NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts

The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) is an institute of the Universities Space Research Association (USRA). USRA was incorporated in 1969 in the District of Columbia as a private nonprofit corporation under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences. Institutional membership in the Association has grown from 49 colleges and universities when it was founded, to 95 in 2004. All member institutions have graduate programs in space sciences or aerospace engineering. Besides 88 member institutions in the United States, there are two member institutions in Canada, three in Europe, and two in Israel. NIAC's charter is focused on grand, revolutionary concepts for architectures and systems.