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Space Science

NASA Seeks Geniuses and Visionaries 246

Posted by Zonk from the plenty-of-those-around-here,-right? dept.
Dotnaught writes "The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts has put out a call for 'revolutionary ideas to advance the Vision for Space Exploration.' Would-be visionaries are invited to submit their ideas by February 13, 2006, as explained in this Call for Proposals. Phase 1 grants range from $50K to $75K. Phase 2 grants go up to $400K. Sample grand visions include how to create a 'self-sustaining, human presence throughout the solar system' and 'truly autonomous robotic operations for exploration and habitation.'" If any Slash users end up with the grants, we call dibs on interviews.
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NASA Seeks Geniuses and Visionaries More

NASA Seeks Geniuses and Visionaries

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  • My idea (Score:4, Funny)

    by SpaceAdmiral ( 869318 ) on Sunday December 18, 2005 @04:38PM (#14286823) Homepage
    I think there should be a space shuttle that doesn't use foam.

  • Almost Frist Post! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by TheBoostedBrain ( 622439 ) on Sunday December 18, 2005 @04:39PM (#14286830) Homepage Journal
    What about, cleaning space trash?

  • You can take my idea and run with it! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 18, 2005 @04:40PM (#14286833)
    Genetically modify humans for space travel. Characteristics include low gravity condition and extended life DNA programming. As soon as I get off of this LSD trip I will try to submit it.
    • For an nice version of this idea in the SciFi lit, try "Man Plus" by Fred Pohl, which in particular features exploration of Mars.
    • ... except that I was serious. The human body was not intended for interstellar travel -- we can't hibernate, we need energy in a difficult form to provide in space (food), we need an atmosphere, we are quarrelsome when contained in small spaces for long periods, we don't deal with zero-gee very well, and our 100-year lifespan is far too short. At least some of these problems would be solved with genetic engineering.

      In fact you can imagine multiple races of engineered humanoids to fulfil various tasks on
      • By the time we are ready to send people to other stars technology will be so advanced that speculating about it now is just entertainment. I like the idea of just sending the essential information and constructing copies of people in place. This is risk free as far as people here is concerned, since I see no reason to destroy the originals.
        • I like the idea of just sending the essential information and constructing copies of people in place.

          Fascinating idea, unless you mean sending (dead-listings of) human DNA into space, because some paranoid will protest saying it is just as bad as releasing the source code of some critical piece of software onto an untrusted network: "Just wait a while and the vulnerability exploits will come flying right back at you."
    • Spider Robinson will get a grant to pursue making "StarDance", "StarSeed", and "StarMind" *real*??? Do you appreciate the gap between such an awesome dream and knowing that when I "wake" I'll be at work posting on /.?
    • In addition to extended lifespan, I'd be looking into any possibility of reactivating some of the old monkey genes. For a species that plans to live in low or zero gravity and move freely in 3D rather than around a 2D surface, a prehensile tail would be really, really useful - as would more versatile toes. Who needs feet in zero-g? An extra pair of hands, though, would be, well... handy.

  • Been done (Score:3, Insightful)

    by daspriest ( 904701 ) on Sunday December 18, 2005 @04:40PM (#14286836)
    I thought Isaac Asimov had some great visions of possibilities for space exploration, and robotics usage....

    • Re:Been done (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Asimov died in 1992, this means from current copyright laws that is ideas cannot be used commercially for another 62 years without serious legal retributions from his estate. Another reason why dying old is bad for the advancement of human civilization.
      • Actually, NASA can simply license the ideas/patents from his estate and from his employer of several decades -- Boston University [bu.edu].
        • The guy had patents?

          I think anybody who reads his books and has what it takes to implement said ideas from there shouldn't have to license a patent for anything.....

          Do we also go back and pay Italy (or whoever holds the DaVinci estate) for his futuristic musings (such as helocopters, etcetera).

          It's a sad world when a sentiment like this is norm.
          • The guy had patents?
            Possibly. If not, the GP's question is moot.
            Do we also go back and pay Italy (or whoever holds the DaVinci estate) for his futuristic musings (such as helocopters, etcetera).
            No, any patents on those things (would've) expired long ago.
            It's a sad world when a sentiment like this is norm.
            Is it because you have no sellable ideas of your own?

