.jpg)
Quinn Morley’s space hydroplane receives funding from NASA. Photo: Quinn Morley
The US space agency is currently offering $175,000 in initial research grants for 14 new projects. These could prove valuable for missions both within and beyond the Solar System in the future.
Highlighting some standout projects, there’s TitanAir.
This is a hydroplane from Quinn Morley’s team, capable of skimming through the nitrogen and methane atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan and becoming a boat to traverse its oceans.
This “flying boat” will collect methane gas and complex organic materials for study.
Another project from Artur Davoyan at UCLA might help speed up spacecraft.
The design involves propelling spacecraft using a “pellet-beam,” a cluster of extremely tiny particles moving at high speeds (nearly 120 km per second) generated by laser-induced explosions. This technology could significantly reduce the time needed for deep space exploration.
It took Voyager 1 35 years to reach the interstellar space (the space between stars), which is about 123 astronomical units away from the Sun, whereas with this technology, a one-ton spacecraft could reach 100 astronomical units in just three years.
Other efforts share a similar ambition: venturing farther into space. MIT’s Mary Knapp has proposed building a deep space observatory, utilizing a swarm of thousands of small satellites to detect low-frequency radio emissions from the early universe.
Meanwhile, Peter Curreri from Lunar Resources aims to develop a way to transport oxygen pipelines between bases on the Moon.
These are all initial ideas, and there’s no guarantee they will lead to practical tests. However, they distinctly reflect NASA’s current direction. The agency is currently backing these projects in hopes that at least one of them will become a reality.