Battleangel

The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) has selected its 2005 Phase 1 awards winners. Two of my favorite winners from this year are ‘Extraction of Antiparticles Concentrated in Planetary Magnetic Fields’ and ‘A Deep Field Infrared Observatory Near the Lunar Pole.’ A brief summary of the awards is available at Spacedaily. The NIAC Website lists links to PDF articles of all their funded studies (past and current).

Source: Slashdot

12 Phase I concepts:

• A Contamination-Free Ultrahigh-Precision Formation Flight Method Based on Intracavity Photon Thrusters and Tethers
• Extraction of Antiparticles Concentrated in Planetary Magnetic Fields
• Customizable, Reprogrammable, Food Preparation, Production and Invention System
• Scalable Flat-Panel Nano-Particle MEMS/NEMS Propulsion Technology for Space Exploration in the 21st Century
• Antimatter Harvesting in Space
• Multi-MICE: A Network of Interactive Nuclear Cryoprobes to Explore Ice Sheets on Mars and Europa
• Artificial Neural Membrane Flapping Wing
• Lorentz-Actuated Orbits: Electrodynamic Propulsion without a Tether
• Magnetically Inflated Cable System for Space Applications
• Ultra-High Resolution Fourier Transform X-ray Interferometer
• Positron-Propelled and Powered Space Transport Vehicle for Planetary Missions
• Modular Spacecraft with Integrated Structural Electrodynamic Propulsion