Technology Advancement Utilizing Suborbital and Orbital Flight Opportunities "TechFlights"

The purpose of this Appendix is to provide funding for the testing or demonstration of space technologies in relevant environments through flights on U.S. commercial suborbital rockets, rocket-powered lander vehicles, high-altitude balloons, aircraft following reduced-gravity flight profiles, and orbital platforms.

STMD’s Flight Opportunities program rapidly demonstrates promising technologies for space exploration, discovery, and the expansion of space commerce through suborbital testing with industry flight providers. The program matures capabilities needed for NASA missions and commercial applications while strategically investing in the growth of the U.S. commercial spaceflight industry. This year, Flight Opportunities is joined in this Appendix by STMD’s Small Spacecraft Technology program which expands the ability to execute unique missions through rapid development and demonstration of capabilities for small spacecraft applicable to exploration, science, and the commercial space sector. 

NASA will help fund the testing of innovative space technologies by providing up to $750K for the proposer to purchase flight services from a qualified flight provider. In addition to purchasing the flight(s), these funds may be used to cover the design, development, preparation of the payload for flight including tests required by the flight provider, post-flight analysis and reporting, as well as travel in support of the flight(s) and indirect costs. Funds may also be used for educational purposes in support of the flight.

STMD is strongly committed to promoting a culture that actively encourages diversity and inclusion and removes barriers to participation. One important way of achieving this objective is to ensure that proposal review is performed in an equitable and fair manner. This year, the TechFlights solicitation will use dual-anonymous peer review (DAPR) to evaluate proposals. Under this system, the identity of reviewers will not be shared with proposers, and the identity of proposers will not be shared with reviewers until after the technical merit has been evaluated for all of the anonymized proposals. 

This Appendix is applicable to external, non-NASA Principal Investigators. Employees of NASA, JPL, other government agencies, and their contractors may, however, participate as Co-Investigators and/or Collaborators.

Awards to this Appendix will be accomplished via grants and/or cooperative agreements.

The financial and programmatic support for the Flight Opportunities and Small Spacecraft Technology programs comes from the STMD. Awards are planned to start in February 2023. NASA plans to make approximately 7-10 suborbital awards and 1-2 orbital awards as a result of this solicitation, subject to the receipt of meritorious proposals and the availability of funds. The actual number of awards will depend on the quality of the proposals received; NASA reserves the right to make no awards under this solicitation.

All proposals must be submitted electronically through NSPIRES by an Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR). A Mandatory Preliminary Proposal is due June 2, 2022 at 5:00 pm ET with Full Proposals (by invitation only) due on or before August 29, 2022 at 5:00 pm ET. Note that the submission of a Mandatory Preliminary Proposal is a prerequisite to be invited to submit a Full Proposal. Detailed submission instructions are provided in the solicitation. Potential proposers and their proposing organizations are urged to familiarize themselves with the submission requirements and system(s), ensure they are registered in NSPIRES, and submit the required abstract and proposal materials well in advance of the deadlines.

Technical and programmatic comments and questions may be addressed by e-mail to the Program Executive for the Flight Opportunities and Small Spacecraft Technology programs, Christopher Baker, at HQ-STMD-FO@nasaprs.com. Responses to inquiries will be answered by e-mail and may also be included in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) documents located on the NSPIRES page associated with the solicitation. Anonymity of persons/institutions who submit questions will be preserved.