Report Urges NASA to Resurrect Advanced Concepts Institute

[mickw]

NASA should resurrect a mothballed institute specifically geared to encourage visionary concepts for future space exploration, according to a new report from the National Research Council (NRC).

The report, released Friday, recommended that the space agency revive the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC), which was shuttered in 2007, or replace it with a similar innovation-focused entity in order to "seek out far-reaching, advanced concepts with the potential of significant benefit" to NASA's charter and future missions.

"Today, NASA's investment in advanced concepts and long-term technological solutions to its strategic goals is minimal," the new report states. It found the NIAC program extremely successful in encouraging innovative research.

More:   http://www.space.com/news/090807-nasa-niac-report.html