            • If not, the GP's question is moot.

              That (your) post had no question(s).

              Is it because you have no sellable ideas of your own?

              And when did you stop hitting your wife?

              No, it's sad that someone can come up with a relatively generic idea (not implementation) and sit on it, wait for someone to make it reality, and then claim ownership of it.

              Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.

              Mankind has imagined fantastic things for at least thousands of years, thinking about it (and printing it in a book) is different fro

  • Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)

    by SpinJaunt ( 847897 ) on Sunday December 18, 2005 @04:43PM (#14286853)
    Not exactly rocket science is it? oh..

  • I did it. (Score:3, Funny)

    by mboverload ( 657893 ) on Sunday December 18, 2005 @04:50PM (#14286885) Journal
    I figured out how to fit the carbon dioxide filters from the Command Module to the LEM! Hire me!

  • This is the sort of thing we were trained for. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 18, 2005 @04:53PM (#14286900)
    I'm an astrophysicist, currently not working in academia. This is the sort of thing we dream of - the opportunity to pitch our ideas to someone who is interested in and understands the value of science.
     
    I once had a high tech compnay tell me they "didn't have much call for physics", I didn't have the heart to tell them it was physics than made their computers work and not magic.
     
    I know I'll be working on my ideas to submit. Thanks for the chance NASA!

    • I once had a high tech compnay tell me they "didn't have much call for physics", I didn't have the heart to tell them it was physics than made their computers work and not magic

      I completely sympathize -- to a point. You didn't say whether that was the kind of company that could have taken advantage of basic physics for their business.

      If the company were e.g. Intel, they'd be fools to respond that way, but if the company were, oh, BEA, or Microsoft, or Adobe, then the fact that physics makes their comp

    • How about spending some quality Hubble time with large bodies in the Kuiper Belt.
      It would be useful to know whether these bodies display MOND effects or not.
      Maybe we can figure out the Pioneer Anomaly one way or the other.
    • > I'm an astrophysicist, currently not working in academia. This is the sort of thing we dream of - the opportunity to pitch our ideas to someone who is interested in and understands the value of science.

      > I once had a high tech compnay tell me they "didn't have much call for physics", I didn't have the heart to tell them it was physics than made their computers work and not magic.

      Be sure to spellcheck your grant application...
  • I think NASA should set up a funding program where they pay people some huge ratio of gold to moon rocks in weight. Then let market forces work and have private enterprise mining the moon to bring home the new gold. And once the moon becomes passe make Mars rocks the new motivator.
    • Didn't Freeman Dyson have a similar idea?
    • It's not capitalism if the GOVERNMENT puts up money to fund something that the market otherwise would not have bothered with.

      The market is ALREADY allocating capital to its most efficient use.

      By definition, the government is intervening to redirect that capital (tax dollars) towards ends that the market would not otherwise. There is a built-in inefficieny.

      Note: I am not saying this is right or wrong - just that it is.

      If we completely eliminated NASA, maybe the market would colonize space faster than the go

  • And the surefire way to get a grant is... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by vistic ( 556838 ) on Sunday December 18, 2005 @04:58PM (#14286925)
    ...propose something that could also be modified by the military to be used as a weapon or to spy on "terrorists"

    (or fellow Americans, judging by Bushs latest statements...)
  • They're really throwing out pennies here. It's just a way to throw some money at small companies for the greater good. But likely it won't amount to much. 1 out of 100 they do may be useful.
    • Only in the exploration group would this sound like a good idea.
      50K? Are they serious. So they are going to pull together a panel of experts, drag them into downtown DC for a few days, put them up in hotel rooms, pay them for food, cabs, etc...(at a total cost of what, around 2K per person.. given a panel of 10 ... 20K not including salary that also must be paid by someone, usually NASA as well) Then this group sits around and debates the merits of the 100+ proposals they receive. A winner is chosen and

  • Free Brainstorming (Score:2, Interesting)

    by EdwinBoyd ( 810701 )
    This sounds like a cheap way to get new ideas, not that there's anything wrong with that. I once went to a job interview and one of the questions was "How would you implement a trackerless bittorrent protocol?" I had to laugh and say "If I knew how to do that I sure as hell wouldn't give it away in an interview"

    Needless to say I didn't hear from them.

