NASA Seeks Ideas For Repurposing The International Space Station

January 29, 2013

Image Caption: Tracy Caldwell Dyson in the Cupola module of the International Space Station observing the Earth below during Expedition 24. Credit: NASA

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

NASA is opening up the floor for suggestions, asking for proposals about how the International Space Station (ISS) can be used as a technological test tube.

The space agency said it is asking for proposals on how the space station may be used to develop advanced or improved exploration technologies. NASA is looking for proposals as to how new approaches, technologies and capabilities could utilize the unique research environment provided by the space laboratory.

The space station is a world-class facility and critical to NASAs plan to extend humanitys presence beyond low-Earth orbit, Andrew Clem of the Technology Demonstration Office in the International Space Station Program at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston said in a statement. This is an opportunity for researchers, inventors and designers to demonstrate a technology needed for future human spaceflights or to improve an existing space station capability.

NASA said it will be reviewing submissions throughout the year as they are received, and will cover launch and integration costs for selected proposals.

Proposed technologies could help advance exploration and research capabilities aboard the space station. NASA said concepts must fit within its standards for mass and volume to meet requirements for current launch vehicles.

Suggested areas include in-space propulsion; space power and energy storage; components of highly reliable, closed-loop, human health, life support and habitation systems; thermal systems; robotics, telerobotics, and autonomous systems; and human exploration destination systems, the space agency wrote.

According to NASA, the proposals for new exploration technologies could include strategies to reduce mass, maintenance and power requirements for the space station, or to help improve existing space hardware. Acceptable proposals may also have the potential to produce benefits for humanity, such as testing valuable new materials or stimulating economic growth.

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NASA Seeks Ideas For Repurposing The International Space Station