NASA is a pretty forward thinking bunch. Beyond developing technologies for the next decade that could take us back to the moon or detect signals from the ancient universe, the national space agency is also looking to the more distant future. Recently, NASA's Planetary Science Director Jim Green floated an idea about launching a magnetic shield to help Mars grow an atmosphere and become habitable. A recent NASA paper also looked at the feasibility of harvesting and using resources in a colony on the Martian surface.
Since 1998, the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program has awarded millions of dollars to projects that could provide critical research for developing the technologies of the next 50 years. The agency just announced the list of 22 new projects, and it includes some wild stuff, like a swarm of robotic spacecraft to pick apart asteroids, a method for growing food in Martian soil, two fusion projects, a JPL study on interstellar propulsion techniques, a system to physically tether spacecraft to Mars' moon Phobos, a study on the effects of Mach speeds in spaceflight, and something called "solar surfing," which we assume is some sort of light sail-based propulsion technology.
NIAC selects the research that it considers most likely to be relevant decades from now, and those projects receive $125,000 in funding for nine months of research to prove that the work is feasible and valuable. If all goes well in Phase I, a project can get Phase II funding from NIAC for up to $500,000 and two additional years of funding. The Phase II projects this year include a Venus spacecraft that would be powered by the Venusian atmosphere, technology for mining asteroids, and a fusion-powered Pluto orbiter.
In the past, futuristic concepts like a space elevator and 3D printed spacecraft have been funded by NIAC. It remains to be seen which ones actually come to fruition, and which ones stay firmly planted in the domains of science fiction. Until then, you can get a kick out of looking at the 2017 NIAC projects below.
Phase I studies:
A Synthetic Biology Architecture to Detoxify and Enrich Mars Soil for Agriculture, Adam Arkin, University of California, Berkeley
A Breakthrough Propulsion Architecture for Interstellar Precursor Missions, John Brophy, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California
Evacuated Airship for Mars Missions, John-Paul Clarke, Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta
Mach Effects for In Space Propulsion: Interstellar Mission, Heidi Fearn, Space Studies Institute in Mojave, California
Pluto Hop, Skip, and Jump, Benjamin Goldman, Global Aerospace Corporation in Irwindale, California
Turbolift, Jason Gruber, Innovative Medical Solutions Group in Tampa, Florida
Phobos L1 Operational Tether Experiment, Kevin Kempton, NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia
Gradient Field Imploding Liner Fusion Propulsion System, Michael LaPointe, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama
Massively Expanded NEA Accessibility via Microwave-Sintered Aerobrakes, John Lewis, Deep Space Industries, Inc., in Moffett Field, California
Dismantling Rubble Pile Asteroids with Area-of-Effect Soft-bots, Jay McMahon, University of Colorado, Boulder
Continuous Electrode Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion, Raymond Sedwick, University of Maryland, College Park
Sutter: Breakthrough Telescope Innovation for Asteroid Survey Missions to Start a Gold Rush in Space, Joel Sercel, TransAstra in Lake View Terrace, California
Direct Multipixel Imaging and Spectroscopy of an Exoplanet with a Solar Gravity Lens Mission, Slava Turyshev, JPL
Solar Surfing, Robert Youngquist, NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida
A Direct Probe of Dark Energy Interactions with a Solar System Laboratory, Nan Yu, JPL
Phase II studies:
Venus Interior Probe Using In-situ Power and Propulsion, Ratnakumar Bugga, JPL
Remote Laser Evaporative Molecular Absorption Spectroscopy Sensor System, Gary Hughes, California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo
Brane Craft Phase II, Siegfried Janson, The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California
Stellar Echo Imaging of Exoplanets, Chris Mann, Nanohmics, Inc., Austin, Texas
Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments, Jonathan Sauder, JPL
Optical Mining of Asteroids, Moons, and Planets to Enable Sustainable Human Exploration and Space Industrialization, Joel Sercel, TransAstra Corp.
Fusion-Enabled Pluto Orbiter and Lander, Stephanie Thomas, Princeton Satellite Systems, Inc., in Plainsboro, New Jersey