution Fourier Transform X-Ray Smithsonian Astrophysical Interferometer Observatory

GERALD A. SMITH Positron Propelled and Powered Space Transport Vehicle Positronics Research LLC for Planetary Missions

NESTOR VORONKA Modular Spacecraft with Integrated Structural Tethers Unlimited Electrodynamic Propulsion

TABLE 8. CP 05-01 Phase I Award Winners

14 Call for Proposals CP 05-02 (Phase II)

Phase II CP 05-02 was released on November 10, 2004 with a proposal due date of May 2, 2005. On this date, 15 proposals were received. The applicable statistics pertaining to type of submitting organization and award recipients are summarized in Table 9 and 10, respectively. Abstracts are available on the NIAC website (htttp://www.niac.usra.edu). Awards are planned for September 1, 2005.

Business Category Proposals Received Awarded Universities 10 5 Small Disadvantaged Businesses 2 Small Businesses 2 Large Businesses 1 Total Proposals Received for CP 05-02 15 5

TABLE 9. Summary of CP 05-02 Responding Organizations

Principal Investigator & CP 05-02 Concept Proposal Title Organization

WENDY BOSS Redesigning Living Organisms for Mars North Carolina State University

WEBSTER CASH New Worlds Imager University of Colorado, Boulder

STEVEN DUBOWSKY Microbots for Large-Scale Planetary Surface and Massachusetts Institute of Subsurface Exploration Technology

ELIZABETH McCORMACK Investigation of the Feasibility of Laser Trapped Bryn Mawr College Mirrors

SIMON WORDEN A Deep Field Infrared Observatory near the Steward Observatory, University Lunar Pole of Arizona

TABLE 10. CP 05-02 Phase II Award Winners

15 Survey of Technologies to Enable NIAC Concepts

Beginning with the fifth Annual Report that covered the contract performance period ending in July 2003, NIAC has surveyed the critical enabling technologies for the NIAC Phase II concepts. The purpose of this survey is to provide CP 02-01 Critical Enabling Technologies NASA with inputs to their invest- ment strategy for advanced tech- Ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) nologies that would enable further Thin film photovoltaic array development of the NIAC concept Flexible batteries or capacitors and provide additional justification for general categories of advanced Flapping wing aerodynamics

COLOZZA technologies that may enable a IPMC control scheme / EM field generation broad range of future missions. Production/formation of antihydrogen Two sets of Phase II contracts were Formation & storage of nano-flakes of solid antihydrogen actively funded during this contract Tuned photovoltaic conversion of fission energy into elec- year. Six CP 02-01 studies were in

HOWE tricity their second year (performance Production and accumulation of antiprotons period from September 2003 through August 2005), and five CP Integration and miniaturization of electronics 03-01 advanced concepts were in Advanced distributed communications their first year (performance period Lightweight high strength materials (e.g. carbon nan- from October 2004 through otube based polymers) September 2006). Each of these Phase II Fellows was asked to Advanced thin-film solar cell technology respond to the following questions

MANOBIANCO Thin-film batteries or thin-film capacitors related to critical technologies to enable their concept: Three-dimensional textile deposition, to enable the formation of anisotropic material with specific mechanical (1) What are the three most critical properties technologies to enable the further Shape-changing polymers that provide human-scale development of your NIAC con- force cept? Please give a brief explana-

NEWMAN Information technology, wearable computing, energy, and tion, two or three sentences, human power harvesting integration across the entire describing the critical relationship of EVA system each technology to your concept. (2) What are the other technologies High current density, high temperature super conducting that are important for the further wire development of your concept? Higher efficiency cryo-coolers Please briefly describe their rela- Distributed control algorithms tionship to your concept.

SEDWICK High density, high strength, non-conducting materials from which reaction wheels can be manufactured The eleven responses are com- pletely reported in Appendix A along Development of nanostructured piezoelectric with short explanations of the rela- materials tionship of each technology to the Advances in development of solid electrolytes for energy advanced system or architecture storage (Tables 11 and 12).

Developments in ion-conducting nanocomposites TABLE 11. CP 02-01 Critical SOROUSHIAN Enabling Technologies 16 CP 03-01 Critical Enabling Technologies Large-scale direct conversion of solar energy to tunable radio and microwave frequencies TH Intelligent robotic manipulators On-orbit tele-robotics for assembly

KOMERA Beamed microwave power Network-based space sensing for planetary environments Smart self repairing / healing artificial skin architecture Advanced bio-nano-components such as actuators, joints, sensors, etc. Distributive intelligence for programming and control VROIDIS Bio-nano-world to macro-world integration MA Automatic fabrication of bio-nano-robots Advanced balloon envelope materials Lightweight balloon guidance system Guidance and navigation algorithm development Reliable and robust entry descent and inflation systems Advancements in energy storage and power generation technologies ANKINE

P High efficiency fuel cells, high-efficiency thin-film solar arrays, and lightweight photovoltaic devices Advanced technology structural materials with high strength-to-weight ratios, e.g. carbon nanotubes Advanced power processing unit

Solar wind detection system

SLOUGH Advanced guidance systems

Pioneer organisms

Laboratory ecopoiesis test bed

Efficient and safe miniaturized simulated planetary environments

ODD Access to extraterrestrial venues T

Novel laboratory information networks

Microbial health assessment

TABLE 12. CP 03-01 Critical Enabling Technologies

17 Special Recognition for NIAC

On August 24, 2004, the USRA/ANSER- Sharon Garrison NASA NIAC team received the NASA (left), Bob Group Achievement Award. The ceremony Cassanova (center) and Sophia Hill was held at Martin’s Crosswinds in (left, USRA Greenbelt, Maryland. The award was Contract Specialist) accepted for the group by Bob receive the Cassanova. Plaques have been awarded USRA/ANSER- to each of the members. The photo below NASA NIAC shows Sharon Garrison, Bob Cassanova Team's recent and Sophia Hill (USRA Contract NASA Honor Specialist) after the awards ceremony. Award

The USRA/ANSER-NASA NIAC Team's recent NASA Honor Award was also recognized in the October 2004 Goddard News. The article was entitled "NIAC Team Wins Award for Six-Year Walk on the Wild Side". Bill Steigerwald, of the GSFC Public Affairs Office, described NIAC and the NASA Honor Award the NASA government and non-government NIAC team received in August 2004. See the Publicity section for the link to the article.

Coordination with NASA

Sharon Garrison (left), the NASA Coordinator for NIAC, is in the Advanced Concepts and Technology Office (ACTO) of the Flight Program and Projects Directorate at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). She is the primary point-of-contact between NIAC and NASA. Ms. Garrison actively communicates throughout NASA to a review team comprised of representatives from the Mission Directorates and Centers. Table 13 is a listing of these representatives. Throughout the process of managing NIAC, these representatives are kept informed by Ms. Garrison of the status of the Institute and are appropriately involved in decisions and feedback. NIAC provides monthly contract status reports and an annual report to the NASA Coordinator who forwards these reports to the support team and others within NASA.

On April 21, 2005, Sharon Garrison was notified by Admiral Craig Steidle, Associate Administrator for Exploration, that the Exploration Systems Research and Technology Development Team will receive the NASA Group Achievement Award. Ms. Garrison is a member of this team.

18 NASA NASA Mission NASA COTR NASA Centers Headquarters Directorates

Space Operations: Stanley Fishkind Aeronautics: ARC: Larry Lasher Murray Hirschbein DFRC: Steve Whitmore Science: GRC: Daniel Glover Harley Thronson GSFC: Lisa Callahan Lou Shuster ...JPL: Neville Marzwell Sharon Garrison John Mankins Gordon Johnston JSC: Al Conde Exploration Systems: ...KSC: Robert Youngquist Chris Moore LaRC: Dennis Bushnell Human Health and ...MSFC: John Cole Performance: SSC: Bill St. Cyr Gale Allen Stephen Davison

TABLE 13. NASA-NIAC Support Team

Throughout this NIAC contract, the NIAC Director briefed the associate administrators and other senior technical staff at NASA Headquarters and the directors of NASA Centers. The purpose of these briefings is to facilitate the eventual transition of NIAC advanced concepts into NASA long range plans, to inform them about the plans for NIAC, and to seek their active support and feedback. Yearly, NASA was requested to provide visionary, grand challenges for use in future NIAC Calls for Proposals. In addition, NASA technical staff presented overviews of related NASA In July 2004, NIAC Director, Bob Cassanova (far left) visited with 20 NASA Academy Students at advanced concept activities to the NIAC Director. the University of Maryland. NIAC also participates in student programs sponsored through the NASA Centers.

15 Bob Cassanova and Sharon Garrison presented a semi- SEMINAR July nar to 20 NASA Academy Students on the campus of the NASA Academy 2004 University of Maryland.

Bob Cassanova received an inquiry from Cheryl Yuhas at NASA HQ for information on NIAC funded concepts related to unmanned aerial vehicles for gather Earth NIAC INFORMATION Sciences data. He sent information related to the follow- August REQUEST ing NIAC funded concepts: "Solid State Aircraft" by 2004 NASA Headquarters Anthony Colozza, "Directed Aerial Robot Explorers" by Alexey Pankine, "A Self-Sustaining, Boundary-Layer- Adapted System for Terrain Exploration-and Environmental Sampling" by Craig Woolsey.

Table 14. Visits and Contacts within NASA (continued on next page)

19 Bob Cassanova, Ron Turner and Sharon Garrison met in NASA HQ with Mary Kicza, Bernie Seery (by conference 13 BRIEFING call), Gary Martin, Karen Blynn, Craig Cornelius, and September NASA Headquarters 2004 Rich Doyle (by conference call) regarding the Commission's Report to NASA to create a DARPA-like entity at NASA for which NIAC can serve as a model. Inputs to the NASA Technology Inventory Database of INPUT 17 the most recent NIAC awards for advanced concepts NASA Technology September Inventory Database 2004 were completed by Dale Little, Bob Cassanova and Sharon Garrison. Dr. Penny Boston, NIAC Phase II Fellow, was one of the participants in the symposium, "Risk and Exploration: Earth, Sea and the Stars," that was carried live on NASA TV and webcast on www.nasa.gov from the Naval SYMPOSIUM Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. During this spe- Live Broadcast On 27-28 cial symposium hosted by Administrator Sean O'Keefe, NASA TV Hosted By September NASA examined the similarities between space explo- Administrator 2004 Sean O’Keefe ration and other terrestrial expeditions with the help of some of the best known explorers in the world, including mountain climbers, deep sea explorers, scientists and science fiction writers. The discussions also included NASA astronauts, other notable aeronautics and deep space explorers.

NASA Headquarters issued a Press Release entitled, “NASA Explores Future Space with Advanced Concepts PRESS RELEASE 28 Awards”. The release was submitted to NASA HQ by Bill NASA Headquarters September GSFC 2004 Steigerwald of the GSFC Public Affairs Office. The link to the release: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/ sep HQ_04315_niac.html

Bob Cassanova, Diana Jennings and Ron Turner met with Mayra Montrose to discuss NIAC contributions to the MEETING WITH 12 "21st Century Explorer" project which is a public outreach MAYRA MONTROSE May program aimed at the Hispanic community near NASA NASA HQ 2005 JSC. NIAC provided concept descriptions and graphics which will be integrated into the publications and displays for the project.

The concurrence briefing for CP 05-01 was held at NASA CONCURRENCE 12 HQ. As a result of the peer review and concurrence BRIEFING May NASA HQ 2005 process, twelve concepts were selected to receive an award.

TABLE 14. Visits and Contacts within NASA (continued on next page)

20 MEETING WITH 12 Bob Cassanova, Sharon Garrison, Diana Jennings and CHRIS MOORE May Ron Turner met with Chris Moore to discuss the process NASA HQ 2005 of infusion of NIAC concepts into NASA.

PHASE I PROJECT 6 Bob Cassanova and Kathy Reilly provided a two page DESCRIPTIONS June Powerpoint summary of the new Phase I awards to Chris Internal Briefing 2005 NASA HQ Moore for use in an internal briefing at NASA HQ.

TABLE 14. Visits and Contacts within NASA (continued from previous page)

21 Infusion of Advanced Concepts into NASA

Infusion Of Advanced Concepts Into NASA

One of the contract performance metrics that is included in the USRA contract with NASA is that 5 - 10% of the selected concepts are infused into NASA's long range plans. After a concept has been developed and nurtured through the NIAC process, it is NASA's intent that the most promising concepts will be transitioned into its program for additional study and follow-on funding. NIAC has taken a proactive approach to this infusion process. In addition to the routine activities to maintain public awareness and visibility for all its funded advanced concepts, NIAC orches- trates the following activities:

- Conducts status and visibility briefings with NASA researchers and managers; - Provides names of key NASA contacts to NIAC Phase I and Phase II Fellows; - From the beginning of the Phase II Call for Proposals, NIAC connects Fellows with NASA to provide synergy and optimal program consideration for future follow-on funding by NASA; - Invites NASA leaders to Phase II site visits to participate in status and planning discussions; - Encourages NIAC Fellows to publish their work in technical society meetings and technical journals; - Supports NIAC Fellows to gain NASA testing/evaluation with NASA facilities key to advanced concept verification; - Presents technical briefings to other government agencies such as the Department of Defense and the National Reconnaissance Office to generate awareness of NIAC concepts applicable to their missions; - Extends invitations to key technical leaders in non-NASA agencies and private industry to get keynote addresses at NIAC meetings which create opportunities for NIAC Fellows to interact with these organizations.

