Physical Sciences Informatics (PSI)
Request for Proposals
Physical Sciences: Research Studies Solicitation
On December 19, 2024, the Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) Division released the final text of the ROSES-24 E.12 Physical Sciences Research Studies program element.
This program element solicits proposals to investigate physical phenomena in the absence of gravity and fundamental laws that describe the universe, and applied research, which contribute to the basic understanding of processes underlying space exploration technologies.
This opportunity will include four different Project Types: Research Investigations, New NASA Investigators, Physical Sciences Informatics, and Fundamental Physics Investigations. To attract new researchers to the NASA science community, a New NASA Investigator (NNI) category has been created and is open to new investigators only.
What is PSI
The Physical Sciences Informatics (PSI) is an online database of completed physical science reduced-gravity flight experiments conducted on the International Space Station (ISS), Space Shuttle, Free Flyers, or commercial cargo flights, and of related ground-based studies. It includes experimental data from the following six research areas: 1) Biophysics, 2) Combustion Science, 3) Complex Fluids/Soft Matter, 4) Fluid Physics, 5) Fundamental Physics, and 6) Materials Science. Each research area is represented through a variety of data types, including raw and analyzed data, imagery, science requirements, experiment design and engineering data, analytical and numerical models, publications, reports, patents, and commercial products developed from the research.
The goals of PSI are to: a) promote investigations making use of currently available experimental data resulting in more scientists participating in reduced-gravity research; b) allow new areas of research and discovery to occur more quickly through open access; and c) accelerate the "research to product or publication" timeline through the rapid sharing of data. The PSI system allows researchers access to the detailed experimental data obtained from flight research conducted as part of NASA's Physical Sciences Research Program. In line with NASA’s commitment to fostering an inclusive open science community, PSI serves as an Open Science Data Repository (OSDR). NASA’s Biological and Physical Science (BPS) division releases an annual call for proposals soliciting ground-based research proposals to utilize the experimental data in the PSI system. To receive solicitation release notifications, subscribe to the Physical Sciences research program announcements in NSPIRES.
