NASA will award up to $625,000 in total funds to 22 early-stage technology proposals that aim to support future human and robotic exploration missions as well as boost aerospace systems development and operations.Fifteen studies were selected for the first phase of the 2017 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program that will cover initial definition and analysis of concepts over a nine-month period, NASA said Friday.
The agency added Phase I awards are worth a combined $125,000 and recipients can apply for Phase II grants if their feasibility studies are successful.
Seven awardees under NIAC’s second phase could receive as much as $500,000 in total to refine their designs and study technology implementation through a two-year period.
Phase II concepts include a probe that will use in-situ power and propulsion to study Venus’ atmosphere as well as orbital imaging data derived from stellar echo techniques that could help researchers to detect planets outside the solar system called exoplanets.
The full list of awardees can be found on NASA’s website.
