[NASA/NIAC] While karst terrain and subsurface caves are sites of immense scientific value on bodies like Titan, they are difficult or impossible to safely explore using current methods.
NIAC
Posted inMissions & Hardware
Planetary Recon: Interworld Slingshot Resource Surveys
[NASA] This proposal explores a new class of reconnaissance spacecraft that map minerals from orbit using Raman spectroscopy during high-speed flybys–without landing, sample return, or extended dwell. Editor’s note: for […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry
Mapping Alien Continents: Achieving Optical VLBI For Exoplanet Imaging
[NIAC / NASA] The scientific goal of the proposed work will be reconstructing the image, i.e. resolving surface features, of an Earth-like exoplanet around a nearby star as seen in […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Enceladus, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Saturn, Status Report
A Roadmap For The Exploration Of Enceladus
This paper provides key hypotheses to guide future missions to Enceladus for the current decadal cycle and beyond. Enceladus is a high priority target for the fields of astrobiology and […]
Posted inEnceladus, Europa, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Reports, Roadmaps, & Plans, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
NASA’s SWIM Robot on Glacial Ice in Alaska
A model of a tiny, wedge-shaped robot designed to explore subsurface oceans of icy moons, right, sits beside a large waterproof capsule containing electronics and sensors for testing below glacial […]
Posted inCryobiology, Europa, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Icy Ocean World Explorers For Future Astrobiology Missions
When NASA’s Europa Clipper reaches its destination in 2030, the spacecraft will prepare to aim an array of powerful science instruments toward Jupiter’s moon Europa during 49 flybys, looking for […]
Posted inEnceladus, Icy Worlds, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
NIAC 2020 Phase II Selection: Enceladus Vent Explorer
Enceladus Vent Explorer (EVE) is a robotic mission to enter an Enceladus. Her mission objective is to collect samples of ocean water that could contain intact organisms (i.e., cells) to […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Status Report
NIAC Phase 1 Proposal: Hybrid Observatory for Earth-like Exoplanets (HOEE)
We propose the first hybrid observatory, combining a 100 m diameter starshade in space with a telescope on the ground. The Hybrid Observatory for Earth-like Exoplanets (HOEE) would convert the […]
Posted inCommercial & Private Sector, Life Support Systems, Microbiology & Virology, Missions & Hardware, Press Release
NASA Advances Research to Grow Habitats in Space from Fungi
As NASA prepares for long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars for the benefit of all, a habitat-growing concept selected Wednesday by the agency could help “grow” homes using fungi […]
Posted inCommercial & Private Sector, Cubesats and smallsats, Interstellar, Missions & Hardware, Proxima Centauri, Status Report
Swarming Proxima Centauri: Coherent Picospacecraft Swarms Over Interstellar Distances
Tiny gram-scale interstellar probes pushed by laser light are likely to be the only technology capable of reaching another star this century. We presuppose availability by mid-century of a laser […]