Neel Mehta
NASA has announced the top three teams to perform in cycle one of the agency’s competition on innovative technologies.
The selection follows the iTech 2018Â competition’s recent phase wherein ten finalist groups developed technology projects seeking to improve space exploration and terrestrial life, the agency said Friday.
NASA chief technologists, potential investors and leaders from the space industry served as judges for entries presented in the competition that consisted of various technology challenges.
Illinois-based FGCÂ Plasma Solutions won at the competition’s X-Factor Innovation area with a project on plasma-assisted fuel injectors designed to reduce fuel consumption.
Los Angeles-based Germfalcon reached the top three through its win in iTech’s medical breakthrough area, having entered a robot designed to emit germicidal ultraviolet light for eradicating disease-causing bacteria in airplanes.
Lastly, Phoenix-based Somatic Labs entered a technology that animates humans’ sense of touch to enable space communication that does not require auditory and visual senses, winning the competition’s augmented reality area.
The top three teams received trophies during an awarding ceremony conducted Wednesday.
The Virginia-based National Institute of Aerospace managed the competition for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.
