Summary
NASA’s NIAC programme has awarded $3.2 million across 18 Phase I investigations into early-stage space technology concepts. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is leading three of the projects, covering solar radiation, Venus exploration and planetary-ring science.
NASA has awarded $3.2 million to 18 early-stage technology concepts through the 2026 round of its NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) programme. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is leading three of the selected investigations.
Each NIAC Phase I award provides up to $175,000 for a nine-month initial investigation. The programme funds concepts with transformative potential and a possible route to eventual implementation, giving researchers time to examine how an unusual idea might work and identify the engineering challenges it would face.
These awards support concept development rather than approved NASA missions. The researchers, known as NIAC Fellows, will study the ideas and assess opportunities for further development.
The three JPL-led investigations
JPL’s three selected projects are:
- DimSun — Dimming the Sun Using Controllable Dust Cloud to Reduce Solar Insolation, led by Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay.
- CANVAS — Combinatory Architecture offering Neomobility, on-Venus Adaptability, and Survivability, led by David Bugby.
- PRAXIS — Planetary Rings Autonomous EXploration with In-situ Sampling, led by Marco Quadrelli.
The project titles point to three very different technical challenges. DimSun examines the possible use of a controllable cloud of dust to reduce incoming solar radiation, known as solar insolation. CANVAS concerns mobility and survivability for exploration in Venus’s hostile environment. PRAXIS focuses on autonomous exploration and sampling in planetary rings.
The announcement places these projects within a wider effort to develop technologies for sustained lunar activity, Mars exploration and deeper investigation of the universe. At this stage, the funding is intended to investigate whether the underlying concepts can be developed further, rather than to deploy them in space.
From lunar infrastructure to black holes
Several of the other 2026 concepts address the practical problems of working on the Moon. One would support hovering robots exploring lava tubes beneath the lunar surface. Another examines temperature management for small mobile exploration robots. A separate concept would incorporate radioisotopic heat sources into spacesuits, helping astronauts remain warm during lunar nights, which last nearly two Earth weeks. Radioisotopic systems generate heat from the natural decay of radioactive materials.
Venus is represented by a concept focused on hardening instruments for longer missions in the planet’s hot atmosphere. Planetary rings are another major theme: one proposal would use a swarm of 10,000 tiny satellites to map and analyse Saturn’s rings, while another would develop a way to collect samples from rings around Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
The portfolio also reaches beyond the solar system. Selected researchers will investigate ways to power interstellar spacecraft, map continents on exoplanets, observe the photon rings around black holes and detect subtle gravitational waves that could help explain how galaxies formed. Other projects address Earth-related questions, including the possible use of spaceborne dust to reduce solar radiation and methods for improving awareness of debris orbiting Earth.
The breadth of the awards reflects NIAC’s role as an innovation incubator: it gives technically ambitious ideas a structured first investigation before any possible later development. The nine-month Phase I studies will focus on the concepts’ potential, challenges and opportunities for follow-on work.