Venus samples and interstellar probes: What space exploration technologies will NASA fund?

As part of the first phase of the NIAC project in 2024, NASA has awarded funding for 13 innovative space technology concepts that could shape future missions to Venus, Mars and worlds beyond our solar system. Each of the projects in the first phase will receive up to $175,000.

The space agency's NIAC (NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts) program aims to develop early-stage technology ideas from American innovators and entrepreneurs.

"The daring missions NASA undertakes for the benefit of humanity all begin as just an idea, and NIAC is responsible for inspiring many of those ideas," NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free said in the statement. "The Ingenuity helicopter flying on Mars and instruments on the MarCO deep-space cubesats can trace their lineage back to NIAC, proving there is a path from creative idea to mission success. And, while not all these concepts will fly, NASA and our partners worldwide can learn from fresh approaches and may eventually use technologies advanced by NIAC."

This year's NIAC program winners included autonomous tritium-powered sensors for exploring dark and cold environments such as craters on the Moon, missions to return samples from Venus to Earth, an advanced airborne mission to Mars, and a mission to send spacecraft to explore our planet. closest interstellar neighbor, Proxima Centauri.

All of these projects are still in the very early stages of conceptual development and, therefore, are not official NASA missions, but they, according to agency experts, have the potential for future consideration and commercialization.

One of the most exciting ideas involves returning a sample from the surface of Venus, the most hostile planetary environment in the solar system, using innovative carbon monoxide rocket technology to produce fuel from the planet's hot atmosphere. Another concept, called the Mars Aerial and Ground Intelligent Explorer (MAGGIE), aims to gain a more complete understanding of the Red Planet by studying the planet's entire surface.

Another idea involves flying a swarm of tiny probes to the closest exoplanet to Earth, Proxima b. The mission would involve thousands of probes acting in unison, giving them the ability to generate an optical signal strong enough to transmit information across the vast distances of interstellar space back to Earth. Thanks to this, it will be possible to view a potentially habitable exoplanet at close range.

Other concepts selected for NIAC Phase 1 grants in 2024 include water extraction and detoxification on Mars, nuclear-powered rocket design, a network of telescopes on the Moon, using satellites to improve cosmological distance measurements, long-term fuel storage, water-splitting technology, a laboratory hibernation in microgravity on the International Space Station and lightweight fiber-optic satellite antennas.

NIAC funding allows recipients to take the next steps in developing and testing their concepts and potentially bringing them to life.