22 CONCEPT INVESTIGATOR STATUS

The NIAC Phase II contract will be com- Astronaut Bio-Suit for pleted August 31, 2005. An additional Dava Newman $250K has been allocated by NASA HQ to Exploration Class Missions continue the development for an additional 12 months.

The Space Elevator has received $2.5M in congressional directed funding after the completion of the NIAC Phase II contract. In addition, Dr. Edwards has formed a new Bradley company, Carbon Nanotechnology (CNT), The Space Elevator which has received several million from Edwards private investors to continue the development of carbon nanotube materials. CNT also signed a cooperative agreement with Los Alamos National Lab for continued development of the Space elevator.

Since the NIAC Phase II contract was Moon and Mars Orbiting completed, Tethers Unlimited, Inc. has Robert Hoyt received several competitive SBIR awards Spinning Tether Transport in excess of $2 million to continue the development.

The M2P2 was included in the NASA Decadel Plan. The M2P2 was funded by MSFC to continue experiments confirming The Mini-Magnetospheric computer models. Robert Winglee and John Slough have received $700K from Plasma Propulsion System, Robert Winglee the NASA STTR program to continue the M2P2 development of a high powered helicon component. Contact has been established with the JSC VASIMR program to explore collaboration.

The NIAC sponsored X-Ray Inter- ferometer helped crystallize the MAXIM program, the Micro Arc second X-ray Imaging Mission, within the planning at X-Ray Interferometer Webster Cash NASA. MAXIM is now a "Vision Mission" for the future. Maxim Pathfinder, a step- ping stone at 100 mas is a mid-term mission.

RASC funded a $200K study with GAC on balloon constellations. Ultra-long duration Global Constellation of balloons and balloon constellations are Stratospheric Scientific Kerry Nock now begin considered as platforms for Platforms Earth Sciences missions. GAC gave an invited seminar at NRO on balloon constellations.

Table 15. Advanced Concepts Infused Into NASA (continued on next page) 23 CONCEPT INVESTIGATOR STATUS

This concept is directly associated with the "Life Finder" that is specifically mentioned Very Large Optics for the Study in the NASA Science long range plan. Neville Woolf Additional funding was received from the of Extrasolar Terrestrial Planets National Reconnaissance Office for continued development of light-weight optical components.

Anthony The investigator, Anthony Colozza, has Entomopter for Mars been contacted by DoD to explore possi- Colozza bilities of continuation funding. Raymond Electromagnetic Formation The National Reconnaissance Office is Sedwick and now exploring possibilities for continuation Flight (EMFF) David Miller of funding.

Anthony The investigator, Anthony Colozza, has Solid State Aircraft been contacted by DoD to explore possi- Colozza bilities of continuation of funding.

The contract with U. of Washington is approaching the midpoint. A site visit is scheduled in August 2005. Appropriate NASA personnel will be invited to the site visit to participate in a discussion of the theoretical and experimental results of the The Plasma Magnet John Slough plasma sail development. John Slough and Robert Winglee have received $700K from the NASA STTR program to continue the development of a high powered helicon component Contact has been established with the JSC VASIMR program to explore collaboration.

Table 15. Advanced Concepts Infused Into NASA (continued from previous page) As a natural consequence of NIAC's open, semi-annual meetings and the posting of advanced concept final reports on the NIAC website, other U.S. government agencies have actively pursued contact with selected NIAC Fellows.

Some of these contacts have resulted in these non-NASA agencies providing funding directly to the NIAC Fellow to continue the development of the concept. As a result, NASA benefits by leveraging the technical and financial resources of other aerospace-related government agencies.

NASA also has a proactive approach to considering NIAC concepts for further study. The NIAC Director and the NASA COTR, Sharon Garrison, collaborate to generate periodic reports on the status of infusion with a particular emphasis on concepts that have a high probability of successful development and should be actively considered by NASA. An example of this infusion report is contained in Appendix B.

By the end of this contract year, the concepts listed in Table 15 have successfully begun the process of transitioning into NASA, or other government agencies, as evidenced by the receipt of additional funding from NASA or other agencies, or by being specifically noted in NASA long range plans. 24 Inspiration and Outreach

The NIAC strives to welcome innovators of all ages and backgrounds to participate in the process of expanding our future possibilities. Inspiring these communities is a continual activity of the NIAC with consistent, active contact with technical communities, the educational community and the public at large. The NIAC maintains a high degree of connectivity with a diverse cross-section of innovative researchers in established and emerging technical disciplines. Appendix C provides a listing of the inspiration and outreach activities conducted during the seventh contract year of operation.

General outreach is accomplished in many ways, for example, through the NIAC website and distribution of NIAC brochures and posters. NIAC Annual Meetings and Fellows Meetings are open to all.

NIAC staff and Fellows are vocal advocates of advanced concepts within the educational audience. Some NIAC Fellows actively engage students in classwork aimed at the development of advanced concepts or participate in outreach activities within their home organizations. NIAC staff frequently speak at schools, museums, and to student groups.

Frequently, NASA and other organizations turn to NIAC for content related to math, science and engineering education. For example, NIAC staff and the NASA Coordinator are working with NASA to provide input for a new educational outreach program, 21st Century Explorers. Also, in 2005 the work of NIAC Fellows was featured on the Futures Channel, a well-known developer of educational materials.

The accomplishments of NIAC Fellows create a near-constant demand for information. Press releases, often orchestrated through talented NASA staff, capture the attention of press outlets around the world. NIAC staff are consistently available for public comment and as resources for a broad array of publications, radio and television programming, acting too as a conduit for the media to directly interface with NIAC Fellows. During the seventh year of contract operation, the work of the NIAC was featured in numerous highly visible publications, including Discover Magazine, The Washington Post, Scientific American, Wired, and The Christian Science Monitor. The World Wide Web also carried numerous stories for NIAC fellows on popular sites such as ABCnews.com, Space.com and CNN.com.

NIAC maintains an open line of communication with leaders in the global technical community through the NIAC web site and participation in national and international technical society meetings through the presentation of technical papers and use of NIAC display booths (e.g., American Physical Society). The NIAC leadership also provides advocacy by orchestrating vigorous dialogue about revolutionary concepts through active participation in appropriate technical societies (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the International Astronautical Federation and the American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology) and in technical committees affiliated with these societies. NIAC actively pursues exposure with aerospace industry associations through presentations, often as an invited participant, to these organizations. The NIAC leadership and NIAC Fellows also present invited seminars at universities, non-NASA research agencies and non-aerospace industry associations and non-aerospace industries, such as BellSouth. The NIAC annual meeting, the annual NIAC Phase I Fellows meeting and focused NIAC workshops provide opportunities for open analysis and advocacy of currently funded advanced concepts as well as an unbiased and open-minded examination of revolutionary concepts and enabling technologies.

25 SPECIAL APPOINTMENT OF SENIOR SCIENCE ADVISOR National Research Council (NRC) Panel NIAC Senior Science Advisor, Ron Turner, was appointed chairman of the NRC's Panel D: Human Health and Support Systems which is part of the NRC's review of the NASA capability roadmap. He was named as a member of the NRC panel for review of the NASA Space Flight System Strategy Roadmap.

The leadership of NIAC, including the Director, Associate Director and Senior Science Advisor, promote revolutionary, advanced concepts through participation, primarily by invitation, on steer- ing and oversight committees organized by NASA and other civilian agencies, Department of Defense, National Academy of Sciences, and National Research Council committees. This key activity continues to provide open examination and expansion of the NIAC process for advocacy, analysis and definition of advanced concepts. NIAC regularly interfaces with other U.S. research agencies to (1) stay informed about technology breakthroughs developed by these agencies; (2) encourage feedback to NIAC Fellows from a diverse constituency of research organizations; (3) explore the potential for supplemental funding for NIAC advanced concepts; and (4) establish links with the community of researchers funded by these agencies.

Release and Publicity of Calls for Proposals

There are various methods used to release and publicize the NIAC Phase I Calls for Proposals. Some of the ways that NIAC solicits Calls to the community are as follows:

Notices are sent to the NIAC email distribution list, generated from responses by individuals who signed up on the NIAC web site to receive the Call; Announcements on professional society web sites or newsletters (American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, American Astronautical Society, the American Astronomical Society and the American Society of Gravitational & Space Biology); Announcements on the USRA and NIAC web sites; Web links from NASA Enterprises Web pages; Web link from the NASA Coordinator’s Web page; Announcements to a distribution list for Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU), minority institutions (MI) and small disadvantaged businesses (SDB) provided by NASA; Distribution of announcements to an Earth Sciences list provided by NASA GSFC; Announcements distributed at technical society meetings, Distribution of NSVFP Announcement through the Space Grant College Directors and the USRA Council of Institutions. Since Phase II awards are based on a down-select from Phase I winners, all Phase II Calls for Proposals are emailed directly to past Phase I winners who have not previously received a Phase II contract. In addition to the ongoing publicity through the NIAC web site, Publications Featuring NIAC activities have been the subject of numerous articles in Articles about NIAC national and international publications and press specifically citing NIAC activities during the seventh contract year. 26

The NIAC brochure (above) has been The NIAC poster (above) has widely distributed within NASA, other become a useful tool for government agencies, technical soci- soliciting and increasing eties, universities and science-oriented NIAC's visibility. It is distrib- public. uted by the NIAC staff at numerous meetings, workshops, seminars and confer- ences.

A 6 foot x 8 foot NIAC exhibit and booth (above) is another useful tool for increasing NIAC’s visibility at various national scientific meetings.

27 Recruitment of Technically Diverse Peer Reviewers

The NIAC leadership has developed an efficient and proven method for identifying and selecting the most qualified and appropriate external review panel members to evaluate proposals submitted to the Institute. NIAC has continuously recruited experts across a broad cross-section of technical expertise and a total of 269 individuals have been used, thus far, for peer review. In order to ensure a continuous refreshment of the available expertise representing newly emerging technologies within the scientific community, the NIAC leadership continually recruits additional reviewers for each new peer review cycle. NIAC peer reviewers recruited by USRA include senior research executives in private industry, senior research faculty in universities, specialized researchers in both industry and universities, and aerospace consultants.

One significant resource that the Institute has employed successfully and will continue to exploit is the personal knowledge of the NIAC Director, Associate Director, and Senior Science Advisor of many qualified experts in a wide variety of fields related to NIAC. Some of these experts have a prior association with NIAC, some served previously as NIAC reviewers, and some participated in one of the Grand Challenges workshops. Others may have been suggested by NIAC Science Council members. An additional resource of qualified peer reviewers can be found in the authors of publications cited in the proposals to be reviewed. These researchers often represent the forefront of knowledge in a specific, emerging technology directly relevant to the proposed study.

NIAC Sixth Annual Meeting

The 6th Annual Meeting of the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts was held on October 19- 20, 2004 at the Grand Hyatt in Seattle, Washington. The meeting was attended by approximately 118 people including NIAC Phase I and Phase II Fellows, NASA representatives, USRA management, news media, members of the NIAC Science Council, members of the technical community and the NIAC/ANSER leadership team. There were two keynote speakers: Paul Spudis, from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab spoke on “The New Presidential Space Vision” and Robert Hoyt from Tethers Unlimited spoke on “Space Tethers: Lessons for Developing Revolutionary Technologies”. There were eleven Phase II concept status reports, four NIAC student Fellow briefings, twelve Phase I concept posters and six NIAC student posters. All presentations have been posted on the NIAC website. The Futures Channel taped interviews with Sharon Garrison, Bob Cassanova and select NIAC Fellows. The program is available at The Futures Channel online.

Bob Cassanova presented his opening remarks (left). NIAC Annual Meeting attendees in the lecture hall (center); Luncheon at the Grand Hyatt in Seattle, Washington (right).

28 The NIAC Science Council viewed all of the student posters (see photo at left), discussed each student advanced concept with the author and selected the concept developed by Andrew Bingham of Clarkson College for a presentation at the following NIAC Phase I Fellows meeting in March 2005. The title of his concept is “Deployment of an Interstellar Electromagnetic Acceleration System”. NIAC Fellows Meeting

The NIAC Phase I Fellows Meeting was held at the Technology Square Research Building in Atlanta, Georgia on March 15 - 16, 2005. All current Phase I Fellows presented a status briefing on their advanced concepts. All presentations, attendance list, and the agenda are accessible via the NIAC website at http://www.niac.usra.edu. Special insight was provided through the presentations of the following keynote speakers:

- Richard Wassersug, Dalhousie University - “What Do We Really Know About How Animals Develop and Behave in Weightlessness?” - Joel Achenbach, Washington Post - ”Whatever Happened to the Space Age?” - Chris Moore, NASA HQ - “Overview of NASA's Space Technology Program”

NASA COTR, Sharon NIAC Fellows Meeting attendees Illustration by Garrison (left) speaks in an informal discussion session Fellows Meeting with NIAC Fellow, Robert attendee, stu- Winglee (right) dent Shahla Abdi, age 16. NIAC Science Council Meetings

The NIAC Science Council met with the NIAC leadership, USRA management and the NASA COTR immediately following the October 2004 Annual Meeting and the March 2005 Fellows Meeting. The Council meetings began with an informal dinner after the adjournment of the NIAC meetings and continued on the next day. The NIAC technical leadership (Director, Associate Director and Senior Science Advisor) presented a status report of all NIAC activities since the last Council meeting and discussed the plans for the next 12 months. The meetings concluded with the Council giving a summary of their observations and recommendations.

29 The NIAC Science Council met on October 20, 2004 at the Grand Hyatt in Seattle, Washington.

30 NIAC Student Visions of the Future Program (NSVFP)

Beginning with the sixth and into the seventh year of contract operation, USRA sponsored the NIAC Student Visions of the Future Program (NSVFP) which inspired undergraduate students to use their imagination and creativity to develop advanced concepts. The essential structure was as follows. In response to highly publicized Calls for Proposals, individual students or multi-dis- ciplinary groups of students, overseen by a faculty advisor, developed proposals addressing space-related advanced concepts with timeframes decades into the future. Selected students or teams were designated as "NIAC Student Fellows". In Phase I Student Fellows presented posters describing their ideas at competitions during the NIAC Annual or Fellows Meetings. The most innovative of these concepts, as judged by the NIAC Science Council, were then invited to become Phase II Student Fellows. Phase II Fellows further developed their ideas for a presentation at the next NIAC meeting.

Phase I NSVFP: Six projects were selected for the Phase I NSVFP in the seventh contract year. The following NIAC Student Fellows projects were selected from proposals received on September 1, 2004. The students presented their projects in poster format at the 6th Annual Meeting held October 2004 in Seattle, WA.

ANDREW BINGHAM, Clarkson University, "Deployment of an Interstellar Electromagnetic Acceleration System" XIADONG LIU, YU LIANG, & QICHANG LIANG, Michigan State University, "Propulsion by the Recoil of the Field Momentum" CHRIS MALOW & DANIELLE ADAMS, University of Virginia, "Humanitarian Systems Enabled by Space Solar Power" HUNTER MARKS, Louisiana State University, "Towards a Decision Support System for Selecting a Landing Site on Mars" TOMMY SEBASTIAN, North Carolina State University, "Lunar Scout Vehicle - A Novel Long- Range Lunar Rover" NEIL TORONTO, Brigham Young University, "Creative Autonomous Vehicles"

Phase II NSVFP: In the seventh contract year, NIAC supported five Phase II NSVFP projects. These projects were selected in competitions held at NIAC meetings by a team comprised of the NIAC Science Council and experts from NIAC and USRA. Four projects were presented as briefings at the October 2004 meeting in Seattle. These students were Phase I Fellows at the March 2004 meeting.

ZACH ADAMS, University of Washington, "The Origin of Life and Spaceflight Biospherics in situ Free Radical Polymerization Processes for Space System Applications" FLORIN MINGIREANU, Louisiana State University, "Ramjet Statoreactor" DARIN RAGOZZINE and FRANK WHITE, Harvard University, "Collectible Projectosats" KEN VAN DYKEN, JOEL EIGEGE, PAUL SOKOMBA and DAN MOUW, Calvin College, "Global System for Monitoring Earth Radiation Balance"

One project was presented as a briefing at the March 2005 meeting in Atlanta. This project was selected from the Phase I poster competition held at the October 2004 meeting: ANDREW BING- HAM, Clarkson University, "Deployment of an Interstellar Electromagnetic Acceleration System" Many of the presentations made by NIAC Student Fellows can be found at www.niac.usra.edu.

31 NIAC Student Fellows Prize (NSFP)

Following the October 2005 meeting, the NIAC leadership team in consultation with the NIAC Science Council moved to create a dramatically different program to identify and nurture creative, innovative undergraduates who have shown exceptional creativity and promise for future success in building visions of the future. The NIAC Student Fellows Prize (NSFP), sponsored by Universities Space Research Association and managed by NIAC, was initiated in 2005 to attract these students and facilitate their studies. The Prize, in the amount of $9,000 dollars, is intended to foster mentoring, networking, and creativity, and is a student's first opportunity to exercise responsibility in project management.

The first competition in this program was advertised beginning in January 2005. Twenty-two proposals were submitted by the due date of April 15, 2005. These proposals were submitted by individual students or multidisciplinary groups of students, overseen by a faculty advisor. Awards will be distributed to the students beginning on September 1, 2005.

Each of the winners will be responsible for three progress reports as well as two presentations: the first, a poster presentation at NIAC's Annual meeting in October 2005 in Boulder, Colorado, and the second, a briefing to be delivered at NIAC's Fellows meeting in Atlanta March, 2006. Over the academic year it is hoped that interaction with the broader NIAC community will inspire and enrich the work of these gifted students. NIAC staff will publicize the efforts of the students which will serve the winners and enhance the Prize's attractiveness.

The next call for proposals for the Prize will be released in January 2006 with a due date expected in April 2006. NIAC staff will expand awareness of the Prize and the Call through various strategies, including increased communication with technical organizations and universities.

The winners of the NIAC Student Fellows Prize for Academic Year 2005-2006:

Andrew Bingham, Clarkson University - "Interstellar Exploration by Repeated External Acceleration" Nicholas Boechler, Georgia Institute of Technology - "Direct Conversion for Solar Space Power" Aimee Covert, University of Michigan - "Advanced Concept for the Detection of Weather Hazards on Mars: Non-Thermal Microwave Emissions by Colliding Dust/Sand Particles" Joseph Fronczek, New Mexico State University - "Bio-Inspired Sensor Swarms to Detect Leaks in Pressurized Systems" Brian Sikkema, Michigan Technological University - "Wind-Driven Power Generation on Titan"

32 NIAC Student Fellow Publication Jarret LeFleur, NIAC Student Fellow, had his paper on his NIAC concept, "Daedalon", accepted for publication at the AIAA Space Exploration Conference (paper number AIAA 2005- 2771). Ron Turner attended the conference, distributed NIAC brochures and had numerous conversations with potential Phase I proposers, science writers, NASA representatives and other members of the technical community.

Financial Performance The NIAC measures its financial performance by how well it minimizes its operational expenses in order to devote maximum funds to viable advanced concepts. For this reporting period, 74% of the NIAC’s total budget was devoted to advanced concept research and development. We take great pride in this achievement.

33 D E S C R I P T I O N O F T H E N I A C

Mission

The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) was formed for the explicit purpose of functioning as an independent source of revolutionary aeronautical and space concepts that could dramatically impact how NASA develops and conducts its missions. The Institute provides a highly visible, recognized and high-level entry point for outside thinkers and researchers. The ultimate goal of NIAC is to infuse the most promising NIAC-funded advanced concepts into future NASA plans and programs. The Institute continues to function as a virtual institute and utilizes Internet resources whenever productive and efficient for communication with grant and subcontract recipients, NASA, and the science and engineering communities.

NOW 10 years 20 years 30 years 40 years

NASA NIAC MISSION: PLANS & Revolutionary Advanced Concepts PROGRAMS

MISSION ARCHITECTURES DIRECTORATES -Overall plan to accomplish a goal. Exploration Systems -A suite of systems, their operational methods Space Operations and interrelationships capable of meeting an Science Research overall mission or program objective. Aeronautics Research SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY -The physical embodiment of the architecture. Enablers to construct -A suite of equipment, software, and operational the system. objective.

The NIAC Mission

34 N I A C F O C U S N I A C M E T H O D Revolutionary concepts for Provide a pathway for innova- systems and architectures tors with the ability for non-lin- that can have a major impact ear creativity to explore revo- on future missions of the lutionary solutions to the NASA Enterprises, inspire the grand challenges of future general public, and excite the aerospace endeavors. nation’s youth.

Organization

The NIAC staff is located at the NIAC Headquarters office in Atlanta, Georgia, the Washington, D.C. area, the greater Boston area, and the Chicago area.

Since NIAC is an Institute of the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), the NIAC Director reports to the President of USRA. USRA uses many methods in its management of NIAC to ensure NASA is provided with quality service at a reasonable price. Approximately 70% of the funds provided by NASA for the operation of NIAC are used for funding advanced concepts. USRA refers to the remaining 30% of the NIAC budget as NIAC operations costs. Three general management processes and/or methods are employed to provide a comprehensive and cost-effective, advanced concepts development program for NASA. First, USRA uses a proven solicitation and peer review process to solicit, evaluate, and select proposed advanced concepts. Once new concepts are selected for funding, USRA employs the second phase of its acquisition management approach, which is to award a grant or contract to the selected organizations. To accomplish this, USRA uses its government-approved purchasing system. USRA personnel working this aspect of the acquisition process are guided by the USRA Procurement Manual, which is modeled from the Federal Acquisition Regulations. After the appropriate contractual instrument has been awarded, USRA monitors overall performance against the respective proposed budget and concept development milestones through bi-monthly reports from the principal investigators covering technical, schedule, and budget status.

35 NIAC SCIENCE COUNCIL USRA Board of Trustees

John Evans USRA President Lynda Goff Keith Raney USRA HEADQUARTERS Donna Shirley-Chair Corporate Resources Parker Stafford Jack Stuster NIAC LEADERSHIP Michael Yarymovych Robert A. Cassanova Director

Diana E. Jennings Associate Director

Ronald E. Turner * Senior Science Advisor

NIAC HEADQUARTERS TECHNICAL CONSULTANTS STAFF NIAC FELLOWS

Peer Reviews Dale K. Little Concept Development Site Visits Business Manager Keynote Speakers Robert J. Mitchell * Network Engineer

Katherine M. Reilly Publications Specialist

NIAC Organization (* denotes ANSER employee)

ANSER, through a subcontract from USRA-NIAC, brings unique knowledge and expertise to the NIAC program by providing technical and programmatic support to the operation of the Institute. ANSER's participation in the operation of NIAC enables the Institute to have access to significant resources developed over decades of support to the government through the Department of Defense (DoD). ANSER provides a means to stay aware of innovative DoD and Homeland Security (HS) activities relevant to NASA and NIAC. ANSER has a long association with U.S. mil- itary aerospace activities, DoD research facilities, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). ANSER's Homeland Security Institute maintains a close working relationship with agencies and organizations involved in homeland security. This facilitates a means to intro- duce NIAC Fellows and concepts to the relevant DoD and HS communities. At ANSER's initia- tive, several NIAC Fellows have presented their research in invited talks in classified settings (e.g., through an NRO speaker's forum). These well-attended presentations get additional exposure after the taped talk and the electronic slides are posted on a DoD Web site. ANSER supports the operation of the Institute as an electronic virtual entity.

As a corporate expense, the NIAC Science Council was formed to oversee the operation of NIAC on behalf of the relevant scientific and engineering communities. The Council is composed of a diverse group of thinkers, eminent in their respective fields, and representing a broad cross-section of technologies related to the NASA Charter. The Council has a rotating membership with each member serving a three-year term. The USRA Board of Trustees appoints all Council members. The current membership of the NIAC Science Council is listed in Table 16.

36 MEMBER AFFILIATION Dr. Robert A. Cassanova NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) [ex officio] Dr. John V. Evans Aerospace Consultant Dr. Lynda J. Goff University of California-Santa Cruz Dr. R. Keith Raney Johns Hopkins University Dr. Donna L. Shirley - Chair University of Oklahoma Mr. Parker S. Stafford Aerospace Consultant Dr. Jack Stuster Anacapa Sciences, Inc. TABLE 16. Current Membership of the NIAC Science Council

Facilities

NIAC Headquarters occupies 2,000 square feet of professional office space in Atlanta, GA. The staff is linked via a Windows 2000-based Local Area Network (LAN) consisting of four Pentium 4 PCs, one Macintosh G3 and three UNIX servers. Internet access is provided via a fiber-optic link through the Georgia Tech network. Other equipment includes one Dell Inspiron 7000, one IBM Thinkpad T-21, one IBM Thinkpad T-41, one NEC MT 1030 LCD projector, one flatbed scanner, one Xerox Phaser 7300DN printer, one HP Color LaserJet 5 printer, one HP LaserJet 4000TN printer, one HP LaserJet 3100 facsimile machine and a Sharp AR405 copier.

