Use of the NASA Physical Sciences Informatics System - Appendix F | NNH17ZTT001N 17PSI F

Opportunity Information: Apply for NNH17ZTT001N 17PSI F

NASA's "Use of the NASA Physical Sciences Informatics System (PSI) - Appendix F" is a funding opportunity under a NASA Research Announcement (NRA) that supports ground-based research projects built around existing reduced-gravity experimental data already collected by NASA. Instead of proposing new spaceflight experiments, applicants are expected to generate new scientific results by mining, reanalyzing, modeling, or otherwise extracting additional insight from datasets housed in NASA's Physical Sciences Informatics (PSI) system (http://psi.nasa.gov). PSI is a public online repository containing data from completed physical sciences investigations flown in reduced gravity environments, including experiments conducted on the International Space Station, Space Shuttle missions, free-flyer platforms, commercial cargo flights to and from the ISS, and related ground-based studies. The overall idea is to extend the scientific return of past missions by enabling researchers to ask new questions of high-value datasets, in line with open science and the US Open Data Policy.

Appendix F is one installment in a larger NRA (Funding Opportunity Number NNH17ZTT001N) that NASA planned to keep open through 2022 via annual appendices. This particular appendix focuses proposals into five physical science discipline areas: Combustion Science, Complex Fluids, Fluid Physics, Fundamental Physics, and Materials Science. A key constraint is that proposals must rely on data from "eligible investigations" listed in Appendix F (the solicitation document contains the specific list). Competitive proposals are expected to make a clear, credible case that links the PSI dataset(s) directly to the proposed work, showing a logical path from the available data to the new analysis, methods, or interpretation. NASA also emphasizes that the proposed effort should tackle an important problem in the selected research area and meaningfully advance scientific knowledge or technology, not simply repackage prior results.

The opportunity is open to a wide range of applicants across both US and non-US organizations, including universities, industry, nonprofits, NASA Centers, and other US government agencies, with international participation allowed as long as NASA's policies for research involving non-US entities are followed. NASA explicitly invites two investigator tracks: established researchers (including postdoctoral scholars) and graduate students. Graduate student proposals are permitted, but they must be submitted by the student's academic advisor and must be affiliated with accredited US postsecondary institutions and programs. Teams can include collaborators from academia, federal labs, private companies, state and local government labs, and international partners, which makes the program suitable for interdisciplinary groups that combine domain science expertise with data analysis, modeling, or computational methods.

Administratively, proposals must be submitted electronically by an authorized organizational official, using either NSPIRES (http://nspires.nasaprs.com/) or Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov). Even if an applicant submits through Grants.gov, NASA requires the proposing organization to be registered in NSPIRES, and principal investigators and other key participants (such as co-investigators) must also have NSPIRES registrations. Because electronic systems can have additional registration or formatting requirements, NASA encourages teams to start registrations and system familiarization well ahead of the deadline to avoid last-minute submission issues. NASA also indicated it would host a proposer information conference via Webex shortly after the appendix was released, to walk potential applicants through the program expectations and the PSI system itself.

For Appendix F specifically, NASA anticipated releasing the solicitation around September 16, 2019, with proposals due around December 16, 2019 (Original Closing Date: Dec 16, 2019). The agency projected about five awards. The posted opportunity lists multiple possible award instrument types, including grants, cooperative agreements, and procurement contracts, and NASA reserved the right to choose the appropriate instrument for selected proposals. The listing also notes that this is a broad agency announcement under FAR 6.102(d)(2), reflecting that NASA is seeking scientific and technical ideas rather than acquiring a predefined commercial product or service.

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA Headquarters in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Use of the NASA Physical Sciences Informatics System - Appendix F" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 43.003.
• This funding opportunity was created on Aug 30, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Dec 16, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 5 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for NNH17ZTT001N 17PSI F

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