Notices of Intent Due: March 2, 2022

Proposals Due: March 31, 2022

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters has released a solicitation, titled Early Career Faculty (ECF), as an appendix to the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) umbrella NASA Research Announcement (NRA) titled “Space Technology Research, Development, Demonstration, and Infusion 2022 (SpaceTech-REDDI-2022), on February 2, 2022. The solicitation is available at the following link: https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId={BF27BB84-C93F-9D37-4FFE-8790D23AD076}&path=&method=init

The Space Technology Research Grants (STRG) Program within STMD seeks proposals from accredited U.S. universities on behalf of their outstanding new faculty members who intend to develop academic careers related to space technology.

Proposals must address one of the following topics:

Topic 1 – Development of Lightweight Solar Sail Attitude Control Technologies

Topic 2 – Hibernation and Recovery of Solar-Powered Systems for Lunar Missions

Topic 3 – Tailorable Composite Design Concepts towards Dimensionally Stable Structures

Only accredited U.S. universities are eligible to submit proposals on behalf of their outstanding new faculty members who intend to develop academic careers related to space technology. The PI must be an untenured Assistant Professor on the tenure track at the sponsoring U.S. university at the time of award. The PI must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or have lawful status of permanent residency. The PI must be the primary researcher on the effort; Co-Investigators are not permitted. Collaborators (other than NASA civil servants/JPL) are permitted. See the solicitation (Section 3.0) for complete requirements regarding eligibility and for definitions and restrictions regarding collaborators.

A PI may submit only one proposal in response to this appendix.

NASA encourages submission of ECF proposals on behalf of early career faculty members at all U.S. universities and especially encourages proposals on behalf of women, members of underrepresented minority groups, and persons with disabilities. The financial and programmatic support for ECF comes from the Space Technology Research Grants Program within the Space Technology Mission Directorate. Awards are planned to start in early October 2022. NASA plans to make approximately 6 awards as a result of this ECF solicitation, subject to the receipt of meritorious proposals and the availability of funds. The actual number of awards will depend on the quality of the proposals received; NASA reserves the right to make no awards under this solicitation.

All proposals must be submitted electronically through NSPIRES or through Grants.gov (www.grants.gov) by an authorized organizational representative. Notices of Intent are strongly encouraged by March 2, 2022. Proposals are due on or before March 31, 2022. Detailed submission instructions are provided in the solicitation. Potential proposers and their proposing organizations are urged to familiarize themselves with the submission system(s), ensure they are registered in NSPIRES, and submit the required proposal materials well in advance of the deadline.

Technical and programmatic comments and questions may be addressed by email to the Space Technology Research Grants Program Executive, Claudia Meyer, at hq-ecf-call@mail.nasa.gov. Responses to inquiries will be answered by email and may also be included in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) documents located on the NSPIRES page associated with the solicitation; anonymity of persons/institutions who submit questions will be preserved.

NASA’s Call for Abstracts for the 73rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is due February 21, 2022

Audience: Full-time U.S. Graduate Students Attending U.S. Universities

NASA announces its intent to participate in the 73rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) and requests that full-time U.S. graduate students attending U.S. universities respond to this “Call for Abstracts.”

The IAC – organized by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), and the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) – is the largest space-related conference worldwide and selects an average of 1000 scientific papers every year. The upcoming IAC is scheduled September 18-22, 2022 in Paris, France. NASA’s participation in this event is an on-going effort to continue to bridge NASA with the astronautical and space international community.

This “Call for Abstracts” is a precursor to a subsequent submission of a final paper, which may be presented at the 73rd IAC. Student authors are invited to submit an abstract regarding an original, unpublished paper that has not been submitted in any other forum. A NASA technical review panel will select abstracts from those that have been accepted by the IAF. This opportunity is for graduate students majoring in fields related to the IAF research topics. Students may submit technical (oral) presentations and/or interactive posters. Students may submit abstracts that are co-authored with their Principal Investigators. However, the student must be the “lead author,” and only the student will present at the IAC. Students must be available to travel to the conference to represent NASA and their universities, if the Congress is held face-to face. Students must be U.S. citizens, attending a U.S. university, who plan to enter a career in space science or aeronautics. Pending the availability of funding, graduate students selected by NASA to participate in the IAC will be considered for subsidy funding from NASA. Only abstracts selected by the IAF will be considered for NASA sponsorship.   

