Faster Science: NASA’s Letter to the Community Outlines a New Mission Competition

Why NASA is changing its process

NASA says the current two-step process has taken years to advance mission concepts and brought contract-management challenges, uncertainty and limited funding. The agency says it wants a smoother, more efficient way to select missions and make funding more predictable.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman directed the Science Mission Directorate to speed science delivery, reduce the burden of lengthy competitions and focus resources on high-priority missions across NASA Science divisions. The agency plans to introduce changes in stages and refine them with input from the community.

Science comes first

Competition Model 2.0, also called CM2.0, is built around evaluating science before requiring detailed engineering plans, costs and implementation work. NASA says this approach is intended to let teams spend more time developing science and less time preparing proposals.

The first step will request a compelling science case, a science implementation plan and a proof-of-concept mission design. NASA says this cuts about half the material now required in an Announcement of Opportunity response and gives ideas a chance to be judged on their merits.

The agency says principal investigators without major university or commercial backing will receive fair consideration. NASA investigators at any NASA Center will remain eligible to respond.

Studies before final selection

In Step 2, a Mission Implementation Study will be conducted with either the Goddard Space Flight Center or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For New Frontiers or Discovery, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate may award a study managed by Goddard to JHU/APL, depending on the selected science.

Large missions remain unchanged

CM2.0 will not alter the process for NASA’s largest missions, which the agency says has already been reformed. After the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s Large Mission Study collected lessons from Webb and practices from successful flagship missions into a documented approach.

Under that approach, NASA will direct a flagship mission to a lead NASA Center. The center will then compete science teams and instruments through targeted solicitations.