5th Annual MeetingNovember 5-6, 2003

Welcome to NIAC’s 5th Annual Meeting

“Creativity and

imagination are not

luxuries,

but necessities”.

•Focus on Revolutionary Advanced Concepts for Architectures and Systems

NIAC’s Focus: Revolutionary concepts for systems and architectures that can have a major impact on future missions of NASA, 10 to 40 years into the future

NIAC’s Method: Provide a pathway for innovators with the ability for non-linearcreativity to explore revolutionary solutions to the grand challenges of future aerospace endeavors.

What is Revolutionary?

• The genius is in the generalities, and not the details

Einstein’s Theory of RelativityDarwin’s origin of speciesGalileoKepler…………

What is Revolutionary?

• The genius is in the generalities, and not the details

• The new idea illuminates a pathway towards a significant expansion of knowledge

A sense of malfunction can lead to crisis as a prerequisite to revolution.

May be the basis for a new tradition of normal science

New paradigms seem revolutionary only to those whose paradigms are affected by them.

What is Revolutionary?

• The genius is in the generalities, and not the details

• The new idea illuminates a pathway towards a significant expansion of knowledge

• It inspires others to produce useful science and further elaborationof the fundamental idea

Imagination and visualization are, generally, the first step in learning, or creating, something radically new.

Revolutionary art and visionary physics are bothinvestigations in the nature of reality.

What is Revolutionary?

• The genius is in the generalities, and not the details

• The new idea illuminates a pathway towards a significant expansion of knowledge

• It inspires others to produce useful science and further elaborationof the fundamental idea

• It contributes to a major change in the framework of aerospacepossibilities

Scientific research is an art form in this sense: it does not matterhow you make your discovery, only that your claim is true andconvincingly validated -- Edward O. Wilson

What is Revolutionary?

• The genius is in the generalities, and not the details

• The new idea illuminates a pathway towards a significant expansion of knowledge

• It inspires others to produce useful science and further elaborationof the fundamental idea

• It contributes to a major change in the framework of aerospacepossibilities

• It triggers a transformation of intuitionTheories help to put observations into context andto create a framework for further understanding

Scientific theories are the product of informed imagination

What is Revolutionary?

• The genius is in the generalities, and not the details

• The new idea illuminates a pathway towards a significant expansion of knowledge

• It inspires others to produce useful science and further elaborationof the fundamental idea

• It contributes to a major change in the framework of aerospacepossibilities

• It triggers a transformation of intuition

• Revolutionary paradigm shifts are often simple, elegant, majestic,beautiful and are characterized by order and symmetry

Creative paradigm changes are often the result of a non-linear, orthogonal imagination

Symmetry and order can be visually pleasing

Non-symmetry may be richer, more diverse and less boring

What is Revolutionary?

• The genius is in the generalities, and not the details

• The new idea illuminates a pathway towards a significantexpansion of knowledge

• It inspires others to produce useful science and further elaborationof the fundamental idea

• It contributes to a major change in the framework of aerospacepossibilities

• It triggers a transformation of intuition

• Revolutionary paradigm shifts are often simple, elegant, majestic,beautiful and are characterized by order and symmetry

There is a subtle yet significant difference between a creative and credible imaginative concept, and an imaginary pursuit.

Robert A. Cassanova, Ron Turner, Pat Russell

Don't let your preoccupation with reality stifle your imagination.Robert A. Cassanova and Sharon M. Garrison

Eternal Visions A pathway to a revolutionary framework of aerospace possibilities

Eternal Visions• Perturb the chaos and cause patterns to emerge

• Light the darkness and ignite our passion for knowledge

• Inspire our imagination and energize our creative spirit

• Give us hope for a future without limitsRobert A. Cassanova

“Vision is the art of seeing things invisible”Thoughts on Various Subjects

Jonathan Swift

Transition of NIAC Funded Concepts into NASA

The Space ElevatorBradley Edwards

Mini-Magnetospheric Plasma Propulsion System

Robert Winglee

X-Ray InterferometerWebster Cash

Super-pressure Balloon

Gondola

10-15 km

Balloon Trajectory

Control System

~40-50 m diameter

Possible Science Sensors

Rel. Wind 0.3-2.0 m/s

Rel. Wind 5-10 m/s

35-45 km Flight Altitude

Global Constellation of Stratospheric Scientific Platforms

Kerry Nock

Rotating Momentum Exchange Tethers

Robert Hoyt

EntomopterAnthony Colozza Robert Michelson

• Phase I awards of approximately $50,000 to $75,000 will be granted for six months to validate the viability of the proposed concept and define major feasibility issues

