Christopher Heistand, Tesla Rover Group To announce the new Centennial Prizes as well as launch the new office for Space Technology, NASA hosted an industry forum at the University of Maryland College Park. As a student at College Park I was lucky enough to be present along with many of the big aerospace names such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Many of the startup ventures like Masten Aerospace and Armadillo Space were in attendance as well as the soon to be launch providers like Orbital, Xcor and Virgin Galactic. It was a new experience for me getting upclose and personal with the aerospace industry. The conference started off with a few words from the new position of Chief Technologist. He has been chosen to build a program to take concepts and make them a reality. NASA understands the need to think differently if we are to make manned missions to Mars or to search for extraterrestrial life. This new program is a three level competitive process that can be entered at any level. Level one is the concept phase. NIAC is being reinstated along with things such as the Centennial Challenges and research grants to further imagination in space. This is where concepts like the VASIMR rocket and Solar Sails originate, and NASA is setting up short term competitive funding to make these studies possible. Level two is all about taking feasible concepts and making them happen. NASA has had a hard time with this in the past and is aiming to set up a program to take a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 1 or 2 technology through TRL 3-4. This involves opening up facilities to companies, creating partnerships and even more money to build these technologies. Level three is about dynamically testing the system. Launch systems from all over the country including commercial launch systems are all being consolidated to test new technology in a quick and efficient manner. NASA provides both the money and the support to launch these technologies. This is very exciting since a system no longer has to wait in line for the space shuttle, but can use any commercially available launch provider with NASA support. It was a very exciting to me to see that NASA is making a push for new technologies. They invite anyone and everyone to participate for grants or prizes. Who knows who will make the next propulsion system or aerobrake. Whoever it is, NASA wants to support them.