@explorenasa Invests in Shapeshifters, Biobots, Other Visionary Technology #WASHINGTON, March 30, 2018/@PRNewswire - #USNewswire/ -- #NASA is investing in #technology concepts that include meteoroid impact detection, #space #telescope swarms, and small orbital debris #mapping technologies that may one day be used for future #spaceexploration missions. The agency selected 25 early-stage technology proposals that have the potential to transform future #human and #robotic exploration missions, introduce new exploration capabilities, and significantly improve current approaches to building and operating #aerospacesystems . The 2018 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (#NIAC) Phase I concepts cover a wide range of innovations selected for their potential to #revolutionize future space exploration. Phase I awards are valued at approximately $125,000, over nine months, to support initial definition and analysis of their concepts. If these basic feasibility studies are successful, awardees can apply for Phase II #awards. "The NIAC program gives NASA the opportunity to explore #visionaryideas that could transform future NASA missions by creating radically better or entirely new concepts while engaging America's #innovators and #entrepreneurs as partners in the journey," said #JimReuter, acting associate administrator of NASA's #SpaceTechnology Mission Directorate. "The concepts can then be evaluated for potential inclusion into our early stage technology portfolio." The selected 2018 Phase I proposals are: #Shapeshifters from #Science Fiction to Science Fact: Globetrotting from Titan's Rugged Cliffs to its Deep #Seafloors Aliakbar Aghamohammadi, NASA's Jet Propulsion #Laboratory (#JPL), #Pasadena , #California #Biobot : Innovative Offloading of #Astronauts for More Effective Exploration" David Akin, University of #Maryland, #CollegePark Lofted Environmental and Atmospheric Venus Sensors (#LEAVES ) Jeffrey Balcerski, Ohio Aerospace Institute, #Cleveland Meteoroid Impact Detection for Exploration of Asteroids ( #MIDEA ) Sigrid Close, Stanford University, California