  • For the armchari quarterbacks (Score:4, Informative)

    by Belseth ( 835595 ) on Sunday December 18, 2005 @05:09PM (#14286972)
    I read it over. They aren't after pitch ideas but formal proposals. That includes detailed cost projections, translated how the money will be spent. You're applying for a grant not throwing ideas out there to win a prize. If you've never applied for a grant it's a waste of your time and theirs. That said it's amazing they are opening wide for grant proposals.

  • I'll take my $400K in small bills, thank you.

    This is a PR stunt, I suspect.

    • Re:Develop nanotech aggressively (Score:5, Insightful)

      by NitsujTPU ( 19263 ) on Sunday December 18, 2005 @05:23PM (#14287039)
      No.

      This is not a PR stunt.

      Agencies do this all of the time, they just don't normally get FP'd on Slashdot. The people who usually respond to these things are university labs.

      For instance, I am a research assistant, and worked under a similar proposal for the development of Artificial Intelligence. My advisor being the contractor under which the work was done.

      The work is in multiple phases, with updates to the funding agency (DARPA) every year or so, and the money amounts are synonymous (though, DARPA has a lot more cash).

      If you're looking for PR stunts, look at the DARPA Grand Challenge. No money up-front, and $2 million to the winning team out of a field of over 200 teams, with no cash going out the first year.

      For DARPA research, those are bargain basement prizes. That said, I took part, and it was a wonderful experience. Perhaps PR stunts aren't so bad.

      • The reason I call it a PR stunt is because asking for open-ended "grand visions" doesn't seem likely to turn up anything new that hasn't been considered before - at least by any number of science fiction writers.

        Which means I think the money would be better spent reviewing what HAS been considered by other people and then picking whatever seems most likely to be productive of real breakthroughs in technological capability.

        Nanotech obviously fits that category.

        I doubt ANYBODY has ANY decent comprehensive con
        • But I still disagree. The NSF GRFP has an essay that is, "what do you want to research?"

          Now, obviously EVERYONE does, it's similar to the personal statement in PhD apps, but more research slanted, and you can be a bit more biased. NASA isn't going to seriously consider anything that puts nothing forward. I'm sure that there is a "put up or shut up" aspect to the app where you at least have to have citations and an explanation that it's a good idea.

          That sounds a lot like a standard research proposal to me
        • The reason I call it a PR stunt is because asking for open-ended "grand visions" doesn't seem likely to turn up anything new that hasn't been considered before - at least by any number of science fiction writers.

          They're not looking for pie-in-the-sky fantasies, they're requesting grant proposals, complete with timetables, budgets, and similar projections. They will necessarily get mostly serious proposals. The difference between these and previous grants is that NASA isn't soliciting grants for specific t

          • "I doubt ANYBODY has ANY decent comprehensive concept of "how to expand humans throughout the solar system". That's pure "pie in the sky" unlikely to lead to any specific productive research projects.

            On what do you base these doubts? Sure, the goal may sound a bit grandiose, but you gotta start somewhere. Nobody is seriously going to submit a grandiose plan to accomplish that goal in one fell swoop of research."

            Why did they cite that then? Or was that from the article submitter? If nobody can successfully s

  • I've Gotten Two... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Jordin ( 795817 ) on Sunday December 18, 2005 @05:18PM (#14287009)
    Seriously. I've gotten two NIAC phase 1 awards; the final report on one has been cited previously on Slashdot here [slashdot.org]. The other was for an interstellar propulsion concept; details here [usra.edu]

    NIAC has put out these calls once or twice a year since the late 90's. It's a cool organization, and I'm not saying that just because they've given me grants -- they've funded lots of really good work in many fields. Now if only NASA proper would follow up on more of it...

