Grant Solicitations
Recently Released Solicitations
SOFIA Cycle 2, Due date: June 28, 2013
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is pleased to invite proposals for Cycle 2 observations, which will take place during calendar year 2014. The campaigns will be interspersed with instrument commissioning and an extended aircraft maintenance campaign. The deadline for submitting proposals is June 28, 2013. Proposal selections will be announced in September 2013. Details of the Cycle 2
Call for Proposals can be found at http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Science/proposals/cycle2/. SOFIA is a 2.7m telescope, with an effective, unvignetted, diameter of 2.5m, housed in a Boeing 747-SP aircraft. Observations are typically carried out at altitudes between 11.9 km (39,000 ft) and 13.7 km (45,000 ft.). These altitudes place the observatory above up to 99.8% of the obscuring atmospheric water vapor. There are six observatory instruments offered in this Call, which cover the range 0.3-250 microns.
For questions and assistance, please contact the SOFIA help desk at sofia_help@sofia.usra.edu
Ongoing Solicitations
- ROSES-13 clarifications, corrections and amendments
- ROSES 2013 Solicitation page
- Table of individual programs in order of due date
- Table of individual programs organized by subject area
- Link to ALL of the current NSPIRES solicitations, not just Science
- FAQ on what's new in ROSES
Future Solicitations:
Statement of Intent to Release Instrument Concepts for Europa Exploration (ICEE), a Solicitation on Instrument Technology Development in Support of the Europa Clipper Mission Concept
The NASA Science Mission Directorate Planetary Science Division intends to release a call for instrument technology development in support of the Europa Clipper mission concept entitled "Instrument Concepts for Europa Exploration (ICEE)". The goal of this call is to mature and reduce the technical risk of instruments for the Europa Clipper mission to the point where they may be proposed in response to a possible future announcement of flight opportunity without additional extensive technology development. This call will be released as Appendix C.22 of the ROSES-2013 omnibus NRA through an Amendment to ROSES-2013.
Awarding the funds before the end of FY 2013 will require an extremely aggressive schedule. To that end, NASA plans to release the NRA no later than April 30; we anticipate that proposals will be due 45 days after the release of ROSES-2013 Appendix C.22.
The Europa Clipper strawman payload includes an Ice Penetrating Radar (IPR), a Shortwave Infrared Spectrometer (SWIRS), a Topographic Imager (TI), a mass spectrometer (MS), and a magnetometer. The IPR, SWIRS, TI, and MS have been identified as needing significant early development to enable them to operate in the Europan environment, and NASA plans to target those instruments with this funding opportunity. While other instruments may be proposed, selection preference will be given to proposed instruments in these four categories. U.S. proposers to the recent JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer (JUICE) AO are especially encouraged to consider proposing to this ICEE call if their JUICE instrument concepts are applicable to the Europa Clipper mission.
The ICEE solicitation will be released as an Amendment to ROSES-2013. ROSES-2013 can found on the NSPIRES web page at: http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2013. This ICEE solicitation will appear as Appendix C.22 to ROSES-2013, at http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ICEE2013. After the amendment to ROSES-2013 is released, this call and its due dates will appear on the tables of program elements organized by due date and subject matter which can be found, respectively, at http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2013table2 and http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2013table3.
Questions and comments related to this announcement should be addressed to Curt Niebur, Planetary Science Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Washington DC 20546. Phone: (202) 358-0390; E-mail: curt.niebur@nasa.gov.
Statement of Intent to Release a Draft Cooperative Agreement Notice for the NASA Astrobiology Institute
The NASA Science Mission Directorate Planetary Science Division intends to release a Draft Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN) soliciting team-based proposals for membership in the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) in June 2013. Comments will be due 3 weeks after the release and the final CAN will be released early fall 2013. Proposals will be due on or about January 15, 2014
The time line for the CAN 7 solicitation is intended to be:
Release of Draft CAN……………………..….June 2013
Release of Final CAN…………………..…….September 2013
Pre-proposal conference……………………..~2 weeks after final CAN release
Step-1 Proposals due………………………...~5 weeks after final CAN release
Proposal Due……………………………….....~16 weeks after final CAN release
Selection of CAN 7 teams…………………...July 2014 (target)
Start of new awards……………..…………....October 2014
Community Announcements
Be a part of the future of Astrobiology!
It’s time to chart the future directions of astrobiology research and you can participate. During the month of May, NASA will be hosting a series of on-line hangouts and discussions focusing on broad themes in astrobiology: Planetary Conditions for Life, Prebiotic Evolution, Early Evolution of Life and the Biosphere, Evolution of Advanced Life, and Astrobiology for Solar Systems Exploration. The online conversations will then be used as the starting point for an in-person/virtual meeting to draft an outline for the Roadmap. To take part in this important conversation and to receive updates, please register at the following website: http://www.astrobiologyfuture.org/. Have your unique voice heard!