NASA Selects 20 Innovation Fund Projects

July 10 2009

Sonja Alexander
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1761


RELEASE: 09-159

NASA SELECTS 20 INNOVATION FUND PROJECTS

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Innovative Partnerships Program, working with
the
Office of the Chief Engineer at NASA Headquarters, has selected 20
projects for the 2009 NASA Innovation Fund. The fund was established
to advance work from NASA innovators on novel technologies and
concepts that have the potential to revolutionize the way NASA
performs its missions such as enabling new capabilities in space
flight, science, aeronautics or exploration. Projects that also offer
potential solutions to other national and global challenges are of
particular interest.


The selected projects include a technique for returning small
payloads
from the space station, a new approach to robotic space exploration,
several new concepts for generating solar power, improved instruments
for studying the environment, the use of microwave energy for sealing
wounds, and nano-materials for scientific instruments and energy
storage.

The selected project teams are led by NASA scientists and engineers
and include partners from five universities, two small businesses,
Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio and the National Institute
for Aerospace in Hampton, Va.

More than 230 proposals were submitted this year. Each project is
funded for a maximum of $50,000, with work to be completed by the end
of September.

For a complete list of the selected projects, visit:

http://tinyurl.com/ms3wtv

For more information about the NASA Innovation Fund and the
Innovative
Partnerships Program, visit:

http://www.ipp.nasa.gov

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