  • Out of the box thinking... (Score:4, Funny)

    by __aaclcg7560 ( 824291 ) on Sunday December 18, 2005 @05:22PM (#14287030)
    Q: Why did Captain Kirk pee on the ceiling?

    A: To go where no man has gone before.

    Honestly, there's a great scene in Apollo 13 where the crew was staring out the Command Module window as the waste tank was sprayed out into the space. NASA needs some great toilet bowl thinkers if they want to succeed.
  • Not sure if it'll get past the NASA censors though, I'll try my luck and see what happens.
  • In English English there is a colloqualism "genius" that means means the exact reverse; "What genius did this!"

    With that in mind, do we really think NASA needs more geniuses (genii?) and visionaries? I think they need more people that can roll up their sleeves, get their thumbs out of their posteriors, and get some darned work done. JPL seems the only bastion of sense and progress in this massive faceless beauracracy. The rest of it seems to be stuck on the vexing question of exactly what color should the f
  • If you want to know the kind of stuff that NIAC funds, here [usra.edu] a list of the reports from studies they've funded before. Perhaps the most famous one to Slashdotters is Bradley Edwards [usra.edu]' investigation of the Space Elevator, but there are plenty of other wild ideas, like collecting the miniscule amounts of antimatter that get trapped in the Earth's magnetic field, genetically engineering plants to survive on Mars, and suchlike.

    I've been trying to figure out a software engineering project fun and out there enou

  • I don't care who uses my idea as long as it gets used. (If I'm not too lazy I'll submit a proposal anyway but I think this idea shoud be submitted by whoever can write the best proposal.)

    Novel method for changing orbit of small planetary body (asteroid/comet).

    Abstract: Using a tethered "sling" to release pieces of a small planetary body, an small (inexpensive) payload delivered to a body rotating at a sufficient rate can effectively convert its rotational energy into directed kinetic energy. Tether, whic

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday December 18, 2005 @08:10PM (#14287875)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Throughout the solar system will be achieved when a sufficient number of humans volunteering for what are essentially one-way trips actually get what we need - I know there are hundreds if not thousands whose names are ahead of mine on lists to go... reliable transport and supplies sufficient to establish colonies are the other factors necessary. Get off the dime NASA.
  • here's mine... fly up some engines and fuel to attach to the ISS, and convert it into an interplanetary ship

    ok, maybe not interplanetary, but at least send it in orbit around the Moon, or to Cruithne
  • Put sand in space, in orbit both east-west and west-east (and possibly both directions north-south for polar orbits), thus denying competing countries anything more than low earth orbit for years to come. Actually, you'd probably be denying everybody orbit. But then a space elevator becomes a much more valuable concept, at least until it is abraded into dust by the passing sand.
  • it needs them, considering what has been happening to them recently...
  • They better start with developing nuclear propulsion - or they won't get anywhere with maned spacecraft.

  • Here's an idea (Score:4, Funny)

    by recharged95 ( 782975 ) on Monday December 19, 2005 @04:57AM (#14289661) Journal
    Invent a cheaper bed for sleeping. Those tempurpedics certified by the Space Foundation are ridiculously expensive... I was about to get one until I saw the price.

  • Sample grand visions include how to create a 'self-sustaining, human presence throughout the solar system' and 'truly autonomous robotic operations for exploration and habitation.'


    for 50 to 75K? That's K as in years, I hope.
  • Despite some recent funding issues, NASA still supports space science, not only space exploration/engineering. I've currently got close to $1 million in grants, the largets being $620k over five years to study a particularly interest class of quasars. We've been getting Hubble Space Telescope images [uwyo.edu] that are really spectacularly great.
  • The Cosmos will never been explored by humans, unless there is a huge breakthrough in Physics that ties Quantum Mechanics with Electrogravitics and uncovers the true nature of the fabrique of spacetime and allows for antigravity and FTL-propulsion systems.

    Sending a probe to the solar system is not considered 'space exploration' by SF fans. Space is so huge that, if we make an analogy with a house being Earth and a city being our galaxy, our foot has only been extended to reach 1 nanometre outside of the fro

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