In almost 20 years of research, it has been the home of some of the most daring ideas to aid exploration: space elevators, crops that could grow on Mars and a shield to protect our planet from global warming. But now NASA's Institute of Advanced Concepts (NIAC) has fallen victim to a very down-to-earth problem -- a lack of money.
The US space agency is set to close its futuristic ideas factory as part of a cost-cutting exercise that it hopes will help pay for ambitious plans to explore the moon and Mars. Bobby Mitchell, who works at NIAC's headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, said: "From what I understand, NASA are out of money. We haven't got an official notice yet but we have heard from NASA that they are going to discontinue funding."
Former NASA scientist Keith Cowing said the decision to close NIAC was "just plain stupid."
Writing on his NASA Watch Web site, he directed comments to NASA's administrator, Mike Griffin: "Advanced spacesuits ... will open the surface of the moon -- and then Mars -- to meaningful and productive human exploration."
"Where are you going to get all of the things you need to put on those Ares rockets so as to allow their crews to carry out their missions, Mike? Or do you `just need a good map?' Explorers without the right tools die -- or turn around -- and head back home. Wrong answer, Mike," Cowling wrote.
NIAC was set up in 1988 as a way to brainstorm revolutionary ideas that go beyond anything NASA does today. It draws US$4 million every year from the agency's US$16 billion budget and funds about a dozen projects every year for long-term ideas, things that could come to fruition within 10 to 40 years.
The institute is most interested in grand visions and big ideas that might inspire new technologies -- and scientists have traditionally been told they should not feel encumbered by what is possible today. Ideas where the technology to make something work has not yet been developed or the science is not entirely understood are welcomed.
Despite this wide remit, NIAC has kickstarted several ideas that have subsequently been picked up for further development by NASA.
Most recently, NASA got interested in a NIAC project called the New Worlds Imager, a space probe designed to take pictures of planets outside our solar system.
Taking such pictures is difficult because light coming from the planets is obscured by stars. To get around this, Webster Cash, of the University of Colorado at Boulder, planned a pair of spacecraft -- a starshade, which is the astronomical equivalent of sunglasses, and a collector -- that works as a giant pinhole camera.
The starshade would be 0.8km in diameter with a 10m hole at its center and would sit more than 200,000km from the collector, blocking the stars' dazzling light.
Wendy Boss and Amy Grunden, microbiologists at North Carolina State University, worked on NIAC-funded projects that looked at ways of growing food on other planets.
Taking her inspiration from organisms that live in the most extreme environments on Earth, Grunden genetically modified plants such as rye. In theory, astronauts on long missions could take the GM seeds with them, saving on the cost of taking food supplies into space.
Many of NIAC's projects fall into the realm of science fiction. The institute is famously home to the space elevator, an idea first proposed by Arthur Clarke in his 1978 novel Fountains of Paradise, to transport people and equipment cheaply into space.
In the NIAC proposal, a cable would be attached from the ground to a satellite in geostationary orbit around the Earth. Vehicles could then climb the tether and escape gravity without the need for rockets. But no one has yet designed materials that would be strong enough for the elevator to work.
Robert Angel of the University of Arizona was recently funded to look into creating a 1,988km wide shield to protect the Earth from the sun's rays and counteract global warming.
"Such a space-based solution might become an urgent priority, worth trillions of dollars if abrupt climate failures appear otherwise inevitable," he wrote in the outline for this project. "We propose to identify near-term research and space missions needed to understand whether a shield could be completed within a few decades at an affordable cost."
Martin Barstow, head of physics and astronomy at Leicester University in Britain, said it was important to have a mechanism for scientists to think about radical ideas.
"It's important that people have the freedom to be able to do this [but] I don't think you need a separate entity. You just need the mental framework, the capacity for people to have time made available," he said.
NASA has been reorganizing its activities since 2004, to pay for the technology it needs to meet its goal of getting humans back to the moon and then on to Mars.
The plans include developing the new Orion exploration vehicle, shaped like the Apollo space capsules last used in 1972 but three times bigger, to replace the space shuttle, and two new Ares I rockets that will blast the astronauts and equipment separately into space.
NASA has slashed more than US$300 million from the International Space Station's science budget and many robotic exploration missions have been either canceled or put on indefinite hold.
The past few months have seen tremendous strides in India’s journey to develop a vibrant semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The nation’s established prowess in information technology (IT) has earned it much-needed revenue and prestige across the globe. Now, through the convergence of engineering talent, supportive government policies, an expanding market and technologically adaptive entrepreneurship, India is striving to become part of global electronics and semiconductor supply chains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of “Make in India” and “Design in India” has been the guiding force behind the government’s incentive schemes that span skilling, design, fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, and
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s