February 7, 2014February 7, 2014 NASA symposium looks ahead The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium took place this past Tuesday through Thursday (February 4–6, 2014) at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. NIAC seeks innovative, technically credible advanced concepts that could one day change what is possible in aeronautics and space. The organization grants fellowships to individuals who are developing such concepts — NIAC Fellows represent academia, the private sector and government research labs. The 2014 symposium featured progress presentations from current and new NIAC Fellows. Their updates addressed such diverse research as revolutionary approaches to exploration, novel methods of propulsion and ways to support humans in extreme environments. Here are videos of of the presentations from the 2014 NIAC Symposium: Day One — Video One: Keynote Address: “Innovation, Explosives and the Benefit of Adolescent Behavior” Jamie Hyneman, Co-Host & Executive Producer of the Mythbusters television show Special Address S. Pete Worden, Center Director, NASA Ames Research Center Day One — Video Two: “Sample Return Systems for Extreme Environments” Robert Winglee, University of Washington, Seattle, 2013 Phase II Fellow “Nomadic Exploration: Following routes of solar sustenance and temperate climate” David Wettergreen, Carnegie Mellon University, 2013 Phase II Fellow Nomadic “A Matter of Some Gravity” Gary Hudson, President, Space Studies Institute Day One — Video Three: “Low-Mass Planar Photonic Imaging Sensor” S. J. Ben Yoo, University of California, Davis, 2013 Phase I Fellow “10 meter Sub-Orbital Large Balloon Reflector (LBR)” Christopher Walker, Univ. of Arizona, 2013 Phase I Fellow “Transformers For Extreme Environments” Adrian Stoica, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2013 Phase I Fellow “Plasmonic Force Propulsion Revolutionizes Nano/PicoSatellite Capability” Joshua Rovey, University of Missouri, Rolla, 2013 Phase I Fellow Day One — Video Four: “An Innovative Solution to NASA’s NEO Impact Threat Mitigation Grand Challenge and Flight Validation Mission Architecture Development” Bong Wie, Iowa State University, 2012 Phase II Fellow “Cavehopping Exploration of Planetary Skylights and Tunnels” William Whittaker, Astrobotic Technology, Inc., 2012 Phase II Fellow “Radiation Protection and Architecture Utilizing High Temperature Superconducting Magnets” Shayne Westover, NASA Johnson Space Center, 2012 Phase II Fellow Day Two — Video One: NIAC Plans and Announcements Jay Falker, NIAC Program Executive Keynote Address Peter Norvig, Director of Research, Google Inc. Day Two — Video Two: “A Gravitational Wave Detector Based on an Atom Interferometer” Babak Saif, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 2013 Phase II Fellow “Super Ball Bot — Structures for Planetary Landing and Exploration” Vytas SunSpiral, NASA Ames Research Center, 2013 Phase II Fellow Day Two — Video Three: “Biomaterials out of thin air: in situ, on-demand printing of advanced biocomposites” Lynn Rothschild, NASA Ames Research Center, 2013 Phase I Fellow “Deep Mapping of Small Solar System Bodies with Galactic Cosmic Ray Secondary Particle Showers” Thomas Prettyman, Planetary Science Institute, 2013 Phase I Fellow “Eternal Flight as the Solution for ‘X’ ” Mark Moore, NASA Langley Research Center, 2013 Phase I Fellow “Growth Adapted Tensegrity Structures — A New Calculus for the Space Economy” Anthony P. Longman, 2013 Phase I Fellow Day Two — Video Four: “ISRU-Based Robotic Construction Technologies for Lunar and Martian Infrastructures” Berok Khoshnevis, University of Southern California, 2012 Phase II Fellow “The Fusion Driven Rocket: Nuclear Propulsion through Direct Conversion of Fusion Energy” John Slough, MSNW LLC, 2012 Phase II Fellow “Printable Spacecraft: Flexible Electronic Platforms for NASA Missions” Kendra Short, NASA JPL, 2012 Phase II Fellow “OCCAMS: Optically Controlled and Corrected Active Meta-material Space Structures” Joe Ritter, Neoteric Physics, Inc., 2012 Phase II Fellow Day Three — Video One: NIAC Phase II Q&A and Other Topics Jay Falker, NIAC Program Executive Keynote Address: “Finding Cosmic Company: A Transformative Event of the 21st Century” Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer, SETI Institute Day Three — Video Two: “SpiderFab: Architecture for On-Orbit Construction of Kilometer-Scale Apertures” Robert Hoyt, Tethers, Unlimited, Inc., 2013 Phase II Fellow “Propellant-less Spacecraft Formation-Flying and Maneuvering with Photonic Laser Thrusters” Young K. Bae, Y.K. Bae Corporation, 2013 Phase II Fellow Day Three — Video Three: “Dual-mode Propulsion System Enabling CubeSat Exploration of the Solar System” Nathan Jerred, Universities Space Research Association, 2013 Phase I Fellow “Two-Dimensional Planetary Surface Landers” Hamid Hemmati, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2013 Phase I Fellow “Torpor Inducing Transfer Habitat For Human Stasis To Mars” John Bradford, SpaceWorks Engineering, 2013 Phase I Fellow “Pulsed Fission-Fusion (PuFF) Propulsion System” Rob Adams, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, 2013 Phase I Fellow Day Three — Video Four: “High-Temperature Superconductors as Electromagnetic Deployment and Support Structures” David Miller, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012 Phase II Fellow “Ghost Imaging of Space Objects” Dmitry Strekalov, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2012 Phase II Fellow “Variable Vector Countermeasure Suit (V2Suit) for Space Habitation and Exploration” Kevin Duda, The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc., 2012 Phase II Fellow Astronomy/Space Exploration astrobiologyNASANIAC