NASA POST LIST OF PLANNED SOLICITATIONS – March 3, 2008
The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is planning to release several solicitations in the next two years, including Announcements of Opportunity (AOs), Cooperative Agreement Notices (CANs), and the ROSES NASA Research Announcement (NRA). SMD's current snapshot of planning for future solicitations through mid-2009 has been posted on the SARA website (select "Planned SMD Solicitations" in the middle of the page). This snapshot includes the expected dates of release for upcoming solicitations, to the extent that they are currently known.
2008 Projected
CAN - NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI), Cycle 1, May 2008
AO - Stand Alone Mission of Opportunity Notice 2008 (SALMON 08), June 2008 (Draft in March 2008)
AO - Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM), September 2008 (Draft in June 2008)
AO - New Frontiers Mission, October 2008 (Draft in July 2008)
2009 Estimated (through mid-2009)
NRA - Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences 2009 (ROSES 09), February 2009
AO - Solar Probe, Winter (Jan–Mar) 2009
AO - Discovery Missions, Winter (Jan–Mar) 2009
AO - Exoplanet Probe, Winter (Jan–Mar) 2009
AO - Stand Alone Mission of Opportunity Notice 2009 (SALMON 09), Spring (Apr–Jun) 2009 (includes LADDE if necessary)
It is NASA's intention that this planning list will be updated whenever changes in the planning dates for future solicitations are announced. Community members are encouraged to check the SARA website for the current planning dates for AOs.
For further information on NASA's planning for future solicitations, please contact Dr. Paul Hertz, Science Mission Directorate, NASA, Washington, DC 20546.
NASA Planetary Science Summer School – March 5, 2008
Applications are due May 1, 2008, for NASA's 20th Annual Planetary Science Summer School, which will hold two sessions this summer, July 21–25 and August 4–8, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
Science and engineering recent PhDs, post-doctoral and doctoral students with a strong interest in careers in planetary exploration are encouraged to apply. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or resident aliens ("green card" holders) and must be living within the
U.S. at the time of application.
The student teams will develop the equivalent of an early concept study responsive to a typical NASA Announcement of Opportunity for robotic missions, prepare a presentation for a proposal authorization review, present it to a review board, and receive feedback. At the end of the week, students will have a clearer understanding of the relationships among mission design, cost, and schedule, and the trade-offs necessary to stay within cost and schedule while preserving the opportunity to acquire high-quality science. They will also understand the lifecycle of a robotic space mission.
Partial financial support is available to a limited number of individuals to help defray the expense of travel and lodging only. Applications are to be submitted electronically by May 1, 2008.
For further information and to fill out an application, visit the Summer School for Planetary Sciences website. If you have questions, contact Ms. Anita M. Sohus, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, M/S 111-B29, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109; phone 818-354-6613.
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NASA OFFERS PRE-SCREENING OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR REVISED REQUIREMENTS FOR NEW FRONTIERS OPPORTUNITY – February 26, 2008
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) plans to release an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for the third New Frontiers (NF-3) mission no earlier than June 2008. Downselection would occur in 2009. This NF-3 AO will solicit only missions that do not require nuclear sources for power generation or propulsion. Once the National Research Council's (NRC's) New Opportunities for Solar System Exploration (NOSSE) committee reports to NASA on mid decade NF science mission priorities in March 2008, NASA plans to release more details about allowed targets for the upcoming NF-3 AO. This AO will be announced through both the Federal Business Opportunity website and the SMD email distribution list (register at http://nspires.nasaprs.com).
In compliance with SMD policy, the Principal Investigators (PI) for a NF-3 mission must demonstrate minimum experience qualifications that are designed to demonstrate relevant experience exercising responsibility, authority, and management of a space project in the areas of leadership, planning, implementation, and approval. In order to facilitate the creation of teams who plan to respond to the forthcoming NF-3 AO, SMD offers the opportunity of pre-screening the experience qualifications of prospective investigators against the PI minimum experience requirement for large class missions. NF-3 missions are in the large mission class and have more stringent requirements than medium class or small class missions. Proposed NF-3 investigations that are led by PIs lacking in demonstrated, relevant, and appropriate experience sufficient to meet these requirements will be found noncompliant and will neither be reviewed nor selected.
