NASA is seeking proposals from universities to advance the agency’s plans for exploration to deep space and Mars. The Early Stage Innovations NASA Research Announcement calls for innovative space technology proposals that could benefit the space program, other government agencies and the greater aerospace community.

NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate expects to make approximately 12 awards this fall, with total award amounts of up to $500,000. Research and development efforts will take place over two to three years.

Researchers will investigate transformative space technologies in areas such as advanced thermal protection materials modeling, computational materials, in situ utilization of asteroid materials, mobile robotic surface probe concepts for planetary exploration, kinetic penetrators for icy planetary moons, and advanced technology habitat system designs for continued human exploration of space.

Only accredited U.S. universities may submit proposals under this solicitation. Notices of intent to submit proposals to the Early Stage Innovations Appendix of NASA’s Research Announcement, Space Technology Research, Development, Demonstration, and Infusion 2014 (SpaceTech-REDDI-2014), are due June 24. The deadline for submitting final proposals is July 21.

To view the announcement and information for submitting proposals, visit:
http://go.nasa.gov/1mRS9y8

David E. Steitz
202-358-1730
[email protected]