FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 2, 2016
Timothy Allen
National Institute of Aerospace, Hampton, Va.
615-955-2859
timothy.allen@nianet.org
NIA RELEASE: 2016-07
Top 25 NASA iTech Semi-Finalists Announced
Nov. 2, 2016, WASHINGTON —
The National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) is pleased to announce semifinalists for NASA’s iTech initiative. NASA iTech is a yearlong effort to find innovative ideas that address challenges that will fill gaps in critical areas identified by NASA as having a potential impact on future exploration. NASA iTech issued a call for white papers outlining possible solutions to these challenges on September 21.
These semifinalists will now move forward for further evaluation by a finalist panel of experts assembled by NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist to determine the top 10 white papers. The top 10 finalists announced on November 21 will be invited to present their solutions to NASA and industry leadership at the NASA iTech Forum at NASA Headquarters in Washington, December 5-8.
At the forum, finalists will have the opportunity to discuss their work with industry participants and explore new technology development partnerships. The top three solutions selected by judges at the end of the forum will also receive six months of additional mentoring to further mature the technologies.
Innovators from 24 states across the U.S. submitted ideas in focus areas including radiation protection; life support systems in space; astronaut crew health; in-space propulsion; and the ability to achieve very high-resolution measurements of key greenhouse gasses.
A distinguished panel of experts established by NIA evaluated all eligible proposals against stringent criteria to determine the potential impact of the innovation in those focus areas as well as the scientific and business strength of each entry. A full list of the top 25 semi-finalists and the titles of their papers are listed online at http://nasaitech.com/cycle1-semifinalists
NASA iTech is an initiative by NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist managed by the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) in Hampton, Virginia.
More information about NASA iTech is at http://www.nasaitech.org.
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