COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT ON ASTROPHYSICS EXPLORER MISSIONS OF OPPORTUNITY — NASA Headquarters funding opportunity
NASA Headquarters · Federal agency

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT ON ASTROPHYSICS EXPLORER MISSIONS OF OPPORTUNITY

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is releasing this Community Announcement concerning its intention to solicit investigations for the Astrophysics Explorers progra...

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Deadline Fixed Location Alabama Type grant Level Federal Open posted Jun 20, 2012
✦ AI Summary
  • Who can apply: Federal-level applicants (see eligibility for details).
  • Issued by: NASA Headquarters.
  • About: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is releasing this Community Announcement concerning its intention to solicit investigations for the Astrophysics Explorers program element of the…
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Deadline
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About this opportunity

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is releasing this Community Announcement concerning its intention to solicit investigations for the Astrophysics Explorers program element of the Explorer Program. The Explorer Program conducts Principal Investigator (PI)-led space science investigations in SMD's astrophysics and heliophysics programs. Astrophysics Explorer investigations are intended to discover the destiny of the Universe and search for Earth-like planets. Additional information concerning these areas of investigation is provided through appropriate links found on the SMD homepage at http://nasascience.nasa.gov/ . The current state of planning calls for NASA SMD to release in the late summer/early fall of 2012 a solicitation for Astrophysics Explorer Missions of Opportunity (MO) as a program element appendix amended to the NASA Announcement of Opportunity NNH12ZDA006O, Second Stand Alone Missions of Opportunity Notice (SALMON-2) that will solicit proposals to accomplish astrophysics Explorer Program science objectives. A draft program element appendix will not be released. NASA expects to solicit MO science investigations that are defined in the SALMON-2 AO as Partner MOs, New Missions Using Existing Spacecraft, or Small Complete Mission MOs, including investigations requiring flight on Ultra-Long Duration Balloons (ULDB) or the International Space Station. Partner MOs for which the parent mission is either of ESA's Euclid or JUICE missions are not solicited in this call. The PI-managed mission cost cap for an Explorer MO is expected to be no greater than $60M, or $30M for an ULDB mission, in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 dollars. The currently approved Explorer Program planning budget is sufficient to select and execute one MO at $60M, or two MOs if both are ULDB missions or other proposed investigations well below the $60M PI-managed cost cap. It is anticipated that the policies in the solicitation will be similar to the policies in the most recent Explorer Mission of Opportunity solicitation, which was released on November 1, 2010, as Appendix H7 of the SALMON AO (NNH08ZDA009O) with the following exception. For ULDB missions, the balloon and standard balloon services will be provided by NASA and will not be considered within the PI-managed cost cap. At the same time, NASA anticipates releasing an amendment to the Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences 2012 (ROSES-12) NASA Research Announcement (NRA) that solicits proposals for Participating Investigators that accomplish astrophysics science objectives. The current planning is for the selection process to be done in one step with no competitive downselect. Proposals in response to this AO will be due 90 days after its formal release. Participation will be open to all categories of and non- organizations, including educational organizations, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers, NASA Centers, and other Government agencies. The schedule for the solicitation is intended to be: Release of AO: Late summer/early fall 2012 (target); Preproposal conference: ~2 weeks after AO release; Proposals due: 90 days after AO release; Selection: Late spring 2013 (target); The SALMON-2 amendment may contain provisions that differ substantially from this preliminary notice, in which case the provisions in the SALMON-2 amendment will take precedence. NASA has not approved the issuance of the SALMON-2 amendment and this notification does not obligate NASA to issue the announcement and solicit proposals. Any costs incurred by prospective investigators in preparing submissions in response to this announcement are incurred completely at the submitter's own risk. Further information will be posted on the Explorer Program Acquisition website at http://soma.larc.nasa.gov/astrophysics/index as that information becomes available.

Funding agency

NASA Headquarters
Federal agency

Tags

Education & Research Science, Tech & Engineering (STEM)
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Who can apply

Eligibility details aren't on file yet — check the agency source link in the Documents tab for the latest rules.

Geographic eligibility

  • Alabama
  • Alaska
  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Ohio
  • Oklahoma
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Utah
  • Vermont
  • Virginia
  • Washington
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming
  • District of Columbia

How to apply

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Source documents

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Canonical NOFO, application packet, and forms
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Citation details

Source systemgrants.gov
Source ID178473
PostedJun 20, 2012

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