NASA funds radical Pluto hopper and cosmic echolocation concepts

From a Pluto lander that hops like a bunny to a tube that shakes astronauts to simulate Earthlike gravity, NASA is investing in our science fiction future. On 6 April, NASA announced funding for 22 technology proposals under its NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) programme. This programme allows researchers to pursue their so-crazy-it-just-might-work ideas for revolutionising space travel and research. This year, 15 new proposals got Phase I funding of about $125,000 over 9 months, and 7 projects that already made it through Phase I got Phase II funding of up to $500,000 over 2 years. All of the projects funded by NAIC are still early in their development – it will be a decade or longer before any of the concepts are likely to be used in an actual mission.