Many students and professors are currently involved in NASA related research that could be considered for this submission. Students submitting abstracts are strongly encouraged to seek advice from professors, who are conducting NASA research and/or from NASA scientists and engineers. Abstracts must be related to NASA’s ongoing vision for space exploration and fit into one of the following IAC categories:

• Science and Exploration – Systems sustaining missions, including life, microgravity, space exploration, space debris and Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
• Applications and Operations – On-going and future operational applications, including earth observation, communication, navigation, human space endeavors and small satellites
• Technology – Common technologies to space systems including astrodynamics, structures, power and propulsion
• Infrastructure – Systems sustaining space missions including space system transportation, future systems and safety
• Space and Society – Interaction of space with society including education, policy and economics, history and law

The criteria for the selection will be defined according to the following specifications:

• Abstracts should specify: purpose, methodology, results, conclusions and areas for discussion.
• Abstracts should indicate that substantive technical and/or programmatic content is included.
• Abstracts should clearly indicate that the material is new and original; they should explain why and how.
• Prospective author(s) should certify that the paper was not presented at a previous meeting.
• Abstracts must be written in English and the length should not exceed 400 words. Tables or drawings are not allowed in the abstract.

Submit your abstract to NASA at https://iac.nasaprs.com  no later than 11:59 PM EST on February 21, 2022.  Please submit proof of U.S. citizenship and current enrollment in U.S. University or college no later than February 28, 2022 to abstract@nasaprs.com. Submit your abstract to the IAF at their website, https://iafastro.directory/iac/account/login/ by February 28, 2022.

IAC Paper Selection:
Submitted abstracts will be evaluated by the Session Chairs on the basis of technical quality and relevance to the session topics. Selected abstracts may be chosen for eventual oral or interactive poster presentation. Any such choice is not an indication of quality of the submitted abstract. Their evaluation will be submitted to the Symposium Coordinators, who will make acceptance recommendations to the International Programme Committee, which will make the final decision. Please note that any relevance to the Congress main theme will be considered as an advantage.

The following information must be included in the submission: paper title, name of contact author, name of co-author(s), organization(s), full postal address, phone, email of the author and co-author(s). Abstract should specify purpose, methodology, results and conclusions and should indicate that substantive technical and/or programmatic content, as well as clearly indicate that the material is new and original and explain why and how.

Please check the IAF website regularly to get the latest updates on the Technical Programme, as well as updates related to COVID-19 and any related restrictions.

Through Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) solicits proposals from accredited U.S. universities and other eligible organizations for graduate student-designed and performed research projects that contribute to SMD’s science, technology, and exploration goals identified and funded by the Astrophysics, Biological and Physical Science, Earth Science, Heliophysics, Planetary Science, and Science Engagement and Partnerships Divisions.

Updates/Reminders/Invitations for FINESST-2021 are as follows:

1. On or after February 1, a summary document from the optional, pre-proposal teleconference held December 9, 2021, may be found under “Other Documents” at https://go.nasa.gov/FINESST21. NOTE: This summary includes an appendix with questions and answers (Q&A) received during and after the call through January 28, 2022.
2. Reminder: Proposals to FINESST are due on February 11, 2021.
3. Want to review for FINESST? Based on your expertise, please volunteer via the hyperlinks:

Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST)—Earth Science

Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST)—Space Science

4. Email questions/comments to HQ-FINESST@mail.nasa.gov. The FINESST Team expects to respond on an individual basis by email without posting anonymized versions as additional public Q&As.

NASA EPSCoR Presents Virtual Research Discussions (ViReD) is a new series of bimonthly meetings (held on select Wednesdays of each month at 3 p.m. Central) designed to introduce university researchers in the 28 EPSCoR jurisdictions to researchers at NASA. The major objectives of these meetings are to 1) ensure NASA EPSCoR researchers around the country are familiar with the research priorities and active projects at NASA, 2) confirm that NASA researchers are familiar with the opportunities NASA EPSCoR funding can offer to their research enterprises, 3) provide a forum for jurisdiction researchers to ask questions regarding potential areas of interest to NASA, and 4) result in high quality collaborative opportunities for both NASA and EPSCoR jurisdiction researchers.

See the flyer for details about the next session being held on Wednesday, February 9th at 3 pm with Nick Benardini and Elaine Seasly of NASA’s Office of Planetary Protection.

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Join the meeting for the NASA Langley Research Center on Thursday, January 27, 2022, 2 PM to 3:30 PM.

Agenda found here: NASA LaRC Virtual Meeting “flash talks” Agenda

NASA has released the FY22 Suborbital Flight Opportunity. Click here for more information.