ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY FOR THE NEW FRONTIERS PROGRAM NEW FRONTIERS 2009 | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

NASA Headquarters, through its Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and Planetary Science Division, issued an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for the New Frontiers Program titled "New Frontiers 2009" under funding opportunity number NNH09ZDA007O. The AO is a competitive solicitation for proposing a major planetary science mission within the New Frontiers mission line, and it is formally issued as a NASA Research Announcement consistent with FAR 6.102(d)(2). The solicitation window runs from April 20, 2009 (release date) through July 31, 2009 (proposal due date), with a required or strongly encouraged Notice of Intent to propose due on June 12, 2009.

The core purpose of the opportunity is to fund early mission development and ultimately select a single mission for flight. NASA indicated it expects to choose up to three proposed missions for a roughly 10-month Phase A concept study. Phase A is the step where teams refine the mission concept, mature key technologies and designs, develop initial cost and schedule baselines, and produce the Phase A report package NASA uses to compare concepts in a more apples-to-apples way. After reviewing those Phase A results, NASA anticipates downselecting to one mission to proceed into Phase B (preliminary design and technology completion) and then into later implementation phases leading to launch and operations.

NASA also set an expected launch window for the eventual selected mission: no earlier than late calendar year (CY) 2016 and no later than CY 2018. In practical terms, this timeline signals that NASA was looking for proposals that were ambitious but realistically executable within that development timeframe, including having a credible plan for design maturation, procurement, integration and testing, and readiness for launch within the specified years.

A key constraint in this AO is that proposed missions must directly address the science objectives of one of eight mission concepts defined by the National Research Council (NRC) in its 2007 report, "Opening New Frontiers in Space: Choices for the Next New Frontiers Announcement of Opportunity." In other words, proposers were not invited to submit any arbitrary planetary mission idea; they had to align their proposal with one of the eight prioritized New Frontiers concepts from that NRC study, including its scientific rationale and objectives. This requirement ties the AO to the decadal-survey style community prioritization process and ensures that NASA investments map to a pre-vetted set of high-priority planetary science goals.

Eligibility for participation was broad and essentially unrestricted by organizational type, subject to any clarifications contained in the full AO text. NASA explicitly stated that participation was open to U.S. and non-U.S. organizations across the spectrum, including educational institutions, industrial firms, and nonprofit organizations, as well as Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs), NASA Centers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and other government agencies. The funding instrument types listed for the opportunity include cooperative agreements and grants, and the activity category is science and technology and other research and development. The posted listing also notes that there is no cost sharing or matching requirement, meaning proposers were not required to provide non-federal matching funds as a condition of submission or award.

For proposer support and process transparency, NASA scheduled a preproposal conference on June 3, 2009 in the Washington, DC area, with details hosted on the New Frontiers website. The AO and appendices were to be made available electronically through NASA's NSPIRES system (http://nspires.nasaprs.com/) starting on the release date, and the opportunity remained open for submissions until the July 31, 2009 deadline. Administrative metadata in the listing includes a posted date of March 31, 2009, and an archive date of March 31, 2010, which generally indicates when the opportunity would be removed from active listings.

The listed point of contact for solicitation-specific questions was Dr. Thomas H. Morgan, New Frontiers Program Scientist within NASA SMD's Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters. The notice provided his phone number and email address, and it asked that emails use a subject line reading "NEW FRONTIERS AO" to help route inquiries appropriately. For technical issues accessing the announcement electronically, the notice also referenced NASA's NSPIRES/NAIS support contact (nais.support@nasa.gov).

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