From orbital slingshots to giant radio telescopes, NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) project has delved into wild and innovative concepts in the past years. Futurism reports that its latest ideas are as wild as ever.
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TitanAir
Among these ideas, the latest batch of relayed NIAC grants covers a lake landing aircraft called TitanAir, which is meant to surf through the methane lakes of Titan, Saturn's very own moon. Engadget reports how the craft may be able to gather methane and intricate organic material for further study. This may be accomplished by sucking the material through a leading edge that is porous.
NASA notes that flying through Titan would be quite easy due to the moon's thick atmosphere and low gravity. Planet Enterprises' Quinn Morley came up with a soaring and greatly instrumented boat craft that may transition from soaring the atmosphere to sailing the seas. NASA also noted that NIAC pursuits and studies are not considered official missions of the agency.
Fox News notes how the concept of the Titan Flyer aims to take in the condensation of methane as well as organic material. This is to be executed with the help of a leading edge's permeable parts.
Morley explains how the internal wing's capillary features will gather the collected materials and mix them to form a flowing fluid stream. This can then be used to help route scientific instruments within the flyer.
To allow flights that are intermittent and low-altitude, the craft will descend on the lakes like a flying boat. The difference, however, is that "boat" traditionally corresponds to water, while Titan's lakes are predominantly methane in nature. Morley notes how they may refer to the craft as a flying laker.
Fox News notes that based on a Gig Harbor release, when the liquid enters the wing, it will be gathered into a fluid stream that is continuous through various methodologies.
Among these methods, one makes use of the biomimicry of cacti across the earth that are water-gathering. Another makes use of a membrane that is flexible, while yet another approach utilizes the skin-etched channels.
When the analyses are done, the generated data gets sent back to earth between the flights.
NIAC program executive Michael LaPointe notes how Niac studies' initial Phase 1 could help NASA decide whether such ideas could facilitate further capabilities for space exploration and lead to the commencement of new and groundbreaking missions.
NIAC Funding Projects
Fox News reports how NASA is currently funding this concept. This NIAC program of NASA is funding studies in their early stages to help in evaluating particular technologies that could be used in future missions. According to Fox News, the latest grants totaled $175,000 for 14 different visionaries.
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