The PI minimum experience requirements applicable to NF-3 are those for large missions as described in the SMD policy document available at the NF Acquisition Additional Information Page. The requirements released on January 23, 2008, were revised on February 19, 2008. Investigators desiring pre-screening against the PI minimum experience requirements for NF-3 may submit a completed copy of the PI Space Flight Experience Table. A copy of the table as well as instructions for completing and submitting it are available at the NF Acquisition Additional Information website.
NASA is offering this opportunity as a service to prospective PIs. A request for pre-screening is voluntary and is not required by NASA. However, it is important to realize that proposed NF-3 investigations that are led by PIs lacking in demonstrated, relevant, and appropriate experience sufficient to meet these requirements will be declared noncompliant and will not be reviewed or selected.
It is the intent of NASA to also offer the pre-screening opportunity after release of the final NF-3 AO. In response to the request for pre-screening, NASA will inform the investigator that their response is, or is not, sufficient to demonstrate that the PI minimum experience requirements have been met. For submissions that do not adequately demonstrate that the PI minimum experience requirements have been met, NASA will indicate which component of the PI minimum experience requirements has not been demonstrated by the submission. NASA's response will be through an email to the submitter, which will contain specific comments explaining NASA's response, and/or requests for clarification.
If the table documenting the PI qualifications passes the pre-screening, then this same table will be adequate to comply with the PI minimum experience requirements for the NF-3 AO. In this case the table must be included in the NF-3 proposal.
Release of the NF-3 AO is in the process of formally being approved by NASA. However, by offering this service to prospective investigators at this time (prior to release), NASA is under no obligation to issue the AO and solicit proposals. Any costs incurred by prospective investigators in preparing submissions in response to this invitation are incurred completely at the submitter's own risk.
NASA will conduct screenings twice a month from March until April of 2008, inclusive. In general, submissions received by the first or third Monday of the month will receive a response from NASA within 10 days. The response to the first submission has been delayed because the PI minimum experience requirements were being revised.
NASA will conduct screenings once a month from May until September of 2008, inclusive. Submissions received by the first Monday of the month will receive a response from NASA within three weeks. Additional opportunities will be announced in the NF-3 AO.
Questions may be addressed to Dr. Adriana C. Ocampo, NF Program Executive, Science Mission Directorate, NASA, Washington, DC 20546; Tel.: (202) 358-2152.
DRAFT STAND ALONE MISSIONS OF OPPORTUNITY NOTICE ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY – March 14, 2008
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Stand Alone Missions of Opportunity Notice (SALMON), is intended to provide regular opportunities for science and technology investigations on space flight missions that advance the high priority science, technology, and exploration objectives of NASA's four Mission Directorates. This five year Omnibus Announcement of Opportunity (AO) will incorporate regular Program Element Appendices (PEAs) for general Mission of Opportunity (MO) proposal opportunities as well as focused proposal opportunities for specific flight opportunities. This AO will include domestic and foreign-led mission opportunities. PEAs will solicit proposals addressing specific topics of interest from the four NASA Mission Directorates. Proposals will typically be solicited in one or more of five MO categories: Partner Missions of Opportunity, U.S. Participating Investigators, New Science Missions using Existing Spacecraft, Small Complete Missions, and Focused Opportunities. This approach will better enable NASA and the science and technology communities to maximize their participation in domestic and international space flight missions of opportunity.
NASA is releasing a DRAFT of the SALMON AO for community review and comment. The five PEAs included in this DRAFT solicit: Lunar and Planetary Science Partner Missions of Opportunity, Lunar and Planetary Science U.S. Participating Investigators, Small Complete Missions of Opportunity in Astrobiology and Fundamental Space Biology, Earth Science U.S. Participating Investigators, and Astrophysics U.S. Participating Investigators. Participation in this AO will be open to all categories of organizations (U.S. and non-U.S.), including educational institutions, industry, not-for-profit organizations, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), NASA Centers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and other Government agencies.
NASA welcomes critical review and comment of this DRAFT, which will be available from March 14, 2008, through April 4, 2008, via the NSPIRES website. Send comments to Dr. Carlos Liceaga, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546-0001. Comments are preferred in writing and may be sent by e-mail. The character string "SALMON DRAFT AO" (without quotes) should be included in the subject line of all transmissions. The identity of those submitting comments will be held in confidence. Answers to frequently asked questions about this DRAFT will be made available on the SALMON Acquisition Additional Information website .
