Amendment 82: B.9 Heliophysics Low Cost Access to Space Due Date Delay and balloon flight limitations.
B.9 Heliophysics Low Cost Access to Space (H-LCAS) supports investigations addressing NASA Heliophysics Science Goals using investigator-developed instrumentation that must be completed through suborbital flights. Proposals submitted to H-LCAS must:
- Address NASA Heliophysics Science Goals and Objectives
- Develop or enhance an instrument/sensor for flight;
- Suborbital flight is required to achieve investigation objectives;
- Data acquired from flight is reduced, analyzed, and interpreted in terms of investigation objectives;
- The reduced (calibrated) data is archived in a NASA on-line facility and the interpretation is published in professional journals;
- The investigation is completed within four years, typically three years for all but complex investigations;
- The Principal Investigator manages all the program resources (including schedule and cost) and no reserve is held by NASA.
Suborbital launch vehicle services include those provided by the NASA Sounding Rocket Program Office, the NASA Balloon Program Office, and NASA Airborne Science Program, as well as services provided by the Space Technology Mission Directorate commercial sub-orbital Flight Opportunities Program. The mandatory NOI and proposal must include a Payload Requirements Document.
ROSES-2022 Amendment 82 delays the proposal due date for this program element. The due date for proposals is now January 19, 2023. Additionally, due to pandemic-induced launch cancellations in the NASA SMD Scientific Balloon Program LDB campaigns in the Antarctic, no new LCAS suborbital proposals requiring an Antarctic Long Duration Balloon flight before the campaign season beginning in November 2028 will be considered for selection. Constraints on the SMD balloon program funding may also delay flights utilizing the Esrange Space Center, Sweden and other “remote” campaigns as the current backlog in balloon flight manifest is worked down.
On or about December 28, 2022, this Amendment to the NASA Research Announcement "Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2022" (NNH22ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2022
Questions concerning B.9 H-LCAS may be directed to Dan Moses at dan.moses@nasa.gov.