The servers use RedHat Linux for their operating systems, Apache for the Web server, Sendmail for the email server, Sybase SQL server for the database, and OpenSSL for Web and email security. The workstations use Windows 2000 for their operating systems, Microsoft Office XP Professional for office applications, Netscape Communicator for email access, and Adobe Acrobat for distributed documents.

Virtual Institute

NIAC envisions progressive use of the Internet as a key element in its operation. The Internet is the primary vehicle to link the NIAC office with NIAC fellows, NASA points-of-contact, and other members of the science and engineering communities. The Internet is also the primary communication link for publicizing NIAC, announcing the availability of Calls for Proposals, receiving proposals, and reporting on technical status. All proposals must be submitted to NIAC in electronic format. All reports from the fellows to NIAC and from NIAC to NASA are submitted electronically. The peer review of proposals is also conducted electronically whenever the peer reviewer has the necessary Internet connectivity and application software.

ANSER created and maintains the NIAC web site (http://www.niac.usra.edu) which serves as the focal point of NIAC to the outside world. The web site can be accessed to retrieve and submit NIAC information and proposals. The NIAC web site is linked from the NASA GSFC Flight Programs & Projects Directorate web site (http://ntpio.nasa .gov/niac/) and the NASA Research Opportunities web site (http://search.nasa.gov/nasasearch/search/search.jsp? nasaInclude=niac&Simple+Search.x=27&Simple+Search.y=1), the Office of Earth Science

37 Research Opportunities at (http://www.earth.nasa.gov/nra/current/index.htm) and the Small Business Innovative Research program at (http:// sbir.nasa.gov). Numerous other links to the NIAC Web site are now established from NASA Centers and science and engineering Web sites. Figure 5 depicts the new NIAC Web site.

The New NIAC Web Site Design - http://www.niac.usra.edu.

38 The NIAC Process

The NIAC process inspires and moves toward an ultimate goal of infusing revolutionary advanced concepts into NASA’s long range plans across the Agency.

NIAC's role is to provide additional options for consideration by NASA with potentially revolutionary improvement in aerospace performance and the resulting dramatic exten- sion of mission and programmatic goals. NIAC provides a pathway for innovators with the ability for non-linear creativity to explore revolutionary solutions to the Grand Challenges of future aerospace endeavors. The ultimate goal of the NIAC process is to infuse the most successful advanced concepts into mainstream plans and programs.

NIAC follows a process of Inspiration, Solicitation, Review, Selection and Nurturing leading to Infusion in its pursuit of advanced concepts. This process often provides Inspiration for enabling technologies and subsystems, scientific Discovery and an expansion of the Knowledge base.

Typical NIAC activities related to "Inspiration" and "Nurturing" are described in detail in the Accomplishments section that begins on page 10 of this report and include the production and distribution of numerous publications describing NIAC and its funded concepts, active participation in technical meetings and societies, and attendance at numerous invited seminars, etc. Nurturing is further accomplished through Phase II site visits and NIAC sponsored meetings.

Throughout this process, NIAC engages in critical ongoing activities for:

- Active involvement with all constituencies of the technical community; - Collaboration and communication with government, industry and academia; - Connectivity with technology-oriented organizations; - Inspiration, education and outreach through the educational community and the mainstream press; - Supportive management and nurturing of NIAC awardees; - Feedback from its customers, other agencies and constituencies of the technical community at large. 39 Solicitation

The actual solicitation for advanced concepts is assembled and published by the NIAC staff. The technical scope of the solicitation emphasizes the desire for revolutionary advanced concepts that address all elements of the NASA mission. The scope of work is written to inspire proposals in all NASA mission areas and contains brief descriptions of NASA Enterprise areas of emphasis. In general, proposed advanced concepts should be:

- Revolutionary, new and not duplicative of concepts previously studied by NASA, - An architecture or system, - Described in an aeronautics and/or space mission context, - Adequately substantiated with a description of the scientific principles that form the basis for the concept, - Largely independent of existing technology or a unique combination of systems and technologies.

Over the last 100 years of scientific and engineering development, there have been many notable concepts, technical accomplishments and scientific breakthroughs that have had a revolutionary impact on transportation within the Earth’s atmosphere, the exploration of our solar system and beyond, and on our understanding of the cosmos. Creative and often intuitive approaches may lead to revolutionary paradigm changes and interpretative applications or concepts.

The Phase I Call for Proposals continues to express a special interest in receiving proposals for innovative and visionary concepts from disciplines that are normally focused on non-aerospace endeavors and may have the potential for innovative application in the aerospace sector. These concepts may be emerging at the interface of traditional disciplines where innovation often spring forth in non-aerospace fields.

The evaluation criteria for Phase I and Phase II concepts are included in the solicitation and structured to convey what is being sought, and are summarized on the next page.

40 PHASE I - PHASE II - 6 months / $50 - $75K Up to 24 month / Up to $400K

1. How well have the benefits been 1. Does the proposal continue the devel- qualified in the context of a future aero- opment of a revolutionary architecture or nautics and/or space mission appropri- system in the context of a future NASA ate to the NASA charter and responsibili- mission? Is the proposed work likely to ties? provide a sound basis for NASA to consid- er the concept for a future mission or pro- 2. How well is the concept described in gram? a system or architecture context? 2. Is the concept substantiated with a 3. Is the concept revolutionary rather description of applicable scientific and than evolutionary? To what extent does technical disciplines necessary for devel- the proposed activity suggest and opment? explore creative and original concepts that may initiate a revolutionary para- 3. Has a pathway for development of a digm change? technology roadmap been adequately described? Are all of the appropriate 4. Is the concept substantiated with a enabling technologies identified? description of applicable scientific and technical disciplines necessary for devel- 4. Are the programmatic benefits and opment? cost versus performance of the proposed concept adequately described and under- 5. How well conceived and organized stood? Does the proposal show the rela- is the study work plan, and does the tionship between the concept’s complexity team have appropriate key personnel and its benefits, cost, and performance? and proven experience?

NIAC Proposal Evaluation Criteria

The NIAC Calls for Proposals are distributed in electronic form only. Under a typical schedule for NIAC operation, NIAC solicits annually for one Phase I and one Phase II. The release of these proposals generally occur in the latter half of the calendar year.

These revolutionary concepts may be characterized by one or more of the following attributes:

- The genius is in the generalities, and not the details, - The new idea creates a pathway that addresses a roadblock, - It inspires others to produce useful science and further elaboration of the fundamental idea, - It contributes to a shift in the world view, - It triggers a transformation of intuition.

41 Receive Proposals Electronically and Proposals Log into NIAC Proposal Database In order to be considered for award, all proposals are required to be submitted to NIAC electron- Review of Proposals by 3 Internal ically as a .pdf file. Technical pro- Reviewers for Responsiveness posals in response to Phase I Call for Proposals are limited to 12 pages; whereas, Phase II Assign 3 (or more) External Reviewers from the Technical technical proposals are limited to Community per Proposal 25 pages. There is no page limit for cost proposals. Send Proposals to Reviewers (Electronically if possible) Phase II proposals are only accepted from proposal authors who have previously received a Receive Proposal Peer Review Phase I award, have not previ- Evaluations (Electronically if possible) ously received a Phase II follow- on contract and have not submit- Review Panel Prioritization by ted their Phase II proposal more a Subset of Peer Reviewers than twice. The deadline for sub- mission is the same for the Present Concurrence Briefing Phase II proposal and associat- to NASA ed Phase I final report. Phase I Fellows may submit a Phase II Follow-up With NASA proposal at any time after com- Key Technical Contacts pletion of their Phase I grant, but it must be received by NIAC by Concurrence by NASA the designated deadline in order to be considered in a particular review cycle. Notify Selected Award Winners and Electronically Transmit Feedback

Initiate Grant/Contract Negotiations

NIAC Peer Review Process

Peer Review Peer reviewers are selected from the technically appropriate reviewers in the NIAC database. Additional reviewers are recruited as needed to adequately represent the technical emphasis of each proposal. Each reviewer is required to sign a non-disclosure and a non-conflict-of-interest agreement prior to their involvement. A small monetary compensation is offered to each reviewer. The technical proposals and all required forms are transmitted to the reviewer via the Internet, by diskette or by paper copy, depending on the electronic capabilities of the reviewer.

42 Reviewers are given approximately thirty days to review the technical proposals and return their completed evaluation forms. Each proposal receives at least three independent peer reviews. Each reviewer evaluates a proposal according to the criterion stated in the Call for Proposals.

Templates/forms are created to help guide the reviewer through the process of assigning a numerical ranking and providing written comments. Only NIAC and USRA staff analyze cost proposals.

To help ensure that a proposed concept is not duplicating previously studied concepts, NIAC accesses the NASA Technology Inventory Database and other public NASA databases to search for related NASA-funded projects. Results of the peer reviews are compiled by NIAC, rank- ordered by a review panel, and prepared for presentation to NASA HQ at a concurrence briefing. NASA Concurrence The NIAC Director presents the prioritized research selections to the representatives of NASA Associate Administrators of the NASA Mission Offices before the final selection and announcement of awards. Technical concurrence by NASA, required before any subgrants or subcontracts are announced or awarded, is obtained to ensure consistency with NASA’s Charter and to ensure that the concept is not duplicating concepts previously or currently being developed by NASA. Awards Based on the results of the NIAC peer review, technical concurrence from NASA HQ and the availability of funding, the award decision is made by the NIAC Director. All proposal authors are notified electronically of the acceptance or rejection of their proposals. If requested, feedback based on the peer review evaluation comments is provided to the non-selected proposal authors.

The USRA contracts office then begins processing contractual instruments to each of the winning organizations. The NIAC staff inputs all pertinent technical information regarding the winning proposals into the NASA Technology Inventory Database as well as on the NIAC Web site. The “product” of each award is a final report. All final reports are posted on the NIAC Web site for public viewing. Management of Awards NIAC will continue to require all Phase I (grant) and Phase II (contract) recipients to submit bi- monthly and final reports. All Phase II contractors will be required to host a mid-term site visit and to submit an interim report before the end of the first half of their contract. Participants in the site visits will include the NIAC Director, invited experts in the technical field of the concept, and NASA representatives who may be able to facilitate the eventual transition to its long-range NASA funding. All Phase II Fellows are required to give a status briefing at the NIAC annual meeting. All Phase I Fellows are required to present a poster at the Annual Meeting and give a status briefing at the Phase I Fellows workshop held near the end of their Phase I grant.

Infusion of Advanced Concepts into NASA

43 P L A N S F O R T H E 8 t h C O N T R A C T Y E A R

Key Milestones

The activities planned for the eighth contract year will emphasize the continuous broadening and diversification of outreach and inspiration to the technical community. These efforts are aimed at reinforcing the NIAC environment that encourages and nurtures the constituency of innovators from all segments of the U.S. engineering and scientific community. NIAC will also build on the past successes of transitioning advanced concepts into NASA and other agencies in support of NASA's visions for all segments of aeronautics and space. Table 17 summarizes the major activities to be conducted and key milestones to be achieved in the eighth contract year.

During the eighth year of the NIAC contract, NIAC will accomplish the following major activities: - Initiate a continuing identification of Grand Visions for Aeronautics and Space, - Host the 8th Annual Meeting in October 2005, - Release the next Phase I and and Phase II Calls for Proposals in November 2005, - Conduct the peer review, concurrence and selection of Phase I and Phase II Awards, - Release the next Call for Proposals for the NIAC Student Fellows Prize in January 2006 and announce the winners by May 2006, - Conduct site visits with currently funded Phase II Fellows for the purposes of oversight and exploration of opportunities for transition to NASA and other agencies, - Present status briefings to the NASA leadership in Headquarters and the Centers whenever appropriate, - Stay closely engaged with the technical community and the technically oriented public through participation in technical societies, presentation of technical papers and presentation of seminars to universities and civic groups, - Be responsive to inquiries from the media for inputs to articles in newspapers, magazines and web-based news services.

TABLE 17. Key Activities Planned for the Eighth Contract Year

2005 2006 ACTIVITY Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Phase I CP 0501 Phase II CP 0502 Phase 1 CP 0601 Phase II CP 0602 Annual Meeting Phase I Fellows Meeting Science Council Meeting Student Fellows Prize MIT Forum Broadcast

Release Call for Proposal Review and Selection Announce Awards Grant and Contract Performance Periods Events 44 44 Solicitation, Selection and Advanced Concept Awards

Proposals received in response to the Phase II solicitation, CP 05-02, were peer reviewed and the review panel was conducted near the end of the seventh contract year. The concurrence briefing for CP 05-02 is scheduled for July 14, 2005 at NASA HQ. Phase II awards will be announced in early August 2005.