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) - New Science Investigations using Existing NASA Spacecraft –14 March 2008
New Science Investigations using Existing NASA Spacecraft
Science Mission Directorate, NASA
Solicitation Number: NNH08ZDA005L
Release Date: March 14, 2008
Response Date: April 9, 2008
NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) currently sponsors approximately 85 flight missions, involving over 90 spacecraft, divided between missions in development and missions in operations. One of SMD's programmatic objectives is to maximize the science return for the Nation within the available budget. This Request for Information (RFI) solicits input from the broad space science community that would contribute to NASA's study of possible new uses for current NASA spacecraft beyond their current missions. Responses to this RFI (NNH08ZDA005L) will be used to inform NASA's program planning.
Background
NASA has science missions under development and in operation that send spacecraft throughout the Solar System, including low and high Earth orbits, station keeping near Sun-Earth Lagrangian points, orbits around every planet from Mercury to Saturn as well as the Moon and asteroids, drift away Solar orbits, and trajectories out of the Solar System and into interstellar space. Each of these missions has science objectives that will be realized through a prime mission and possible mission extensions when the prime mission has been completed. NASA's science missions are managed by the Science Mission Directorate (SMD); information on these missions may be found at the Science Misssions website.
It is a programmatic objective of SMD to get more science return from the available budget. One way of increasing the science return from NASA's science missions is to continue operating the spacecraft after the prime mission has been completed. NASA has a biennial review process, called the Senior Review, to consider and approve the operation of spacecraft and extend the prime science mission.
An alternative to extending the prime science mission is to initiate a new science investigation with an existing spacecraft after the prime science mission has been completed. There have been several examples of this in the past, including the 1982 approval to use the ISEE-3 spacecraft (renamed ICE) for an encounter with Comet Giacobini-Zinner and the 2007 approval to use the Deep Impact spacecraft (renamed EPOXI) for a study of extrasolar planets during its cruise to encounter Comet Hartley 2. These new science investigations realized unique, high impact investigations that otherwise would cost substantially more to execute, and they provided high science value for the funds expended.
In this RFI, NASA is soliciting ideas and suggestions from the science and research communities on potential new uses of existing NASA science spacecraft that support NASA's science goals. A new science investigation using an existing spacecraft should address one or more of NASA's science objectives in any of SMD's research disciplines (Astrophysics, Earth Science, Heliophysics, and Planetary Science). NASA's science objectives are described in The Science Plan for NASA's Science Mission Directorate (2007–2016).
In addition to using an existing spacecraft (or multiple spacecraft) for a new mission in the same research discipline as the one it was designed for, such as retargeting a planetary science mission to a new destination or flying a multi-spacecraft heliophysics mission in a new constellation, this request specifically includes the use of existing spacecraft with prime missions in one research discipline for a new science investigation in a different research discipline. This could include, but is not limited to, the use of astrophysics spacecraft for Earth observations, the use of planetary science spacecraft for heliophysics measurements or astrophysics observations, or the use of Earth science spacecraft to study the Moon.
It is not the intent of this RFI to solicit observation requests, i.e. relatively modest changes such as a single observation using an existing spacecraft for a short period of time, but instead to solicit major and entirely new applications for existing spacecraft.
With input from responses to this RFI, NASA intends to consider (i) whether there are science opportunities for new uses of existing spacecraft and (ii) whether a solicitation for proposals is warranted to enable such opportunities.
Instructions for Response
The response to this RFI will be in the form of a PDF document that is uploaded through NASA's NSPIRES system. The response should not exceed four pages in length. NASA is soliciting information that might be used by NASA to facilitate planning for new uses of existing spacecraft.
Material in a RFI response is confidential, nonbinding on the respondent, and will be used by NASA for information and planning purposes only. This RFI is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government nor will the Government pay for information solicited. No proposals will be awarded funding as a result of this RFI.
The complete RFI including background, requested information, and instructions for responding may be found at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ (select "Solicitations" then "Open Solicitations" then "Request for Information (NNH08ZDA005L): New Science Investigations using Existing NASA Spacecraft").
Responses to this RFI must be submitted no later than April 9, 2008.
For further information on this RFI, please contact Dr. Paul Hertz, Science Mission Directorate, NASA, Washington, DC 20546.
