Hibernation capsules, magnetic force fields, fusion drives - these and other crazy space technologies have been sci-fi movie tropes for years.


But NASA is taking them seriously by throwing gobs of money at researchers to bring them into the real world.It's all part of the space agency's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program , which funds wild research projects by heavy hitters in the space industry. Phase I awards give engineers and scientists up to $100,000 of funding for nine months, while projects that pass on to phase II get up to $500,000 over two years

"The purpose of NIAC is early studies of visionary concepts," Jay Falker, Program Executive of NIAC said in a video explaining the program. "They have to be innovative, yet credible, and so we are really looking for revolutionary ideas."


We picked 14 of the wildest and most visionary NIAC concepts from both phase I and phase II of the program.