The next Phase I Call for Proposals, CP 06-01 will be released in November 2005 with a due date in February 2006. The peer review, selection and concurrence will take place from March through May 2005 with an anticipated announcement of awards by June 2006 with a grant start date of September 1, 2006. The next Phase II Call for Proposals will be released in November 2005 with a due date in early May 2006. The peer review, selection and concurrence will take place from May through July 2006. Phase II awards will be announced in late July or early August 2006 with a contract start date of September 1, 2006.

Identifying Grand Visions

Prior to the release of each annual Phase I Call for Proposals, NIAC with the assistance of the contract COTR, polls each of the NASA Directorates to identify Grand Challenges that serves to focus the creativity of potential proposers on critical challenges of aeronautics and space. Beginning with this contract year, NIAC plans to give a special emphasis on extending the vision of the technical community beyond identifiable challenges toward visions of future possibilities. "Grand Challenges" are generally structured to inspire solutions to difficult situations and are problem solving exercises. They inspire creative application of known scientific phenomena and technologies. Whereas, "Grand Visions" are structured to inspire giant leaps forward and can provide an environment for creativity, imagination and innovation unfettered by near term realities.

NIAC is planning an on-going effort to identify "Grand Visions" that can be the emphasis of future Phase I Calls for Proposals. Activities aimed at identifying "Grand Visions" may include: - Formal solicitation of inputs from each of the NASA Directorates, - Hosting a one-day, by invitation only, workshop for key NASA technical leaders and innovators to brain-storm about visions that extend well beyond NASA long range plans, - Sessions in NIAC Annual and Fellows Meetings structured to encourage unfettered and creative discussion of vision stretching possibilities for aerospace endeavors, - An open call for "Grand Visions" on the NIAC website to encourage a continuous dialogue with NIAC on "Grand Visions".

NIAC Annual Meeting and Phase I Fellows Meeting

The next NIAC Annual Meeting is scheduled for October 10-11, 2005 at the Omni Interlocken Resort in Denver, Colorado. Speakers will include all currently funded Phase II Fellows, who will give a status report on their concept, and two or more keynote speakers. As of the publication date of this report, confirmed keynote speakers include Dr. Paul MacCready, President of Aerovironment, Dr. Fred Adams, Professor at the University of Michigan and Courtney Stadd, Bigelow Aerospace.

45 The next NIAC Phase I Fellows meeting will be held in Atlanta, GA near the NIAC Headquarters and include status briefings by all of the currently funded Phase I Fellows and invited presentations by several keynote speakers. Outreach to the Technical Community

The NIAC website will continue to be the primary, on-going vehicle for continuous communication with the technical community. The leadership of NIAC will strategically participate in technical society activities and give invited presentations to other government agencies universities, industry and civic organizations. The NIAC technical leadership will accept invitations from non-NASA agencies to give seminars and to receive tours of technical facilities to enhance and support NIAC's effectiveness and NASA's long term goals.

On September 22, 2005, the MIT Forum is sponsoring a special broadcast throughout the MIT Forum network from the studios of Georgia Public Broadcasting. The theme of this 1.5 hour broadcast will be "The Power of Revolutionary Thinking: Driving Innovations for Today and Tomorrow". Speakers will be Robert Cassanova and NIAC Phase II Fellows Bradley Edwards, Penelope Boston and Dava Newman. The short presentations will be followed by questions from participants from the audience and the Internet.

Oversight by USRA Management

The NIAC Science Council will meet to receive an overview of the status and plans of NIAC on the day following each of the scheduled Annual Meetings and Fellows meetings. The Council will issue a report to USRA management and NASA on the operation of NIAC and will offer sugges- tions for future activities.

46 APPENDIX A

Descriptions of Enabling Technologies from NIAC

CP 02-01 Studies (Performance Period: September 2003 - August 2005)

SOLID STATE AIRCRAFT Anthony Colozza, Ohio Aerospace Institute, [email protected]

CRITICAL TECHNOLOGIES

1. Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (IPMC). The development of the IPMC material is one of the most critical issues to the viability of the concept. Further development that will demonstrate the ability to make large sections of the material as well as the demonstration and characterization of its behavior under various operational and control conditions is critical to the concepts viability.

2. Thin Film Photovoltaic Array. The solid state aircraft (SSA) is powered by the use of a flexible thin film solar array. The development of thin film array materials can greatly enhance the capabilities of the SSA. The array characteristics that will have a significant effect on the vehicles performance are specific mass (kw/kg), overall efficiency and substrate compatibility. If the photovoltaic material can be deposited onto another component such as a thin film battery or the IPMC material itself, the integration of the SSA can be greatly enhanced.

3. Flexible Batteries or Capacitors. To store energy between wing flaps a battery or capacitor must be used. To integrate these into the aircraft they will need to be lightweight, compact and flexible. Development of a suitable energy storage medium is critical to the SSA's operation.

OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

1. Flapping Wing Aerodynamics. A detailed understanding of the fluid dynamics of flapping wing flight is needed to optimize the SSA design and minimize power consump- tion.

2. IPMC Control Scheme / EM Field Generation. A control scheme for the IPMC material is needed to provide a viable flight vehicle. This control consists of the generation and tailoring of an EM filed which in turn induces the motion of the IPMC. The development would consist of the capability to generate a field that is tailored in strength and polarity over the wing area as well as the understanding of what that distribution would need to be to achieve the correct wing motion.

47 ANTIMATTER DRIVEN SAIL FOR DEEP SPACE MISSIONS Dr. Steven D. Howe, Hbar Technologies, LLC, [email protected]

CRITICAL TECHNOLOGIES

The antimatter sail concept relies on the ability to use antiproton induced fission as a propulsion method. The key technologies therefore to enabling this concept are: 1) production/formation of sufficient amounts of antihydrogen, 2) formation and storage of nano-flakes of solid antihydrogen, and 3) development of the Tuned Photovoltaic Conversion (TPC) method of converting fission energy into electricity. The formation of antihydrogen molecules is the first step to making the storage of flakes feasible. The sus- pension of a charged nano-flake electrostatically will demonstrate the storage concept. Both of these technologies can be demonstrated in the near term using normal-matter protons. The TPC concept uses fission to induce scintillation in a medium. The wave- length of the scintillation is tuned to the acceptance of a photovoltaic cell for high efficiency conversion. The TPC could be demonstrated using radioisotopes and currently available scintillating materials.

OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

Another significant technology is the production and accumulation of antiprotons. The current production levels need to be greatly increased in order to make sufficient quanti- ties for deep space missions.

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL MEMS SENSORS (GEMS): A REVOLUTIONARY OBSERVING SYSTEM FOR THE 21ST CENTURY John Manobianco, ENSCO Inc., [email protected]

CRITICAL TECHNOLOGIES

1. Electronics. The further integration and miniaturization of electronics is a critical enabler of the GEMS system. Sensing, processing, and storage must all be combined in a robust monolithic design to implement the final GEMS probe.

2. Communications. State of the art communication systems today such as ad-hoc or mesh networks will not likely support the massive number of probes envisioned for the GEMS system. Since scaling limitations exist for these networks, new protocols and hardware must be developed to overcome these difficulties or alternative systems such as low power point-to-point satellite communications or hybrid ad-hoc/satellite communications must be employed.

3. Materials. The probes must meet specific design criteria in order to maximize the dwell time in the atmosphere. The probe shell material must be capable of withstanding enor-

48 mous pressures at high altitudes, but also be incredibly light. Carbon nanotube based polymers are needed to provide an ultrathin, lightweight, high tensile strength material for the shell.

OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

1. Power. The current solution for power generation is thin-film solar cell technology. The two primary candidates in this arena are thin-film amorphous silicon cells and nanoparti- cle dye cells. Although, thin-film solar cells are an excellent material for power generation, the probe must also be capable of storing power for night-time operation. Two possible options include thin-film batteries or thin-film capacitors.

ASTRONAUT BIO-SUIT SYSTEM FOR EXPLORATION CLASS MISSIONS Dava Newman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, [email protected]

CRITICAL TECHNOLOGIES

1. Three-dimensional textile deposition, to enable the formation of anisotropic material with specific mechanical properties. Also, the ability to assemble a garment in three dimensions through patterning of fibers and incorporation of other materials (e.g., passive and active elements). We have determined the initial material property requirements as well as fiber orientation (March 2005, Bi-Monthly Report): tensile strength > 60 N (13 lbf) and an elastic modulus that is initially high but that approaches zero as the strain sur- passes 30% and the load reaches 30 N. The target operating range for the fiber or fabric is at tensile loads of 30 N ±5 N and strains of 50% ±20%. We are continuing our investigation in to 'electrospinlacing' technology for this application. 3D material deposition will enable a spacesuit to be exactly custom-fit to its wearer. The ability to give the textile specified mechanical properties in specific directions will enable a spacesuit to mimic the deformation of the skin.

2. Shape-changing polymers that provide human-scale force. Often these are called "artificial muscles" and they include dielectric elastomers, electrostrictive polymers, shape memory polymers, and mechano-chemical polymers and gels. These active polymers will enable a mechanical counterpressure spacesuit to apply pressure to the body surface after the suit has been donned and may be activated by body temperature. They will also allow for local control of the tension in the spacesuit fabric; our analysis shows a requirement for 30-70% local contraction or stretch around moving joints to provide constant pressure over different curvatures of the body surface.

3. Information technology, wearable computing, energy, and human power harvesting integration across the entire EVA system. Integration of the space suit with smart EVA tools via data automation; integration of the space suit and EVA tools with other components of the EVA system including robotic elements. Lightweight, portable, long-duration sources of power, or the ability to harvest the human body's waste energy to power BioSuit and EVA life support systems. Essentially, spacesuits for planetary exploration

49 require advancements in battery technology. Longer duration traverses will require more energy for the astronauts' life support systems, but the additional energy cannot come by increasing the on-back mass for the astronaut. The use of electroactive fibers and materials for spacesuit shape control or for biomedical sensing will also require additional energy.

OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

1. Distributed sensing for temperature, humidity, chemicals, and mechanical stress. These sensors can monitor life support functions and serve as flexible keyboards (interfaces) for garments, and they can provide shape control for fabrics.

2. Edema assessment using the Bowman Perfusion Monitor from Hemedex has been completed and reported at Aerospace Medical Association (ASMA) Annual Conference, May, 2005 (Treviño, L. and Carr, C.).

ELECTROMAGNETIC FORMATION FLIGHT (EMFF) Raymond Sedwick, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, [email protected]

CRITICAL TECHNOLOGIES

1. The primary enabling technology for EMFF is high current density, high temperature super conducting wire. The current state of the art is about 13 kA/cm2, which allows it to be a competitive technology with thruster-based systems. However, the force between two identical spacecraft scales as the square of this current density, for a fixed mass and coil size, so increases in this density will greatly improve the viability of this technology at greater distances. The wire being used is a matrix of superconducting material and regular metal, to provide strength and flexibility. The superconducting material has been lab tested to an upper limit of 6,000 kA/cm2, so the improvements need only come in the manufacturing process of the wire.

2. A second technology which will allow EMFF to function in Earth orbit is higher efficiency cryo-coolers. Current thermal designs appear to require on the order of 10s of Watts per coil of thermal power removal, translating to 100s of Watts of electrical power input to cryo-coolers for each coil. This appears to be the driving power requirement for the system.

3. The third most critical technology is distributed control algorithms. Unlike thruster based systems, movements within an EMFF system must be coordinated between multiple spacecraft simultaneously. This is a very complex control problem, which must be solved to make the technology viable.

OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

1. One potentially useful technology is high density, high strength, non-conducting mate-

50 rials, from which reaction wheels can be manufactured. Metal wheels, rotating within the magnetic field of EMFF generate eddy currents, which will act as a breaking mechanism on the wheels. Although shielding of the wheels with a high permeability material can solve this problem, it would be more efficient to add mass to the system that would be useful in other ways (i.e. angular momentum storage), rather than simply parasitic.

INHERENTLY ADAPTIVE STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS Parviz Soroushian, Technova Corporation, [email protected]

CRITICAL TECHNOLOGIES

1. Our technology relies on the piezoelectric phenomenon to convert the (otherwise destructive) concentrated mechanical energy to electrical energy in order to guide and drive (constructive) adaptive effects. The energy conversion efficiency and mechanical performance of piezoelectric materials are key to successful development of subject technology. Development of nanostructured piezoelectric materials, with a major frac- tion of their molecules occurring on grain surfaces, promises to yield substantially mag- nified piezoelectric effect and thus greatly increase the rate and extent of self-adapta- tion.

