NASA has awarded funding to 18 early-stage technology proposals, supporting research into new mission concepts including lunar cave exploration, exoplanet imaging, and distributed probes for Saturn's rings
NASA has selected 18 early-stage technology proposals for its 2026 Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase I awards, providing up to $175,000 each for nine months of feasibility studies. These projects, chosen for their potential to enable new types of space missions, span topics from lunar exploration to exoplanet imaging and distributed spacecraft for planetary science. The awards are intended to support the maturation of ideas that could eventually contribute to future NASA missions, but none of the selected concepts are yet approved for flight.
Lunar Exploration and Subsurface Mapping
Among the selected proposals is the Lunar Underground eXplorer (LUX), developed by Stone Aerospace, Inc. LUX aims to investigate the moon's subsurface lava tubes, which are considered promising candidates for future lunar habitats due to their natural shielding from radiation and micrometeoroids. The concept involves deploying hovering robotic probes tethered to a surface lander or rover by lightweight fiber-optic cables. These cables would transmit both power, delivered via laser, and data, allowing the drones to map and characterize the interior of lunar lava tubes in regions such as Mare Tranquillitatis. The approach is designed to overcome the challenges of operating in environments where sunlight and direct radio communication are unavailable.
As NASA continues to develop plans for long-term lunar presence, the ability to access and characterize underground environments is seen as a critical step. The LUX project will use its Phase I funding to assess the technical feasibility of its power-over-fiber system and the operational risks of deploying drones in lunar caves. If successful, the technology could inform future missions supporting the Artemis program's goal of establishing a sustainable human presence on the moon.
Distributed Probes for Saturn's Rings
Another funded concept proposes a radical approach to studying Saturn's rings and nearby environment. Researchers at Northwestern University have outlined a mission architecture that would deploy a constellation of up to 10,000 "femtosats"-tiny spacecraft each weighing less than 100 grams-into Saturn's rings. Unlike previous flagship missions such as Cassini, which faced significant risk from particle collisions, this distributed approach accepts the loss of many individual probes in exchange for comprehensive in-situ measurements. The femtosats would collectively sample the ring structure, atmosphere, and magnetosphere, providing data on particle composition, dynamics, and electromagnetic environment that would be difficult to obtain with a single large spacecraft.
The mission concept is still in its earliest stages, with the Phase I study focused on evaluating the technical challenges of mass-producing, deploying, and communicating with thousands of miniature spacecraft in a hazardous environment. The distributed risk model is intended to make high-risk, high-reward planetary science more feasible, even if a significant fraction of the probes are lost during the mission.
Imaging Exoplanet Surfaces
Directly imaging the surface features of exoplanets remains a major technical challenge, as planets are vastly fainter than their host stars. One of the selected NIAC projects, led by Brookhaven Science Associates, proposes a new type of space-based "nulling interferometer" to address this problem. The concept involves two space telescopes separated by about 100 kilometers, using a technique called dynamic hierarchical nulling to cancel out starlight and enhance the contrast of planetary signals. If successful, this approach could enable the detection of surface features-such as continents or oceans-on exoplanets orbiting nearby stars, a capability not currently available with existing instruments.
The project's Phase I study will focus on the optical design, formation flying requirements, and data-processing algorithms needed to achieve the necessary angular resolution and starlight suppression. While the concept is still theoretical, it represents a step toward the long-term goal of characterizing exoplanet surfaces and assessing their potential habitability. For context, recent advances in space-based imaging have also enabled new views of planetary features from orbit, as seen in recent ISS observations of the Richat Structure.
Funding, Feasibility, and Next Steps
Each of the 18 selected projects will receive up to $175,000 to conduct a nine-month feasibility study. The NIAC program is designed to support high-risk, high-reward ideas that are not yet ready for mission selection but could, if successful, transform NASA's future capabilities. The current round of awards totals $3.2 million, distributed among the selected teams. At the end of the Phase I period, projects may be considered for further development if they demonstrate technical viability and scientific value.
While the selected concepts are not guaranteed to become operational missions, the NIAC program has a history of supporting technologies that later contribute to major projects. The diversity of this year's awards reflects NASA's interest in exploring unconventional approaches to longstanding challenges in planetary science, astronomy, and human exploration.
Interferometry is a technique that combines light collected by two or more telescopes to achieve higher angular resolution than any single instrument could provide. In nulling interferometry, the light from a bright source-such as a star-is combined in such a way that it cancels itself out, allowing much fainter nearby objects, like exoplanets, to be detected. Achieving this requires precise control of the optical path and careful calibration to suppress unwanted signals. The method is especially valuable for studying objects that are close together on the sky but have extreme differences in brightness, making it a promising approach for future exoplanet imaging missions.
