Second Community Announcement Regarding Europa Lander Instrument Investigation Program Element Appendix

This second announcement for the SALMON-3 Program Element Appendix (PEA) for instrument investigations for a Europa lander mission provides updated information on multiple topics.

As stated in the first community announcement, all instrument investigations proposed in response to this PEA must focus on Europa and be compatible with a mission that lands on the surface. To further clarify, this limits proposed investigations to those physically hosted on the lander that start operations after landing.

Participation in the PEA is now open to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The inclusion of JPL maximizes the talent pool of proposing teams and utilizes NASA’s history of instrument development investments at all institutions. This will increase the quality of the competition.  As stated in the first announcement, some JPL personnel prohibited from participating on proposals will also support the development of the AO and documents in the Program Library, assess the accommodation of proposed instrument investigations, provide technical support to teams during Step 2, and participate in site visits during the Step-2 evaluation.

NASA has not approved the issuance of the Europa Lander Instrument Investigation PEA and this notification does not obligate NASA to issue the PEA and solicit proposals. Any costs incurred by prospective investigators in preparing submissions in response to this notification or the planned Europa Lander Instrument Investigation PEA are incurred completely at the submitter’s own risk.

Further information will be posted on the Europa Lander Acquisition Page at http://europalander.larc.nasa.gov/ as it becomes available. Questions may be addressed to Dr. Curt Niebur, Europa Program Scientist, Planetary Science Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA, Washington, DC 20546; Tel.: (202) 358-0390; Email: [email protected].