2. Mass transport phenomena which are responsible for adaptive phenomena in our approach occur in the context of solid electrolytes. Advances in development of solid electrolytes for energy storage devices have opened the prospects for greatly enhancing the ionic conductivity and mechanical performance of solid electrolyte through introduc- tion of nano-scale inclusions in the system. Developments in ion-conducting nanocomposites can facilitate full development and effective implementation of inherently adaptive structural systems.

OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

1. Development of functional (piezoelectric and ion-conducting) nanostructured materials would depend upon processing techniques which provide nano-scale control over distribution and interfacial interactions. Developments in nanotechnology emphasizing controlled processing of nanocomposites and nanostructured materials would thus be among enabling technologies for our concept.

51 CP 03-01 Studies (Performance Period: October 2004 - September 2006)

TAILORED FORCE FIELDS FOR SPACE-BASED CONSTRUCTION Narayanan M. Komerath, Georgia Institute of Technology, [email protected]

CRITICAL TECHNOLOGIES

Large-scale direct conversion of solar energy to tunable radio and microwave frequencies is a critical technology. We are developing a concept to automatically build massive structures in space using extraterrestrial materials. We propose to use intense fields in long- wave radio resonators to generate the forces that move the materials into desired wall shapes. The system launch mass from Earth for the construction equipment is currently dominated by the mass of the equipment required to convert broadband solar energy to tunable radio wavelengths. Present-day options for such conversion generally go through an intermediate direct-current step. Other approaches are aimed at micro-scale applications such as cell-phones, where the mass is limited by fabrication and heat-transfer con- siderations. The scale-up to large power levels is not understood.

OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

1. Intelligent robotic manipulators. Construction of massive structures for extraterrestrial resource exploitation is best suited to stable orbital locations such as the Lagrangian points of the Earth-Sun system, or to the orbits of larger Near-Earth objects. Signal tran- sit time is too large to permit telerobotics. Currently we have to keep assembly tasks to very low intelligence requirements, because robotic assembly and construction are not yet accepted as being intelligent and reliable enough.

2. On-orbit tele-robotics for assembly. System design for complex tasks is constrained by the diameter and volume of present-day launchers, demanding origami-type deployment operations that add mass and complexity. This is all done to avoid on-orbit assembly even in low-earth orbit. Advances in the reliability and acceptance of tele-robotics would greatly simplify system design and reduce costs and risk. This would enable launching components on smaller, widely-available launchers rather than on expensive heavy-lift launchers.

3. Beamed microwave power. The use of microwave power beaming as a primary energy source for construction robots and other craft would simplify such systems. This would enable separation of the robot design from the primary power system, so that each can be much more efficient.

BIO-NANO-MACHINES FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS Constantinos Mavroidis, Northeastern University, [email protected]

CRITICAL TECHNOLOGIES

52 1. Bio-nano-robotics. The concept of space bio-nano-robotic systems is based on revolutionary bio-nano-mechanisms formed by protein and DNA based nano-components. Here we focus on assembling these bio nano components to form complex robotic assemblies having advanced properties, such as, distributive intelligence, programming and control. These bio-nano robots would be based on sound design architectures, such as, modular organization and would have the ability to process information.

2. Network based space sensing for planetary environments. The proposed NIAC concept of Networked TerraXplorers (NTXp), is a network of channels containing the bio- nano-robots having the enhanced sensing and signaling capabilities. Using these bio- nano-based robots and utilizing their capabilities of programming and control, we would develop technology to sense the targeted planetary terrain on a very large scale (in order of miles).

3. Smart self repairing / healing artificial skin architecture. This technology focuses on developing a smart artificial skin based on bio-nano-robots having capability to self assemble and self repair at run - time based on the surrounding environments. This smart skin would act as a monitoring system; an early warning system and a protection system - against chemicals, radiations, temperature and pressure for the astronauts. . This technology would have an ability to protect the astronaut from the possible injuries and harm- ful effects. This is like an adaptive shield protecting astronauts from any possible health hazard.

OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

1. Bio-nano-components. This technology would enable us with a library of bio-nano components having equivalence to the macro robotic components, such as, actuators, joints, sensors etc.

2. Distributive intelligence, programming and control. This technology would give an ability to bio nano-robots to take decisions at nano scale and to store and retrieve information for many useful tasks, such as, sensing another element or condition. Evolvable hardware is one of the technologies which could be benefited by this.

3. Bio-nano-world to macro-world integration. This technology would connect the nano world to the macro world where the information exchange would occur. The sensed data would be transmitted through this interface to the macro world. The biological signals have to be amplified and converted to electrical signals and have to be processed and stored and this technology would provide us with the same.

4. Automatic fabrication of bio-nano-robots. This technology would enable deep space mission capabilities. The in site manufacturing and integration of bio-nano robots with the proposed technologies of network and smart skin would strengthen the time-length and scale of the missions. The automatic fabrication and synthesis technologies would enable manufacturing these bio-nano-robots as and when required by the mission.

53 DIRECTED AERIAL ROBOTIC EXPLORERS (DARE) Alexey A. Pankine, Global Aerospace Corporation, alexey.a.pankine@gaero- space.com

CRITICAL TECHNOLOGIES

The NIAC concept, Directed Aerial Robotic Explorers (DARE), relies on four enabling technologies; Advanced Balloon Envelope Materials, Lightweight Balloon Guidance Systems, Advanced Guidance and Navigation System Algorithm Development, and a Entry, Descent and Inflation systems.

1. Advanced Balloon Envelope Materials. Advanced super-pressure balloon envelope materials will minimize mass while maximizing strength and reliability. Of special interest is protecting envelope materials against UV and chemical degradation and thermal extremes found in planetary atmospheres. Advanced balloon materials will allow for increased science payload mass and longer mission duration. Advancements in composite envelopes that exploit desirable material mechanical characteristics and reduce or eliminate environmental degradation are of great interest. Development of an ultra-thin gas barrier film reinforced with lightweight fabrics or scrims would benefit the DARE concept. Development of thin-film materials with variable thermo-optical properties is highly desirable for controlling envelope temperatures and, subsequently, internal gas pressures.

2. Lightweight Balloon Guidance System (BGS). Development of a high performance lightweight BGS is crucial to the DARE concept. An advanced technology BGS would take advantage of lightweight material technology and aerodynamic research. For some planets, the capability of making large changes to a balloon's path depends on the ability to deploy large, lightweight airfoils where relative wind speeds or air densities are low. In particular, research into the operation and design of ultra-low Reynolds number airfoils is important for Mars BGSs.

3. Guidance and Navigation Algorithm Development. Algorithm development, including BGS modeling and the development of control methodologies will enable the precise and accurate operation of the DARE concept. Comparison of system performance in known operational scenarios with the performance in historical wind conditions is needed. BGS performance modeling with historic winds would enable optimization of the DARE design and allow for performance estimation. Analysis of the BGS performance in predicted winds will allow for the development of sophisticated control algorithms and enable performance prediction for unknown environments. Analysis will provide for the estimation of the over-flight accuracy of the DARE concept, and aerial deployment accuracy for deployable microprobes, surface stations and rovers.

4. Reliable and Robust Entry Descent and Inflation (EDI) Systems. A reliable EDI process is essential for a successful DARE mission. Vehicle entry and the initial portion of descent will be very similar to other planetary lander missions. Aerial deployment and inflation of the envelope is desired in order to mitigate the issues associated with ground

54 inflation, i.e. envelope damage in high winds. For aerial deployment, there is need for a system that can rapidly inflate the ultra-lightweight envelope during the relatively short descent through the atmosphere without damaging the envelope itself. Design concerns include dynamic stability of the entire descending balloon inflation system , i.e. the prop- er relative location, configuration, size and mass of parachute, envelope and gondola that provides said stability. OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

It is anticipated that technology advancements in the commercial, defense and space sectors will benefit the DARE concept. Especially useful to DARE will be the advancements in energy storage and power generation technologies. These developments could allow for an increase in the useful scientific payload of the DARE concept. High efficiency fuel cells, high-efficiency thin-film solar arrays, and lightweight photovoltaic devices are of interest to the DARE concept. Advanced technology structural materials with high strength-to-weight ratios, e.g. carbon nanotubes, could also provide reduced structural mass resulting in increased in scientific payloads.

THE PLASMA MAGNET John Slough, University of Washington, [email protected]

CRITICAL TECHNOLOGIES

A major feature of the plasma magnetic sail is the fact that there has already been a demonstration of the primary technologies in the laboratory at power levels far greater than should be necessary in the space based application. One would however like to see the following developments for space:

1. Better power processing unit. This would include variable frequency (1 to 100 kHz) power supply capable of driving a variable antenna load impedance - one that will be quite low (less than an ohm, typically).

2. Solar wind detection system: It will be critical to be able to gauge the strength and direction of the solar wind for obvious reasons. This will likely need to be a local meas- urement made by a small satellite of the spacecraft that is positioned outside of the plasma magnet.

3. Guidance systems specifically designed for a thrust vector as complex as what is expected from the solar wind - plasma magnet interaction.

OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

It does not appear at this time that there are any significant technological developments needed, other than those that are mentioned above. The major hurtle for this concept has little to do with technological feasibility. It is convincing NASA or others to take the

55 effort and time to understand the underlying principles, and to realize the revolutionary repercussion to space travel the plasma magnet would have if successfully developed.

ROBOTIC LUNAR ECOPOIESIS TEST BED Paul Todd, Space Hardware Optimization Technology (SHOT), Inc., [email protected]

CRITICAL TECHNOLOGIES

1. Pioneer organisms. Planetary ecopoiesis will require living organisms that can with- stand extremes of temperature, pressure and humidity while metabolizing actively, at least part-time, as photoautotrophs or chemoautotrophs. Cyanobacteria and certain deep-living autotrophs are candidate pioneer organisms. If they function they can be joined by heterotrophic consumer pioneer organisms like certain bacilli, which can bring early metabolic balance to the pioneer ecosystem.

2. Laboratory ecopoiesis test bed. Before research on extraterrestrial bodies can pro- ceed, research in the laboratory under simulated planetary conditions is required. This requirement is being met by a test bed designed for and dedicated to biological testing. In the case of Mars, a daytime temperature of +26 C and a nighttime temperature down to -130 C are required, along with an atmosphere of Martian composition at 10 mbar. Flexibility of parameters and automated control are important, as the effects of these extremes on pioneer organisms must be taken into account and parameter adjusted accordingly until the effects of the extremes are understood.

3. Efficient and safe miniaturized simulated planetary environments. Challenging thermal problems are associated with creating a portable Mars-like environment that can be distributed among many laboratories and classrooms. If 1,000 teachers and students each study 100 cm2 of simulated regolith under simulated planetary conditions, then 10 square meters of simulated planetary surface could be "under cultivation" at a time using a variety of organisms and approaches. The technical hurdles are heat rejection during the intensely illuminated daytime and cooling during the intensely frigid planetary (or lunar) night and meeting rigid safety requirements.

OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

1. Access to extraterrestrial venues. The above technologies are considered preparato- ry to research at extraterrestrial venues. All planetary parameters are simulated in the terrestrial test beds except cosmic radiation and gravity. The International Space Station (using centrifuges) and the Moon (using passive thermal control and telemetry) constitute extraterrestrial venues for test-beds where the missing parameters can be included; however, fidelity of other parameters (day-length, atmosphere) would suffer.

2. Novel laboratory information networks. Data synthesis from multiple terrestrial test- beds (and any future extraterrestrial facilities that may emerge) may be required to sum over widely dispersed rare events. Some experiments may take decades. Self-prompt- 56 ing messages and neural networks are only examples of potential technologies that could be utilized to create knowledge from sparse data gathered over many venues.

3. Microbial health assessment. Robust remote sensor technologies that report metabo- lites, gas composition and other parameters indicative of living matter will ultimately be required as research progresses using terrestrial and extraterrestrial test beds.

57 APPENDIX B

Infusion Status and Recommendations

58 59 60 61 62 63 APPENDIX C

Inspiration and Outreach Contacts 2004: PROPOSAL REVIEW, National Science Foundation (NSF) August 24-25: Ron Turner participated in an NSF proposal review. The advanced facility under review potentially complements several space systems concepts in NIAC's 10-40 year time frame.

INVITED LECTURE, Aerospace Electronics Association (AEA) September 28: Bob Cassanova gave an invited lecture at the monthly meeting of the AEA held at the offices of Electromagnetic Sciences in Norcross, Georgia. The meeting was attended by 35 engineers and scientists.

INVITED LECTURE, Winston Elementary School September 28: Bob Cassanova gave an invited lecture on the topic of "Space" including anima- tions of several NIAC concepts to a group of 150 second and fourth graders at the Winston Elementary School in Villa Rica, Georgia.

