Solar System Observations contains two components: Planetary Astronomy and Near Earth Object Observations.

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1 C.6 SOLAR SYSTEM OBSERVATIONS 1. Scope of Program Solar System Observations supports both ground-based astronomical observations and suborbital investigations of our Solar System involving sounding rockets and balloons. Proposals are solicited for observations over the entire range of wavelengths from the ultraviolet to radio that contribute to the understanding of the Solar System. Additionally, Solar System Observations supports NASA s commitment to discover and inventory potentially hazardous near Earth objects with sizes down to ~100 meters and to characterize that population through determination of their orbital elements. This program element will also consider proposals that characterize a representative sample of these objects by measuring their sizes, shapes, and compositions. Solar System Observations contains two components: Planetary Astronomy and Near Earth Object Observations. 1.1 Planetary Astronomy Planetary Astronomy investigations must contain an element of new Solar System observation and must support those NASA Solar System program objectives that cannot be met by current spacecraft missions or that directly support specific current flight missions. Ground-based observations that supplement NASA missions returning significant amounts of data within the next three years are especially encouraged. Such observations may be made at any currently operating ground-based facility, public or private, including those supported by NASA. Proposals that utilize newly obtained data from large surveys, or other sources where the data is obtained in a routine manner for general use, should include a member of the data collection team as a Co-Investigator or as a Collaborator in order to meet the requirement for an element of new observation. 1.2 Near Earth Object Observations NEO Survey and Characterization Proposals Near Earth Objects (NEOs) are defined as asteroids or comet nuclei whose perihelia are less than 1.3 AU. NASA is striving to discover all potentially hazardous NEOs with sizes down to ~100 meters and to characterize that population through determination of their orbital elements, with the goal of detecting more than 90 percent of this population as soon as possible. In support of NASA s commitment and goal, this program supports NEO investigations whose primary objective is to complete the inventory of the population of NEOs with sizes greater than 100 meters. In addition to this goal, the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate has expressed an interest for the NEOO Program to search for a Human Spaceflight accessible Near- Earth Asteroid (NEA) target destination, regardless of its size. Therefore, investigations that provide capability to detect the smaller NEAs that are in low delta velocity orbits relative to Earth will receive additional consideration. C.6-1

2 In order to help achieve this inventory of NEOs, NASA seeks investigations that promise a sustained, productive search for NEOs and/or obtain follow-up observations of sufficient astrometric precision to allow the accurate prediction of the trajectories of discovered objects. NASA will also consider within this program proposals that characterize a representative sample of these objects by measuring their sizes, shapes, and compositions. In keeping with NASA data rights policies, all funded NEO search or follow-up programs will be expected to make their data permanently available in a timely manner to the scientific community. Specifically, this requirement shall apply to all astrometric measurements of putative asteroids and comets that are made by NEO search and follow-up projects funded under this program. In particular, the internationally recognized archive for this data is the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Minor Planet Center, currently located at the Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (see Proposals for Impactor Characterization and Mitigation Studies. A limited amount of funding under this program ($ K) will be made available for research directed at determination of the parameters necessary to understand the characteristics of Potentially Hazardous Objects (PHOs) important for implementation of mitigation actions against a detected impact threat that is, for operations designed to disrupt or deflect the trajectory of an asteroid on an impending Earth impact trajectory. 1.2 Suborbital Flight Investigations Solar System Workings supports science investigations and technology development utilizing payloads flown on sounding rockets, balloons, or reusable suborbital vehicles. Suborbital payloads may be recovered, refurbished, and reflown, in order to complete an investigation. A discussion of the plans for management and for reduction and analysis of the data should be given. Proposals may request durations of up to five years. Suborbital investigations provide unique opportunities not only for executing intrinsically meritorious science investigations, but also for advancing the technology readiness levels of future space flight detectors and supporting technologies and for preparing future leaders of NASA space flight missions, such as junior researchers and graduate students. For suborbital proposals, specific factors that will be considered when evaluating a proposal s intrinsic merit are the scientific merit, the degree to which it advances the technology readiness level of a detector or supporting technology, and the degree to which it advances the readiness of junior researchers or graduate students to assume leadership roles on future NASA space flight missions. Budgets are expected to cover complete investigations, including payload development and construction, instrument calibration, launch, and data analysis. The number of investigations that can be supported is limited and heavily dependent on the funds available to this program. Note that NASA does not carry reserves to accommodate any cost overrun incurred by a particular investigation, including the loss of the payload owing to a rocket or balloon system failure. C.6-2

