PAYLOADS MATURING CROSSCUTTING TECHNOLOGIES THAT ADVANCE MULTIPLE FUTURE SPACE MISSIONS TO FLIGHT READINESS STATUS | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

NASA, through its Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT), issued this Announcement of Flight Opportunities (AFO) to help technology developers push promising, broadly useful (crosscutting) space technologies closer to actual mission use by testing them in relevant flight environments. The core idea is to move payloads toward flight readiness status by giving teams a chance to demonstrate performance and survivability in conditions that resemble what future space missions will face, especially reduced gravity and near-space environments. Rather than funding research in the traditional sense, the program primarily offers access to NASA-arranged flight test platforms so developers can gather the kind of data that raises a technology's maturity and reduces risk for future adopters across multiple missions.

The opportunity is identified as NOCT110, Call Number 4, under a broader series of AFO calls running through December 31, 2014. It was posted April 4, 2012, with applications due on or before May 11, 2012, and NASA planned to announce selections by July 2012. The activity falls under science and technology and other research and development, with a CFDA listing of 43.003 (Exploration). There is no stated cost sharing or matching requirement in the notice.

A key feature of this solicitation is that it is offered on a "no exchange of funds" basis. In practice, that means NASA is not primarily writing grant checks to selected teams; instead, NASA is providing access to flight opportunities that the agency has available (subject to budget and contracted flight availability) and expects selected participants to enter into a Space Act Agreement that formalizes roles and responsibilities without money changing hands. Selection is competitive, based on proposal evaluation and the subsequent ability to negotiate that no-exchange-of-funds agreement, and it is also constrained by the number of flights NASA has under contract at any given time and by appropriated funding availability that supports the program's flight access.

The flight environments offered are designed to provide meaningful operational and environmental testing. Payloads may fly on high-altitude balloons, on aircraft that fly parabolic trajectories to create short periods of reduced gravity, and on suborbital reusable launch vehicles (sRLVs) that may reach above 100 km altitude. These platforms enable teams to test how hardware and systems perform under near-zero or reduced gravity, near-space thermal and pressure conditions (depending on platform), vibration and handling realities of flight, and other mission-relevant factors that are difficult to replicate fully on the ground. NASA directs applicants to its Flight Opportunities platforms page for specific vehicle and flight characteristics, since capabilities vary by provider and platform.

Eligibility is intentionally broad and essentially unrestricted, with the call open to individuals and organizations in the United States and outside the United States. Eligible participants explicitly include educational institutions, commercial industry, nonprofit organizations, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), NASA Centers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), other government agencies, and partnerships among these kinds of entities. The administering agency organization referenced in the listing is NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, reflecting the program's flight test focus.

Applicants were instructed to find the full solicitation and submit responses through NASA's NSPIRES system (nspires.nasaprs.com) by navigating to Solicitations, then Open Solicitations, and selecting NOCT110. The notice emphasizes practical advice: teams should access NSPIRES well ahead of the deadline to get familiar with the electronic proposal structure and ensure all requested information is entered correctly. Detailed submission instructions were provided in the "Other Documents" section on the NSPIRES page tied to the solicitation.

For questions, the solicitation points to the Flight Opportunities Program Payload Manager, Dougal Maclise, reachable via the peer review inbox (afo@nasaprs.com) and also via direct NASA email contacts. NASA indicates that responses to questions would be provided by email and also incorporated into an FAQ document on the NSPIRES page, with anonymity preserved for individuals or institutions submitting questions. Additional support contacts include Andrea C. Basham and NSPIRES/NAIS support (nais.support@nasa.gov) for access or system issues.

Overall, this AFO is best understood as an access-to-flight-testing opportunity intended to help developers prove and refine technologies that can serve more than one future space mission. The value to applicants is the chance to validate hardware in real flight conditions, produce credible performance data, and retire technical risk in a way that accelerates adoption, while working within a Space Act Agreement framework rather than a traditional funded grant award.

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