• Phase II awards up to $400,000 will be granted for 18 to 24 months

Proposals received to dateProposals received to date716

Awards to dateAwards to date118

Fellows of the InstituteFellows of the InstituteFellows of the Institute

Architecture for Unmanned Self-Replicating Lunar FactoriesGregory ChirikjianJohns Hopkins University

Microbots for Large-Scale Planetary Surface and Subsurface ExplorationSteven Dubowsky, MIT Karl Iagnemma, MITPenelope Boston, New Mexico Tech

General Plasma Technologies LLC Optimal Navigation in a Plasma MediumNathaniel FischGeneral Plasma Technologies LLC

Micro Asteroid Prospector Powered by Energetic Radioisotopes: MAPPERSteven Howe and Gerald JacksonHbar Technologies

CP 02-02 Phase I Awards

Modular Laser Launch Architecture: Analysis and Beam Module DesignJordin KareKare Technical Consulting

The League of Extraordinary Machines: A Rapid and Scalable Approach to Planetary Defense Against Asteroid Impactors

John Olds, A. C. Charania and Matthew GrahamSpaceWorks Engineering, Inc.

The Plasma MagnetJohn SloughMSNW

Robotic Lunar EcopoiesisPaul Todd, Space Hardware Optimization Technology (SHOT), Inc. Penelope Boston, Complex Systems Research, Inc.

CP 02-02 Phase I Awards

Modeling Kinematic Cellular Automata: An Approach to Self-Replication

Tihamer Toth-FejelGeneral Dynamics

Self Assembly of Optical Structures in SpaceM. P. Ulmer and G. C. SchatzNorthwestern University

High Resolution Structureless TelescopeJames WertzMicrocosm, Inc.

CP 02-02 Phase I Awards

Inspiring Our Nations YouthNIAC Student Visions of the

Future Program

Inspiring Our Nations YouthInspiring Our Nations YouthNIAC Student Visions of the NIAC Student Visions of the

Future ProgramFuture ProgramWHO: University Undergraduate Students

WHAT: Opportunity to Submit Revolutionary Aerospace Concept Ideas

HOW:• Three page descriptions of imaginative

• Credible ideas for aerospace systems or architectures to be implemented 10-40 years endorsed by a faculty advisor

• Compete for the opportunity to present a poster at the NIAC Annual Meeting to be held in Atlanta, Georgia on November 5-6, 2003

• All expenses will be paid for the student(s) and advisor (plus an award of $200)

• 10 proposals received by September 15, 2003

• 3 concepts selected

Funded by USRA

Inspiring Our Nations YouthNIAC Student Visions of the Future

Program

Inspiring Our Nations YouthInspiring Our Nations YouthNIAC Student Visions of the Future NIAC Student Visions of the Future

ProgramProgramStudents Selected - September 2003

THEY ARE THE FUTURE!! IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES!!!

“Daedalon: A Revolutionary Morphing Spacecraft Design forPlanetary Exploration”

Jarret M. LafleurGeorgia Institute of Technology

“Verde Base (A Lunar Greenhouse)”Kam YeeSouth Seattle Community College

“Biomining for In-Situ Resource Utilization”Darin Ragozzine:Harvard University

Funded by USRA

George Dyson

Brigadier General Simon “Pete” Worden

Gary L. Martin

Keynote Speakers

George Dyson

Writer, boat designer, and historian of technology

Brigadier General Simon “Pete” Worden

Director of Development and Transformation, Space andMissile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif.

Gary L. Martin

Space ArchitectNASA Headquarters