Jim Cast

Headquarters, Washington, DC February 12, 1996

(Phone: 202/358-1779)

RELEASE: 96-28

INNOVATIVE SPACE CONCEPTS SELECTED FOR NEGOTIATIONS

NASA has selected eight innovative advanced space

concepts proposals to begin cooperative agreement
negotiations as part of its Advanced Concepts Research
Projects (ACRP) Program.

The ACRP was established by NASA as a means of

identifying and defining advanced, new concepts and
technologies with the potential to effect revolutionary
improvements in future U.S. space endeavors. ACRP projects
will be led by principal investigators who will be
designated as "ACRP Fellows". Each selected proposal will
be funded at a maximum total dollar amount of $250,000. It
is planned that approximately eight projects will be
selected every year and that each ACRP project will be
conducted over a 24-month period, resulting in about 16
ongoing projects beginning with the second year of the
program. The second in this series of solicitations is
planned for the summer of 1996.

While the ACRP Fellows' research will focus on their

proposed concepts and technologies, the Fellows also will
function as members of a broad, interdisciplinary team.
Interactions among Fellows and with NASA researchers will
be provided through workshops, periodic meetings and
through pioneering infrastructures using the Internet.

Over 100 proposals were submitted as a result of the

initial solicitation under the ACRP released in September
1995.

The selected proposals cover a wide range of

innovative and potentially significant concepts and space
technologies, including: fusion-based space propulsion,
optical computing, robotics, interplanetary navigation,
materials and structures, ultra-lightweight large aperture
optics, and innovative modular spacecraft architectural
concepts.

The next step for the eight identified proposers is

to negotiate final agreements. That process is expected to
be complete within 30-60 days.

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The ACRP Program is sponsored by the Advanced Concepts

Office, NASA Headquarters, Office of Space Access and
Technology, Washington, DC, 20546. Additional information
on ACRP as well as other NASA Advanced Concepts Office
activities can be found via the Internet at:
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/acrp/oac.html

A list of ACRP selectees follows:

* Advanced Inflatable Structures for Aerospace. The

principal investigator for this project will be Dr. John A.
Main; the lead organization is the University of Maine,
Orono.

* Advanced Spacecraft Architectural Concepts. The

principal investigator for this project will be Dr. David
W. Miller; the lead organization is the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.

* Application of Dynamical Systems Theory to the

Design and Development of Spacecraft Trajectories. The
principal investigator for this project will be Professor
Kathleen C. Howell; the lead organization is Purdue
University, West Lafayette, IN.

* Field Reversed Configuration Startup Relevant to

Fusion Propulsion. The principal investigator for this
project will be Dr. Alan L. Hoffman; the lead organization
is the University of Washington, Seattle.

* Fractal-Branching Ultra-Dexterous Robots. The

principal investigator for this project will be Dr. Hans
Moravec; the lead organization is the Carnegie Mellon
University, Pittsburgh, PA.

* High Performance Piezoelectric Thin Films for Shape

Control in Large Inflatable Structures. The principal
investigator for this project will be Dr. Ratnakar R.
Neurgaonkar; the lead organization is the Rockwell
International Science Center, Thousand Oaks, CA.

* Mars In-Situ Resource Utilization Research. The

principal investigator for this project will be Dr. Robert
Zubrin; the lead organization is the Boulder Center for
Science and Policy, Boulder, CO.

* Smart Optical Random Access Memory for Fast

Information Management and Analysis. The principal
investigator for this project will be Dr. Hu-Kuang Liu; the
lead organization is the University of South Alabama,
Mobile.

-end-

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