DRAFT DISCOVERY 2010 ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY NNH10ZDA003J RELEASED FOR COMMUNITY COMMENT | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

NASA Headquarters, through the Science Mission Directorate, released a Draft Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for the next mission in its Discovery Program under funding opportunity number NNH10ZDA003J. This is not the final solicitation for mission proposals; it is a draft version published specifically so the planetary science community can review the planned requirements, ground rules, and evaluation approach and then provide feedback before NASA decides whether and how to issue the final Discovery 2010 AO. The draft was posted for community comment on December 7, 2009, with comments due by January 13, 2010, and it is explicitly framed as a discretionary research and development opportunity anticipated to use a cooperative agreement instrument.

The core purpose of the opportunity is to advance NASA planetary science goals through competitively selected Discovery-class investigations. Mission concepts must be focused on Solar System targets other than Earth and the Sun. In other words, proposed investigations can center on bodies like Venus, Mars, the Moon, asteroids, comets, the outer planet systems, or other Solar System objects, but they cannot be built around extra-solar (exoplanet) planetary systems. The summary also makes clear that the Discovery Program is looking for mission investigations aligned with planetary science priorities rather than general space science, and it anchors eligibility and participation rules around that planetary science scope.

Eligibility is broadly open across U.S. organizations, with participation described as unrestricted in terms of institutional type. NASA lists educational institutions, private industry, nonprofit organizations, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), NASA Centers, and major NASA-affiliated or government laboratories such as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), as well as other government agencies. The practical takeaway is that NASA intended this draft AO to be reviewed by, and eventually competed among, a wide range of capable proposers and partner teams, not a narrow subset of academia or government.

NASA indicated that the full draft AO text and appendices would be available through NSPIRES (http://nspires.nasaprs.com/), which is NASA's primary system for hosting and submitting many research and mission opportunity documents. In addition, NASA planned a Potential Bidders Conference in early January 2010 in the Washington, DC area. The purpose of that conference was to walk through the draft AO at a high level, clarify NASA's intent, and answer community questions. Updates and materials associated with that conference, along with Q and A tied to the draft AO, were to be posted on the Discovery Acquisition Additional Information Page (http://discovery.larc.nasa.gov/), creating a central public location for ongoing clarifications.

An important caution is included throughout the notice: releasing the draft AO does not obligate NASA to release the final Discovery 2010 AO or to solicit proposals at all. NASA also emphasizes that any costs prospective investigators incur while preparing feedback or early planning materials in response to the draft are entirely at the submitters' own risk. In other words, this stage is about shaping the solicitation, not funding concept development, and NASA does not commit to reimbursement or to moving forward simply because the draft exists.

For community input, NASA directed reviewers to send written comments, preferably by email, to Dr. Michael New, the Lead Discovery Program Scientist in the Planetary Science Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters. Commenters were asked to include the subject line text "Discovery 2010 Draft AO" (without quotes) to help route and track submissions. NASA also stated that the identity of those submitting comments would be held in confidence, which is meant to encourage candid feedback from organizations that may later compete. Questions and answers about the draft were to be made publicly available via the Discovery acquisition information page, while the comments themselves and commenter identities would remain confidential.

Key administrative details from the posting include: the opportunity category is discretionary; the activity category is science and technology and other research and development; there is no cost sharing or matching requirement identified; and the posting and creation dates are December 3, 2009, with the draft release date listed as December 7, 2009 and a comment deadline of January 13, 2010. The issuing agency is NASA Headquarters, and support for access issues was also provided through NASA's NAIS/NSPIRES support channel, alongside Dr. New as the primary programmatic point of contact.

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