The worm concept was one of 15 selected proposals submitted as part the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, designed to push the bounds of interplanetary exploration.
"The latest NIAC selections include a number of exciting concepts," said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) at NASA headquarters in Washington. "We are working with American innovators to reimagine the future of aerospace and focus our investments on concepts to address challenges of current interests both in space and here on Earth."