NASA Space Life and Physical Sciences Research: ROSBio Appendix A Grant for Deep Space Biology Investigations

NASA’s Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications Division (SLPSRAD) has been invited to participate in the Orion Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1), which is an unmanned lunar orbital flight tentatively scheduled to occur in 2019. The NASA Space Biology Program has been allocated two experiment payload locations inside the EM-1 Orion capsule for the specific purpose of conducting scientific investigations. NASA is soliciting proposals for biological studies  that contribute answers to NASA’s Strategic Objectives 1.2: Understand Responses of Physical and Biological Systems to Spaceflight, and 2.2: Conduct Exploration in Deep Space, (https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nasa_2018_strategic_plan.pdf), the National Academy of Science (NAS) Decadal report (http://www.nap.edu/catalog/13048.html) recommendations for exploration, and Space Biology research priorities (https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/16-05-11_sb_plan_2.pdf ).
 
Appendix A to the Research Opportunities in Space Biology (ROSBio) – 2018 NASA Omnibus Research Announcement (https://tinyurl.com/ROSBio-2018) hereafter referred to as ROSBio-2018) solicits proposals for hypothesis-driven space biology investigations designed to study how life responds to the space environment beyond low Earth orbit. Applicants must propose to use organisms that can be accommodated within the extreme environmental and technical constraints of the EM-1 lunar orbit flight and pre-defined experimental hardware as described in Appendix A.  Proposed investigations must address Space Biology research priorities and goals as well as recommendations made by the Decadal Report.

NASA Space Biology will use a two-step submission and review process. This will require the submission of a Step-1 pre-proposal followed by the invited submission of a Step-2 full proposal.  Please see Appendix A and ROSBio2018 for full details regarding this process.  

Appendix A can be found by opening the NASA Research Opportunities homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ and then linking through the menu listings “Solicitations” to “Open Solicitations” or at https://tinyurl.com/ROSBio-EM1.  Step-1 proposals are due August 17, 2018 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time, and Step 2 proposals are due September 24, 2018 at 11:59 PM Eastern time. Both Step-1 and Step-2 proposals must be submitted electronically by an authorized official of the proposing organization. Proposers may use either NSPIRES (http://nspires.nasaprs.com/) or Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov) for submission of a Step-1 proposals, however they must use NSPIRES to submit a Step-2 proposal.  Regardless of the submission method, every organization and team member involved in a proposal in response to Appendix A must be registered with NSPIRES, and such registration must identify the authorized organizational representative(s) who will submit electronic proposals.

Instructions on how to register in NSPIRES are described in ROSBio-2018. Each electronic proposal requires the registration of the principal investigator and other participants (e.g. co-investigators). Potential proposers and proposing organizations are urged to access the system(s) well in advance of the proposal due date(s) to familiarize themselves with its structure and enter the requested information. Questions about this ROSBio-2018 and this Appendix may be addressed to the contacts referenced in the full solicitation document.
 
This Appendix is a broad agency announcement as specified in FAR 6.102 (d)(2). All awards resulting from selections of proposals to this Appendix will be grants or cooperative agreements.

Programmatic information for this NRA is available from: Dr. David L. Tomko, Program Scientist for Space Biology Life and Physical Sciences Division, NASA Headquarters Phone: 202-358-2211
Email: dtomko@nasa.gov