PAPER PRESENTED, International Astronautical Congress (IAC) October 4-8: Bob Cassanova presented a paper authored by himself and Ron Turner entitled "Visions and Possibilities for Future Exploration of Space" at this meeting in Vancouver, BC. Papers were also presented by NIAC Fellows Dava Newman, Ralph McNutt, Terry Kammash, Bradley Edwards, Jerome Pearson and Geoffrey Landis. Over 2000 people attended. Bob also attended a number of the technical sessions and participated in a dinner with a group with a special interest in the space elevator.

VISITING PROFESSOR, National Institute for Aerospace (NIA) October 28: Dr. Walter O'Brien, Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Virginia Tech, who is working closely with the National Institute for Aerospace (NIA), visited with Bob Cassanova to explore possible closer collaboration with NIAC. The NIA is funded by NASA LaRC. Bob gave Walter an overview of NIAC and copies of the NIAC brochure.

ABSTRACT SUBMITTED, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Conference on Space Exploration November 1: Ron Turner submitted an abstract, co-authored with Bob Cassanova and Diana Jennings, for a paper to be presented at the "1st Space Exploration Conference: Continuing the Voyage of Discovery" in Orlando, Florida.

INVITED SPEAKER, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Space Day November 5: Diana Jennings attended Space Day at MIT in Boston. Space Day is an annual event organized by Boston's Museum of Science and sponsored by the Massachusetts Space Grant. Approximately 350 students from inner city and suburban schools attended. Danielle Adams, a NIAC NSVFP Phase I awardee, presented her NIAC-sponsored work and fielded questions from attendees.

ATTENDANCE, American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology Conference (ASGSB)

64 November 9-11: Diana Jennings attended the 20th Annual Meeting of the ASGSB in New York City. NIAC Fellows Wendy Boss and Paul Todd presented at the meeting. Diana Jennings distributed brochures, business cards, and advertised the new Phase I Call for Proposals. She also participated as a new member on the ASGSB Finance committee.

ATTENDANCE, Space Vision 2004 November 12-14: Diana Jennings attended the Space Vision 2004 meeting in Boston. Space Vision 2004 is a major meeting of the Students for Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mars Society (MITMS). Michael Laine of Liftport, Inc. and NIAC Fellow Bradley Edwards demonstrated a new robotic lifter which is a pro- totype for lifters that will be used to construct the Space Elevator and ferry cargo.

INVITED LECTURE, Georgia Tech School of Aerospace Engineering November 18: Bob Cassanova gave an invited lecture to about 100 students at the Georgia Tech School of Aerospace Engineering as part of their senior design class activities.

INVITED PRESENTATION, NASA SBIR/STTR November 19: Bob Cassanova gave a presentation at the annual meeting of the NASA SBIR/STTR program at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.

ATTENDANCE, NASA Capability Roadmap Public Outreach Workshop November 30: Ron Turner and two additional ANSER analysts (John Starcher and Geoff Lordi) attended the NASA Capability Roadmap Public Outreach Workshop, in Washington DC, sponsored by NASA's Advanced Planning and Integration Office.

INVITED LECTURE, Global Atlanta Group- Southern Polytechnic State University December 7: Bob Cassanova gave an invited lecture to a meeting of the Global Atlanta group at the Southern Polytechnic State University. This group included about 200 representatives from Atlanta area universities, consulate offices in Atlanta and local area businesses.

ATTENDANCE, Office of Exploration Systems Research & Technology Interchange Meeting December 13 - 17: Sharon Garrison attended the Office of Exploration Systems Research & Technology Interchange Meeting in Pasadena, CA. She gave a 10 - 15 minute catalytic focused presentation on key technology opportunities for Space Exploration. Approximately 325 people attended and participation was by invitation only. Sharon attended the 4 working sessions for Advanced Studies, Concepts and Tools - Advanced Concepts and Exploratory Research and Technology and distributed 100 NIAC brochures. Additionally, Sharon wrote and delivered a requested white paper to Neville Marzwell.

65 2005: PLANNING, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Forum Symposium on Advanced Space Exploration Concepts, Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) January 27: Bob Cassanova met with Jeff White (GPB), Ann Revell-Pechar (President Revell- Pechar Inc., PR, Marketing, and Events), Jake Shakhman (GPB) and Bob Scaringe (Marketing Consultant) to discuss the possibilities of setting up a TV broadcast of an MIT Forum-sponsored program on Space Exploration. The program will feature NIAC, with invited speakers including Bob Cassanova and several NIAC Fellows such as Bradley Edwards, Dava Newman, and Penny Boston.

PAPER PRESENTED, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Space Exploration Conference January 30 - February 1: At the AIAA Space Exploration Conference in Orlando, Florida, NIAC Student Fellow,Jarret LeFleur, had his paper, "Daedalon", accepted for publication, but not presentation (paper number AIAA 2005- 2771). Ron Turner attended the conference, distributed NIAC brochures and met with potential Phase I proposers, science writers, NASA representatives and other members of the technical community.

ABSTRACT SUBMITTED, National Astrobiology Institute (NAI) February 1: Diana Jennings prepared and submitted an abstract to the NAI of an invited paper to be presented at their meeting in Boulder, Colorado in April, 2005.

ATTENDANCE, USRA Education and Public Outreach (EPO) Summit February 2-3: Diana Jennings attended the USRA EPO summit in Columbia, Maryland. She distributed information about the Student Fellow Prize and conferred with other USRA EPO people on leveraging USRA resources to maximize the visibility of the NIAC Student Fellow Prize Call for Proposals.

INVITED PARTICIPATION, Loya Jirga Future In-Space Capabilities Meeting February 2-4: Bob Cassanova attended the Second Loya Jirga: Future In-Space Capabilities meeting organized by Harley Thronson in the Space Sciences Directorate. The meeting was held at the Hotel Boulderado in Boulder, Colorado.

ATTENDANCE, Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG) February 10-11: Ron Turner attended the OPAG meeting in Bethesda, Maryland. OPAG is a new science working group defining science objectives for outer planet exploration.

ATTENDANCE, INVITED PAPER, PLENARY and SESSION CHAIR Space Technology and Applications International Forum (STAIF) Meeting February 13 - 17: Bob Cassanova and Diana Jennings attended and presented a paper at the STAIF 2005 meeting held in Albuquerque, New Mexico . Bob chaired the session on "Exploration" and presented a plenary talk in the opening session of the "Colonization" symposium.

ATTENDANCE, Mars Exploration Program Assessment Group (MEPAG) February 16-17: Ron Turner attended the MEPAG meeting in Arlington, Virginia. MEPAG is an established science working group defining science objectives for Mars exploration.

MEETING, National Science Foundation (NSF) February 18: Ron Turner met with the NSF to discuss potential peer reviewers for pending Phase I proposals.

66 PLANNING, Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB), NASA TV February 22: Bob Cassanova attended a meeting at GPB to continue the planning for the MIT Forum sponsored event to include a plenary talk by Bob Cassanova and presentations by three NIAC Fellows. The public event will take place in the studios of GPB on September 22, 2005 and will be a live internet broadcast over the MIT Forum website. The broadcast will also be offered to NASA TV as a live broadcast or recording for later editing and broadcast. Preliminary discussions are also proceeding that explore the possibilities of a one hour program focused on space exploration.

INVITED PARTICIPATION, Consul General of Switzerland March 4: Bob Cassanova was invited by the Consul General of Switzerland in Atlanta to attend a luncheon honoring Swiss Astronaut Nicollier. Bob Cassanova attended a luncheon and a public lecture by Nicollier.

PANEL SERVICE, NRC’s Panel D: Human Health and Support Systems March 5: Ron Turner has been appointed chairman of the NRC's Panel D: Human Health and Support Systems which is part of the NRC's review of the NASA capability roadmap.

MATERIALS PROVIDED, American Astronomical Society (AAS) 43rd Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium March 29-30: NIAC provided brochures and NIAC Student Fellows Prize announcements for handout at the AAS 43rd ROBERT H. GODDARD MEMORIAL SYMPOSIUM, "Earth and Space Science: Exploring the Possibilities" in Greenbelt, Maryland.

INVITED PRESENTATION, NASA Ames Astrobiology Institute (NAI) April 11 - 13: Diana Jennings gave an invited presentation describing NIAC life-sciences related research to a group of about 300 participants.

INVITED PRESENTATION, Student Pugwash Northeast Regional Conference April 15 - 16: Diana Jennings gave an invited talk on NIAC concepts at the annual Student Pugwash Northeast Regional Conference on April 15 - 16, 2005 at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.

INVITED SPEAKER, 5TH NATIONAL RECONNAISANCE OFFICE AND AIAA FORUM ON SPACE LAUNCH INTEGRATION May 10: Bob Cassanova was the featured dinner speaker at the 5th National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and AIAA Forum on Space Launch Integration in Chantilly, Virginia on May 10, 2005. Approximately 300 engineers from NRO, other government agencies, and their contractors attended.

Invention to Venture Life Sciences, Boston Conference Center June 2: Diana Jennings attended the forum, "Invention to Venture Life Sciences", at the Boston Conference Center at Harvard. The event features a preview to Ernst & Young's state of the industry biotech report. Speakers include a wide range of industry experts drawn from the university, investor and business communities. This one-day forum is for university researchers looking to commercialize biotechnology and for entrepreneurs, investors and industry representatives seeking to learn more about the university technology commercialization process.

WORKSHOP ATTENDANCE, Radiation Shielding and Superconducting Magnet

67 Technology June 13: Diana Jennings and Ron Turner attended the Workshop on Radiation Shielding and Superconducting Magnet Technology held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The workshop was coordinated by NIAC Fellow Jeff Hoffman.

INVITED PAPER 2005, National Space and Missile Materials Symposium (NSMMS) June 28: Bob Cassanova gave an invited paper at the 2005 NSMMS session entitled "Moon & Mars: There & Back". He also participated on a panel at the end of the session chaired by Steve Wax.

68 APPENDIX D NIAC Publicity

2004: Discover Magazine July 2004 Discover Magazine featured the NIAC-funded Space Elevator on the front cover and in an 8-page article. NIAC Fellow, Bradley Edwards; NIAC Associate Director, Patricia Russell; and NASA's MSFC David Smitherman and NASA's JPL, Neville Marzwell were interviewed and quoted in the article.

GSFC Public Affairs Office, Goddard News August 2004 The USRA/ANSER-NASA NIAC Team's recent NASA Honor Award is recognized in the October 2004 Goddard News. The article is entitled "NIAC Team Wins Award for Six-Year Walk on the Wild Side". http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/goddardnews/gnews10-04.pdf

Atlanta Journal-Constitution 30 September 2004 In the September 30, 2004 issue of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution there is an article on page B- 1 about NIAC's latest awards for Phase I grants. The article is authored by Mike Tone. The article includes quotes from Bob Cassanova, Director of the NIAC, and also acknowledges the Universities Space Research Association.

The Daily Camera 6 October 2004 Webster Cash's new Phase I is described in an article entitled: "Taking A Pinhole View of the Cosmos", by Todd Neff. The entire article is located at: http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/science/article/0,1713,BDC_2432_3233502,00.html

Scientific American October 2004 The October 2004 issue of Scientific American contains an article written by Ross Hoffman, NIAC Phase II Fellow, entitled "Controlling Hurricanes: Can hurricanes and other severe tropical storms be moderated or deflected?" This article is based on his Phase II concept funded by NIAC and he acknowledges NIAC's support.

San Francisco Chronicle October 2004 Keay Davidson with the San Francisco Chronical contacted NIAC to gather information about an article he is preparing on the subject of "antimatter" based on the keynote presentation by Dr. Ken Edwards at the NIAC Fellows Meeting in March 2004.

NOVA Television Series October 2004 The NOVA series, "Origins", narrated and hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, is broadcast over public TV channels and includes several interviews with Dr. Penny Boston who is a NIAC Phase II Fellow.

69 UniverseToday.com 29 September 2004 An article published entitled "NASA Pushes the Limits with New Awards" at Universe Today was drawn from a NASA News Release prepared by Bill Steigerwald of the GSFC Public Affairs Office.The article is located at: http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/nasa_investigates _advanced_concepts.html.

New Scientist, Space Daily, U.S. State Department, MSNBC, WIRED, University of Washington Press October - March 2005 These publications described the work of NIAC Fellow Robert Winglee of the University of Washington. His advanced concept, the MagBeam, is described in the following sites: New Scientist , http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996543 SpaceDaily , http://www.spacedaily.com/news/rocketscience-04zh.html State Department, http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/ MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3217961/ WIRED, http://www.wired.com/news/space/0,2697,65391,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_5 University of Washington press release, http://www.washington.edu/newsroom/mars.htm

UniverseToday.com October 2005 UniverseToday.com published articles about the Robert Winglee's Mag Beam and Webster Cash's Space Based Observatory at the following links: http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/mag_beam_propulsion_system.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/biggest_pinhole_camera_ever.html

Business Week October 2004 Two articles appeared in Business Week (businessweek.com) regarding the space elevator: "Universe in a Grain of Sand", and "SciFi: Novel Inspiration".

