(28-August-2011) Out-of-this-world ideas funded

An artist's conception shows a large phased array in orbit, soaking up solar power.
By Alan Boyle
NASA is awarding $100,000 one-year grants to 30 teams for out-of-thisworld
ideas ranging from new kinds of spacesuits to quantum
communication and space solar power.
The awards were announced today under the auspices of the NASA
Innovative Advanced Concepts program, or NIAC. The space agency said the
concepts were chosen on the basis of their potential for enhancing future
space missions. The grants will go toward further study, to determine
whether the ideas could help NASA meet future mission requirements.
"These innovative concepts have the potential to mature into the
transformative capabilities NASA needs to improve our current space
mission operations, seeding the technology breakthroughs needed for the
challenging space missions in NASA's future," NASA Chief Technologist
Bobby Braun said in today's announcement.(more)http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/08/7306644-out-of-this-world-ideas-funded