NRC Calls for Reinstatement of NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts

The National Research Council’s Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB) has released a study calling for reinstatement of NASA’s Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC). Established in 1998 to provide grants for external studies of revolutionary aeronautics and space technologies, NASA eliminated NIAC in 2007 because of budgetary pressures. It was funded at approximately $4 million per year as part of NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD).

The report, authored by an ASEB study committee co-chaired by Robert Braun of Georgia Tech and Dianne Wiley of Boeing, was requested by Congress in the FY2008 appropriations bill that funded NASA. The committee concluded that NIAC was “effective in achieving its mission and achieving its stated goals” and thus recommended that NASA reestablish a NIAC-like organization — a “NIAC2”. Noting that NIAC’s reporting relationship changed through its years of operation, first reporting to the agency’s chief technologist and later to ESMD, the committee recommended that NIAC2 report to the Office of the Administrator. It also recommended that NIAC2 address NASA-wide mission and technology needs (not those focused on just one Mission Directorate), fund both internal and external proposals, and allow for “proof of concept” awards. The full report can be downloaded for free from the National Academies Press website (look for the “Download Free PDF” link).