The following links are three news sites that posted an announcement of the recent NIAC Phase I awards. Additionally, the artwork concept of the moon base radiation shield (Analysis of a Lunar Base Electrostatic Radiation Shield Concept, PI: Dr. Charles R. Buhler, ASRC Aerospace Corporation, Kennedy Space Center, Fla.) was used in each article. http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0409/28advanced/ http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=15150 http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/nasa_investigates_advanced_concepts.htm

NewScientist.com 18 October 2004 On October 18th, NewScientist.com published an article about Magbeam on the following link: http://www.new scientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996543

Astrobiology Magazine October 2004 NIAC Fellow Penny Boston mentions her NIAC work in the article entitled, “Life in a Lava Tube” in Astrobiology Magazine in the first link below. http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1260.html.

70 NOVA Television October 2004 NIAC was contacted by NOVA regarding a NOVA series about weather control including an interview with NIAC Fellow Ross Hoffman. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/science/20041103-9999-lz1c3concepts.html http://www.nightskyobserver.com/moon03100401.htm

GRANI (Russian Press) October 2004 Russian coverage of Phase I NIAC awards taken from the NASA Press Release authored by Bill Stiegerwald, GSFC Public Affairs Office: http://grani.ru/Techno/m.77635.html

ABCnews.com 8 November 2004 Robert Winglee and NIAC are featured on a front-page article about space sails on ABCnews.com: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/Science/story?id=229166&page=1

Planetary Society 3 November 2004 Bob Cassanova was interviewed by Mat Kaplan in connection with a radio program for Planetary Society.

Esquire Magazine, ‘Genius Issue’ December 2004 The Space Elevator is discussed on page 201 in the December 2004, Genius Issue, of Esquire. NIAC's Phase I winners are announced in a full page article in the newsletter of the American Society of Gravitational and Space Biology,http://www.asgsb.org/newsletter/v20_3/v20n3.pdf.

GSFC Public Affairs Office Press Release 19 November 2004 A NASA Press Release about the recently announced NIAC Phase I Proposal Call was issued on November 19, 2004. Bill Steigerwald of GSFC Public Affairs Office prepared this Press Release and coordinated it with NASA HQ. The release can be viewed at the following link: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/nov/HQ_04380_NIAC.html.

University Today 17-18 November 2004 University Today published two articles on November 17 and 18, 2004, authored by Fraser Cain and Nancy Atkinson, on NIAC-developed advanced concepts. The articles are at the links below. Space Elevator? Build it on the Moon First http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/lunar_space_elevator.html http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/lunar_space_elevator.html

Magnetic Bubble Could Protect Astronauts on Long Trips http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/magnetic_bubble_protect.html

Newsweek (Polish Version) 5 December 2004 NIAC was informed that an article about NIAC will be released in the Polish version of Newsweek during the week of Dec. 5, 2004.

71 Christian Science Monitor 2 December 2004 On December 2, 2004, the Christian Science Monitor released an article by Peter Spotts about Robert Winglee's Magbeam, a NIAC Phase I advanced concept study. NIAC and Bob Cassanova are also cited in the article several times. The link and article follows. http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1202/p15s01-stss.html

Washington Post Ron Turner and Dale Little were contacted by Guy Gugliotta from the Washington Post who is preparing an article about NIAC.

CBS/Wired Radio 22 December 2004 Bob Cassanova was interviewed for a radio segment to be broadcast on CBS/Wired radio. The interview was broadcast on December 22 and can be heard at:: http://www.heingartner.com/wired_radio/12-22-2004/NASA_outside_of_the_box.mp3

Animal Planet, Storyteller Media Group January 2005 Bob Cassanova was contacted by a reporter from Storyteller Media Group, an independent production company based in Western Australia. They are currently producing "Animal X" for Animal Planet and one episode may include a segment about the Entomopter, a NIAC concept developed by Anthony Colozza and Robert Michelson.

Proceedings of the AIAA Space Exploration Conference 30 January-1 February 2005 NIAC Student Fellow, Jarret LaFleur, notified NIAC that a paper based on his NIAC funded concept, "Daedalon", has been accepted for publication in the proceedings of the AIAA Space Exploration Conference (paper number AIAA 2005-2771) on January 30-February 1, 2005.

Alaska Airlines Magazine January 2005 An article in the January 2005 issue of Alaska Airlines Magazine, titled "Star Search: Ambitious Research Projects Probe the Solar System, and Beyond, for Answers to Some of the Fundamental Questions of Science," features Robert Winglee's Mini-Magnetospheric Plasma Propulsion (M2P2) NIAC-funded advanced concept.

MediaCorp Press TODAY 19 January 2005 Carlo Montegmano, NIAC funded Phase I Fellow, continued his research beyond his NIAC funded Phase I grant and has achieved noteworthy success, as documented at: http://www.todayon- line.com/articles/33037.asp The article is entitled, "Nanorobots now muscle-powered".

CNN.com 18 January 2005 There was a short article published entitled, "Biology meets microchips to make tiny robots" regarding Carlo Montegmano, NIAC funded Phase I Fellow, on Jan. 18, 2005, at CNN.com http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/01/18/microbots.reut/index.html

72 Space Review 23 January 2005 NIAC Phase I Fellow Jeff Hoffman's concept for using magnetic shields for radiation protection was featured in an online article at http://www.thespacereview.com/article/308/1

ConstituentWorks Corporation Radio Broadcast 25 January 2005 The NIAC Director was interviewed on Jan. 25, 2005 by Mike Lippis of ConstituentWorks Corporation for a radio broadcast. The interview can be heard at the following websites. http://www.officeroutlook.com/RADIO/NIAC.htm http://www.officeroutlook.com/ http://www.officeroutlook.com/news/science.htm

Space.com, CNN, The Register, USA Today, The Discovery Channel 26 January 2005 On January 26, the Drudge Report linked to the article on Space.com about Dava Newman's "Biosuit". The link to the Drudge Report is: http://www.drudgereport.com/ The article was also picked by the Yahoo at http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=96&ncid=96&e=1&u=/space/20050126/sc_sp ace/hightechspacesuitseyedforextremeexploration The Bio-Suit also received media coverage at: CNN, Space.com, The Register, USA Today and The Discovery Channel in Canada at the following links: http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/01/26/bio.spacesuits/index.html http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/spacesuit_innovations050126.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/28/space_suit_mit/, http://www.exn.ca/dailyplanet/view.asp?date=1/26/2005

UniverseToday.com 28 January 2005 On January 28, UniverseToday.com carried an article about Roger Angel's Phase I concept. The article is entitled "A Pristine View of the Universe... from the Moon" and is available at: http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/pristine _view_universe_moon.html

The Chronicle, Duke University 16 February 2005 The NIAC Student Fellows Prize is mentioned in the February 16, 2005 edition of The Chronicle online report, an independent daily at Duke University at the following link. http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/vnews/display.v/ ART/2005/02/16/421359d797ccd

Space.com 18 February 2005 On February 18th, Brad Edwards was featured on Space.com. The article is entitled "Elevator Man: Bradley Edwards Reaches for the Heights" by Sara Goudarzi Edwards' Phase I and Phase II funding from NIAC is mentioned.The article is at: http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/edwards_boldly_050218.html

Space.com 22 February 2005 Leonard David at Space.com authored an article entitled "Digging and Sniffing for Life on Mars"

73 by Leonard David. The article is a fascinating overview of the current search for life on Mars. NIAC Phase II Fellow Penny Boston was interviewed and both her NIAC work and NIAC were cited. NIAC Phase I Fellow, Robert Zubrin, was also interviewed. Additionally, NASA Chief Scientist, James Garvin, was also interviewed. The article is at the following link. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050222_mars_methane.html

NASA Press Release 23 February 2005 NASA issued a press release authored by Bill Steigerwald announcing the NIAC Student Fellows Prize.

British Television February 2005 Diana Jennings was contacted by David Paterson who is a science writer and is beginning to plan a documentary named "Ark Ship" for a British television station. The theme of the documentary will be "human exploration" and is likely to include NIAC concepts.

Grant MacEwan College February 2005 NIAC was contacted by Carter Haydu who is writing an article for Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

The Futures Channel February 2005 The Futures Channel released a short video clip of the interviews that were conducted at the NIAC Annual Meeting in October 2004. The clip includes interviews with Bob Cassanova, Sharon Garrison and a number of the NIAC Fellows. The clip is available on line at the following link: http://www.thefutureschannel.com/niac/

Space.com 9 March 2005 Leonard David authored an article in Space.com entitled "Super Telescopes in Space and on the Moon". The link is: http://space.com/businesstechnology/050309_lunar_scope.html.

NASA GSFC Article March 2005 Ronald Toland, an engineer in NASA GSFC, wrote article about Dr. Webster Cash's New Worlds Imager that is now on the NASA website at: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/new- worlds/new_worlds_imager.html.

Huntsville Times 28 March 2005 The Huntsville Times newspaper published an article authored by Donna Fork about the NIAC Fellows Meeting.

Georgia Trend Magazine April 2005 The April issue of Georgia Trend magazine includes an article and photos about NIAC and NIAC sponsored concepts being developed by organizations in Georgia. (http://www.georgiatrend.com/site/).

74 Galafilm Productions, Inc. May 2005 NIAC was contacted by Galafilm Productions, Inc. to explore the possibilities of working on a 4- part docudrama about the first human mission to Mars. Rob Hoyt, NIAC Phase II Fellow, was rec- ommended as a source of information on tethers and trusses in space. He was contacted and agreed to serve as a technical resource for the docudrama.

Discovery Channel 16-18 May 2005 Robert Winglee's Phase I concept, MagBeam, will be included in a forthcoming special program on the Discovery Channel called the "Science of Star Wars".

NASA Web Site May 2005 An article about Robert Winglee's NIAC-funded advanced concept, The Magbeam, is featured on the NASA site at: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/magbeam.html It also appears on the NASA main page for "Exploration of the Universe": http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/features/index.html

The Christian Science Monitor June 2005 In an article entitled "Solar-sailing era begins in space", Peter N. Spotts quotes Dr. Bob Zubrin, NIAC Phase I Fellow. Dr. Zubrin mentioned NIAC in his comments. The link is: http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20050620/ts_csm/awindy_1;_ylt=AlTECrx_cJPmdiLm3XXy.IblmlU A;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

Published Book, “Centauri Dreams” June 2005 Paul Gilstar, a science reporter for the Raleigh News and Observer, published a book, "Centauri Dreams", that gives many positive comments about NIAC and a number of the NIAC funded concepts. The book is described on the Amazon.com website: (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/038700436X/202-4615300-4221458) and on Gilster's website www.centauri-dreams.org.

Popular Science June 2005 The NIAC sponsored Biosuit, being developed at MIT by Dr. Dava Newman, is featured on the cover of the June 2005 Popular Science.

National Public Radio June 2005 NPR's 'Talk of the Nation' this past week featured NIAC Fellow Bradley Edwards, President of Carbon Designs Inc., http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4679039. Space Elevator status on NPR audio was posted on Slashdot on June 5, 2005.

Sensors Magazine June 2005 There is a short article on p. 10 of the June 2005 issue of Sensors Magazine regarding GEMS (http://www.sensorsmag.com/).

75 GSFC Public Affairs Office June 2005 On June 14, the GSFC Public Affairs Office published a press release authored by Bill Steigerwald about the NIAC Student Fellows Prize. On June 15, a press release also authored by Bill Steigerwald announced the list of Phase I Awards. As a consequence of these announcements, Space.Ref, BBSNews, Slashdot.com and others released articles about the NIAC awards. In an article entitled "Solar-sailing era begins in space", Peter N. Spotts, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor, quotes Dr. Bob Zubrin, NIAC Phase I Fellow. Dr. Zubrin mentioned NIAC in his comments. The link is: http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20050620/ts_csm/awindy_1;_ylt=AlTECrx_cJPmdiLm3XXy.IblmlU A;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

NewScientist.com June 2005 Gerald Jackson (HBar Technologies) reports that in June his newly-funded Phase I study was detailed on newscientist.com in an article entitled "'Antimatter harvester' may fuel future spacecraft". The article is available at http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn7538

UniverseToday.com June 2005 NIAC and NIAC Phase I PI Dr. Gerald Smith of Positronics Research LLC are featured in a UniverseToday.com article entitled "Positron Drive: Fill 'er up for Pluto" on June 30, 2005. The complete article is at: http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/positron_drive_pluto.html?3062005

Space.com July 5 The NIAC-sponsored Innovative Interstellar Explorers concept led by Ralph McNutt (Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory) was described on Space.com (http://space.com/businesstechnology/050706_star_voyage.html).

76 NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts 75 Fifth Street, NW, Suite 318 Atlanta, Georgia 30308 404-347-9633 404-347-9638 (fax)