NASA has selected 15 visionary ideas for its NIAC (NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts) program, which develops concepts to transform future missions for the benefit of all. Chosen from companies and institutions across the United States, Winners of phase I 2025 represent a wide range of aerospace concepts.
The NIAC program promotes innovation by funding early-stage technology concept studies for future review and potential commercialization. The combined award for the 2025 concepts amounts to up to $2.625 million in grants to evaluate technologies that could enable future aerospace missions.
“Our next steps and giant leaps rely on innovation, and the concepts born from NIAC can radically change the way we explore deep space, work in low Earth orbit, and protect our home planet,” said Clayton Turner , associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. in Washington. “From the development little robots that could swim across the oceans of other worlds to growing space habitats against fungithis program continues to change what is possible.
Newly selected concepts include feasibility studies to explore the Sun’s influence on our solar system, building sustainable glass lunar habitats, exploring Saturn’s icy moon, and much more. All NIAC studies are in the early stages of conceptual development and are not considered official NASA missions.
Ryan Weed, Helicity Space LLC in Pasadena, California, offers a constellation of spacecraft powered by Helicity Drive, a compact and scalable fusion propulsion system, which could enable rapid, multi-directional exploration of the heliosphere and beyond, providing unprecedented insights into how the Sun interacts with our solar system and interstellar space. Demonstrating the feasibility of fusion propulsion could also benefit deep space exploration, including crewed missions to Mars.
Martin Bermudez, of Skyeports LLC in Sacramento, California, presents the concept of building a large-scale glass lunar habitat in a low-gravity environment. Nicknamed LUNGS (Lunar Glass Structure), This approach involves melting lunar glass compounds to create a large spherical shell structure. This idea offers a promising solution for establishing large-scale autonomous habitats on the lunar surface.
Justin Yim of the University of Illinois at Urbana proposes an aptly named jumping robot LEAP (Exploration on legs through the plume), as a new robotic sampling concept to explore Enceladus, a small icy moon of Saturn covered in geysers or jets. LEAP robots could make it possible to collect pristine ocean-derived materials directly from Enceladus’ jets and measure particle properties across multiple jets by moving from one to another.
“All progress begins with an idea. The NIAC program allows NASA to invest in unique ideas that enable innovation and support the nation’s aerospace economy,” said John Nelson, director of NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts Program in Washington.
NIAC researchers, called fellows, will study the fundamental premises of their concepts, identify potential challenges, and seek opportunities to bring these concepts to life.
In addition to the projects mentioned above, the following selected received NIAC Phase I 2025 grants:
- Michael Hecht, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge: EVE (Exploring Venus with Electrolysis)
- Selim Shahriar, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois: SUPREME-QG: Ultra-precise spatial measurement of the signature of the equivalence principle of quantum gravity
- Phillip Ansell, University of Illinois, Urbana: Hy2PASS (Hydrogen Hybrid Power for Aviation Sustainable Systems)
- Ryan Benson, ThinkOrbital Inc., Boulder, Colorado: Construction assembly destination
- Gyula Greschik, Tentguild Engineering Co, Boulder, Colorado: The ribbon: structureless sail for polar solar observation
- Marco Quadrelli, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California: PULSAR: planetary pulse taker
- Ben Hockman, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California: TOBIAS: Tethered Observatory for Balloon Imaging and Atmospheric Sampling
- Kimberly Weaver, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland: Contemplate the power of black holes with the Accretion Explorer interferometer
- NASA’s John Mather Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland: Inflatable Starshade for Terrestrial Exoplanets
- Robert Hinshaw of NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley: MitoMars: targeted mitochondrial replacement therapy to increase endurance in deep space
- Christine Gregg of NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley: Dynamically stable large space structures via architected metamaterials
- Saurabh Vilekar, Precision Combustion, North Haven, CT: Thermo-Photo-Catalysis of Water for the Supply of Oxygen to Crewed Transit Spacecraft on Mars
NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate funds the NIAC program because it is responsible for developing the agency’s new cross-cutting technologies and capabilities to achieve its current and future missions.
To learn more about NIAC, visit:
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Jasmine Hopkins
Headquarters, Washington
321-432-4624
jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov