Early Stage Innovation NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC)

or space. NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) is part of the Office of Chief Technologist (OCT). Concepts proposed for NIAC Phase I studies must be innovative and visionary, technically substantiated, and very early in development (10+ years out; Technology Readiness Level 1, 2, or early 3). Focused technology maturation and incremental improvement are explicitly not of interest in this program. Finally, while NIAC encourages great leaps and accepts the accompanying risk, all proposals must be technically credible, based on sound scientific principles. Proposals shall be submitted electronically, and all proposers shall use either NASA�s proposal data system, NSPIRES (http://nspires.nasaprs.com ) by March 29, 2011. Proposals will be due on or before May 2, 2011. Comments and questions may be addressed by e-mail to the NIAC POC, Dr. Jay Falker at hq-niac@mail.nasa.gov. Responses to inquiries will be answered by e-mail and also included in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document located on the NSPIRES page associated with the solicitation; anonymity of persons/institutions who submit questions will be preserved.