To stimulate and encourage creativity and innovation within the NASA Centers. The activities are envisioned to fall within the scope of NASA Space Technology or technology addressing a significant National need.

Funds are distributed to each NASA Center to support emerging technologies and creative initiatives that leverage Center talent and capabilities. NASA scientists and engineers will lead projects and partnerships among Centers and with other agencies, research laboratories, academia and private industry are encouraged.

The LEARN Project explores the creation of novel concepts and processes with the potential to create new capabilities in aeronautics research through awards to the external community including university and industry teams. The LEARN Project incorporates a competitive review process of the external teams’ proposals to develop integrated solutions for complex technical problems captured in the ARMD strategic thrusts, followed by short duration activities for feasibility assessment. Follow-on phases of the most promising ideas are also funded. LEARN also utilizes challenges and prizes to the external community.  With these processes, NASA funds also help catalyze investments from the aerospace and non-aerospace communities toward solving problems aligned with NASA interests.

The NASA Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI) has been established to achieve the LEARN Project’s goals.  NARI will complement other ARMD efforts in seeking early-stage innovative concepts applicable to a broad spectrum of aeronautical challenges in the nation’s air transportation system by sponsoring research solicitations and by hosting future competitive challenges. The Institute will coordinate these efforts and communicate the outcome of the research conducted to interested parties both internal and external to NASA. ARMD’s goal is to mature the new concepts in order to infuse them into current ARMD research programs, to enable new avenues of aeronautics research that are not currently supported by ARMD program and project funds, or to achieve practical application by the aeronautics community.

Each individual NASA Center has full discretion on the use of the funds and the Center Chief Technologists coordinates a competitive process at their Center for the selection of projects. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) considers CIF very important because it encourages employees to develop innovative concepts that, if successful, can solve future mission needs. As in prior years, KSC put a strong emphasis on low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) technologies for CIF in support of Space Technology Area Roadmaps that align with KSC core capabilities.

KSC has emphasized partnerships for several years and has benefited in many ways from the other NASA centers and government agencies, academia and industry collaborations. In keeping with this emphasis, a key selection criterion for KSC CIF relates to collaborations and partnerships (with leveraged funding). 

Innovative projects are sought in the areas of basic research, fundamental research, applied research, development and systems and other concept formulation studies. Projects combining both science and technology are encouraged.

The Convergent Aeronautics Solutions (CAS) Project uses short-duration activities to establish early-stage concept and technology feasibility for high-potential solutions. Internal teams propose ideas for overcoming key barriers associated with large-scale aeronautics problems associated with ARMD’s six strategic thrusts. The teams will conduct initial feasibility studies, perform experiments, try out new ideas, identify failures, and try again. At the end of the cycle, a review determines whether the developed solutions have met their goals, established initial feasibility, and identified potential for future aviation impact. During these reviews, the most promising capabilities will be considered for continued development further by other ARMD programs or by direct transfer to the aviation community. In the dynamic environment of new ideas, ARMD also gains significant value from the knowledge gained in activities that do not proceed.

In order to enable new capabilities in commercial aviation, the CAS Project’s focus is on merging traditional aeronautics disciplines with advancements driven by the non-aeronautics world.  The Project will draw on external collaborators to supplement in-house NASA expertise in technologies and disciplines that broadly support advancements in all ARMD strategic thrusts.