NASA SPACE TECHNOLOGY MISSION DIRECTORATE NASA INNOVATIVE ADVANCED CONCEPTS PHASE I STUDIES NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT 2015 | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

NASA Headquarters announced a 2015 funding opportunity under the Space Technology Mission Directorate called NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase I Studies, released as an appendix to the broader Space Technology Research, Development, Demonstration, and Infusion (REDDI) 2015 NASA Research Announcement. The purpose of the appendix (Funding Opportunity Number NNH15ZOA001N, also shown as 15NIAC_A1) was to fund early, exploratory studies of bold aerospace ideas that could eventually enable major leaps in spaceflight or aeronautics. The program focus was firmly on high-impact concepts at the architecture, mission, or full system level, rather than on improving a single component or pushing an existing technology a little further.

The solicitation emphasized the kind of ideas NIAC looks for: proposals needed to be exciting, largely unexplored, far-term in outlook, and yet still technically credible. In other words, NASA was explicitly inviting daring, high-risk visions, but only if they were grounded in plausible physics and engineering and could be argued as implementable in principle. The announcement also made clear what would not be supported: narrow technology development, subsystem-only work, incremental upgrades, or near-term advancements were considered out of scope for NIAC Phase I.

The application process was structured as a two-step competition. Step A required a short white paper of no more than three pages plus a required summary chart. This initial submission acted as a gate: only proposers who were invited after Step A review were eligible to submit Step B. Step B consisted of a full proposal capped at eight pages. Step A submissions could be sent electronically through NASA’s NSPIRES system (NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System) and, for Step A only, proposers also had the option to submit via Grants.gov. Step B proposals, however, had to be submitted through NSPIRES only. The solicitation was posted around early October 2014, with the appendix becoming available through the NSPIRES solicitations listing as of October 10, 2014.

Key deadlines were clearly stated. Step A white papers were due on or before Wednesday, November 12, 2014. Invited Step B full proposals were due on or before Wednesday, January 21, 2015. NASA anticipated making roughly 12 to 16 NIAC Phase I awards, although the final number depended on proposal quality and the availability of appropriated funds. The award instrument was listed as a grant (with “Other” also indicated in the instrument type field), the opportunity category was discretionary, and the activity area was science and technology and other research and development. The CFDA number associated with the opportunity was 43.009, and there was no cost-sharing or matching requirement.

Eligibility was intentionally broad and open. The solicitation was described as an open announcement welcoming responses from essentially any type of applicant, subject to any clarifications in the full text. NASA allowed participation from universities, commercial entities, nonprofit organizations, research laboratories, government agencies, and NASA centers (including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory). Individual applicants were also allowed to submit proposals as long as they met NSPIRES registration requirements. Because everything was handled electronically, organizations needed to be registered in NSPIRES and designate authorized organizational representatives, and principal investigators and co-investigators also needed to meet system registration requirements. The announcement strongly encouraged applicants to start the registration and proposal-entry process well ahead of the deadlines to avoid last-minute system or compliance issues.

For questions, NASA directed applicants to email NIAC program representatives at hq-niac@mail.nasa.gov, noting that responses would be provided by email and also added to a Frequently Asked Questions document linked on the NSPIRES page for the solicitation, with anonymity preserved for those submitting questions. The notice also referenced support contacts for accessing the announcement and system help, including NIAC contact John Jay Falker, PhD, and NSPIRES/NAIS support. Overall, the opportunity was designed to seed a small portfolio of credible but unconventional ideas at the earliest study stage, using a lightweight first-step white paper to identify the most promising visions for invitation to full proposal review.

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