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From a Pluto lander that hops like a bunny to a tube that shakes astronauts to simulate Earthlike gravity, NASA is investing in our science fiction future. On 6 April, NASA for 22 technology proposals under its (NIAC) programme.

This programme allows researchers to pursue their so-crazy-it-just-might-work ideas for revolutionising space travel and research. This year, 15 new proposals got Phase I funding of about $125,000 over 9 months, and 7 projects that already made it through Phase I got Phase II funding of up to $500,000 over 2 years.

All of the projects funded by NAIC are still early in their development – it will be a decade or longer before any of the concepts are likely to be used in an actual mission.

“We look forward to seeing how each new study will expand how we explore the universe,” , NIAC programme executive. “Hopefully, they will all go on to do what NIAC does best – change the possible.”

Early stages

Several of the Phase I projects relate to how we propel spacecraft. One, called “A Breakthrough Propulsion Architecture for Interstellar Precursor Missions”, proposes using a giant space-based laser to beam power to fast spacecraft exploring our solar system and beyond.

Some of the proposals present innovative ways to explore other worlds. “Pluto Hop, Skip, and Jump” is a proposed Pluto lander that takes advantage of the small world’s low gravity to “literally hop, skip, and jump around the surface, sometimes kilometers at a time”. It could bounce between interesting areas on the surface faster than a rover can drive, taking measurements as it goes.

The “Dismantling Rubble Pile Asteroids with Area-of-Effect Soft-bots” project is developing a robot shaped like a floppy frisbee that would stick to the surface of a nearby asteroid. Then, it could launch rocks off the asteroid to be caught by another spacecraft in orbit.

Not many of the NAIC proposals have to do with human space exploration, but “Turbolift” hopes to help astronauts on long flights in space avoid the negative health effects of microgravity. Artificial gravity systems that involve rotation can cause motion sickness and confusion, so instead, Turbolift basically shakes them up and down such that the feeling of gravity from acceleration is always in the same direction. “The experience is likely to be analogous to bouncing mildly on a trampoline,” the designers write.

Actually feasible

During Phase I of NAIC funding, researchers will flesh out their concepts and analyse whether they are feasible given the laws of physics and the technology that we have today. If they are, the researchers can apply for a second round of funding.

Among this year’s Phase II projects is a plan to send a probe into the sweltering haze of Venus’ atmosphere. The “Venus Interior Probe Using In-situ Power and Propulsion” will explore deep into the Venusian atmosphere, using gas found there and solar panels so it doesn’t have to carry as much fuel from Earth.

“Stellar Echo Imaging of Exoplanets,” another Phase II concept, aims to use the natural fluctuations of stars to find and maybe even take pictures of distant worlds. As a star’s intensity fluctuates, the light bouncing off its nearby planets changes, providing an opportunity for a sort of echolocation that could help detect exoplanets whose orbits prevent us from seeing them in other ways.

Because the NAIC programme only started in 2011 and development for this kind of project can take decades, there’s no way to know how these wild ideas will fare in the real world.