3 Therefore, failure to achieve the proposed goals within the proposed time and budget could require either descoping the initially proposed investigation, delaying it, canceling a particular launch date opportunity, or canceling the investigation altogether. Proposers may also wish to refer to the established suborbital program under the Astrophysics Research and Analysis Program (APRA) (Appendix D.3, Section of this NRA) for more insight on conducting this type of investigation. 2. Programmatic Considerations 2.1 Instrumentation: Construction or Upgrade The Planetary Major Equipment (PME) program element described in Appendix C.17 of this NRA allows proposals for upgrading the analytical, computational, telescopic, and other instrumentation required by investigations for certain programs sponsored by the Planetary Science Division Research and Analysis Program, including this one. All new analytical instrumentation requests, as well as requests for upgrades to existing instruments, costing more than $40,000, must be requested according to the PME guidelines in Appendix C.17. Two types of instrumentation requests are permitted. (1) A PME request for the Planetary Science Division may be made as a special section that is appended to a new research proposal to the Solar System Observations program. This appendix is to be titled "Planetary Major Equipment Request" and should be separate from the Scientific/Technical/Management section of the research proposal. (2) A stand-alone PME proposal for the Planetary Science Division may be prepared and submitted to the Solar System Observations Research program. Such a stand-alone proposal must be explicitly affiliated with an existing "parent" award in the program in order to be considered for selection. For ROSES 2014 proposals, stand-alone proposals must be explicitly affiliated with an existing "parent" award in a program that was solicited by the Planetary Science Division in previous ROSES solicitations, but which is not solicited in ROSES A stand-alone PME request should explain the relevance of the parent award to the current Solar System Observations call. See Appendix C.17 for details on how to prepare both types of PME requests. 2.2 Proposals Utilizing Goldstone Planetary Radar Proposals intending to use the planetary radar capabilities of the Deep Space Network Goldstone complex must contact the JPL Goldstone Solar System Radar (GSSR) Task Manager listed below for information on costs associated with using the Goldstone radar which must be included in the proposal. GSSR Task Manager: Martin Slade M/S Jet Propulsion Laboratory 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, CA Telephone: (818) Martin.A.Slade@jpl.nasa.gov C.6-3

4 2.3 Proposals for Suborbital Flight Investigations Owing to the anticipated greater degree of complexity, the Scientific/Technical/Management section of proposals for a suborbital flight investigation may be 20 pages long instead of the default 15 pages specified in the NASA Guidebook for Proposers. Proposers should refer to Section V of the ROSES Summary of Solicitation for more information about NASA-provided Sounding Rocket and Balloon Services, Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicles, Research Investigations utilizing the International Space Station, and the use of Short Duration Orbital Platforms, including CubeSats. Points of contact are given there for each category of Suborbital Flight Investigations. 2.4 Early Career Fellowship Program The purpose of the Early Career Fellowships (ECF) program (see Appendix C.16) is to support the development of individual research programs of outstanding scientists early in their careers and to stimulate research careers in the areas supported by the Planetary Sciences Division. This Program is based on the idea that supporting key individuals is a critical mechanism for achieving high impact science that will lead the field forward with new concepts, technologies, methods, and more. Applicants requesting consideration for ECF may include an additional page to their CV to provide information that can be used by reviewers to evaluate the PI s future research contributions and the potential for leadership within the scientific community. Please see Appendix C.16 of ROSES for more information on the two-step process for the ECF program and the criteria for evaluating candidates. 2.5 NASA Provided High-End Computational (HEC) Facilities Those investigators whose research requires high-performance computing should refer to the ROSES Summary of Solicitation, Section I(d), NASA-provided High-End Computing Resources. This section describes the opportunity for successful proposers to this program to apply for computing time on either of two NASA computing facilities at the Goddard Space Flight Center s Computational and Information Sciences and Technology Office or at the Ames Research Center s Advanced Supercomputing Division. 2.6 Duration of Awards We anticipate that most proposals will seek three years of funding. Proposals for less than three years are encouraged for projects that can be completed on shorter timescales. Four and/or five-year proposals may be selected if the need for the longer duration is sufficiently well justified. 3. Summary of Key Information Expected program budget for first year of new awards Number of new awards pending adequate proposals of merit C.6-4

5 Maximum duration of awards Due date for Notice of Intent to propose (NOI) Due date for proposals Planning date for start of investigation Page limit for the central Science- Technical-Management section of proposal Relevance General information and overview of this solicitation Detailed instructions for the preparation and submission of proposals Submission medium Web site for submission of proposal via NSPIRES Web site for submission of proposal via Grants.gov Funding opportunity number for downloading an application package from Grants.gov NASA point of contact concerning this program Typically 3 years. Up to 5 years permitted. See Tables 2 and 3 in the ROSES Summary of Solicitation. See Tables 2 and 3 in the ROSES Summary of Solicitation. 15 pp; see also Chapter 2 of the NASA Guidebook for Proposers This program is relevant to the planetary science strategic goals and subgoals in NASA s Strategic Plan; see Table 1 of ROSES and the reference therein. Proposals that are relevant to this program are, by definition, relevant to NASA. See the ROSES Summary of Solicitation. See the NASA Guidebook for Proposers at ok/. Electronic proposal submission is required; no hard copy is required or permitted. See Section IV of the ROSES Summary of Solicitation and Chapter 3 of the NASA Guidebook for Proposers. (help desk available at nspires-help@nasaprs.com or (202) ) (help desk available at support@grants.gov or (800) ) NNH14ZDA001N-SSW Lindley N. Johnson Planetary Science Division Science Mission Directorate NASA Headquarters Washington, DC Telephone: (202) lindley.johnson@nasa.gov C.6-5