After NASAs discovery of seven Earth-size planets orbiting around a single star, weve all been reinvigorated with extra terrestrial excitement. One of these planets might have life on it, or at the very least be suitable for life, and thats truly a crazy next step as we make sense of the universe around us.

It comes at a good time, because NASA has announced their iTech Cycle 2, a challenge to innovators of any stripe to come up with a solution or an idea that NASA can use to further their quest in space exploration.

The initiative is open to small and large businesses, universities, non-profits, U.S. Government organizations and individual inventors. All theyhave to do is submit is a five-page white paper with theireureka moment written down.

The iTech Cycle 2 is focusing on five key areas: Autonomy, Big DataData Mining and Machine Learning, Medical Systems and Operations, Radiation Protection and Mitigation, and X-Factor Innovationsany solution out of the box that NASA hadnt taken into account.

The submissions will be reviewed by a panel of experts and whittled down to ten finalists based on relevance to the proposed topics and potential impact on them. The finalists will then present their ideas to NASAs chief technologists, space industry leaders and potential investors at the 2017 NASA iTech Forum taking place at NASAs Langley Research Center July 10-14.

The finalists of last years initiative were Aequor, Liberty Biosecurity, and InnaMed.The iTech Cycle 2 will be open for submissions from February 23 to April 7 to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. NASA will not claim any intellectual property rights for a submitted idea.

Lets all give a cheer forthese groundbreaking innovators. After all, its one of the only things for which we can come together as a planet.

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NASA Looking for Bright Ideas to Help With Space Travel - Tech.Co