The solar and heliospheric research communities are dedicated to promoting enhanced understanding of, and predictive capabilities for, solar disturbances that propagate to the Earth. Broad-based, grass-roots associations such as SHINE have developed to focus community effort on these scientific questions. Proposals are solicited for research directly related to topics under consideration and discussion at community workshops organized by SHINE. Information on the current activities of SHINE may be found at the following web site: http://www.shinecon.org
The primary aim of this Ideas Lab is to foster the development of a theoretical framework that encompasses the "metabolism first" and "RNA first" theories for the origin of life by stimulating creative thinking and new research on the earliest events leading to life on early Earth. Understanding plausible pathways for the origin of life will contribute directly to our understanding of the indispensable properties of life on Earth and inform our search for life on other worlds.
In cooperation with NSF and within available resources, the proposer will plan and execute a viable program of research and/or education, consistent with the objectives and priorities of the scientific community. The recipient will manage the facilities and equipment provided by NSF, and will provide support and technical personnel to manage AO as a well-integrated research and/or education facility. A significant portion of the AO program should be carried out in collaboration with its stakeholder communities, and other collaborators.
Proposals should describe how the proposing institution(s) would: (1) provide observing capabilities and scientific data distribution centering upon the use of the one or the other AMISR facility; (2) support the needs of NSF-funded, peer-reviewed research and education projects; (3) foster an integrated program of education, workforce development, and outreach; (4) develop, manage, and maintain the AMISR facility capabilities; and (5) establish appropriate partnerships with the community, both national and international, to support AMISR research goals.
Proposals should describe how the proposing institution(s) would: (1) provide observing capabilities and scientific data distribution centering upon the use of the one or the other AMISR facility; (2) support the needs of NSF-funded, peer-reviewed research and education projects; (3) foster an integrated program of education, workforce development, and outreach; (4) develop, manage, and maintain the AMISR facility capabilities; and (5) establish appropriate partnerships with the community, both national and international, to support AMISR research goals
The solar and heliospheric research communities are dedicated to promoting enhanced understanding of, and predictive capabilities for, solar disturbances that propagate to the Earth. Broad-based, grass-roots associations such as SHINE have developed to focus community effort on these scientific questions. Proposals are solicited for research directly related to topics under consideration and discussion at community workshops organized by SHINE.
NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowships provide an opportunity for highly qualified, recent doctoral scientists to carry out an integrated program of independent research and education. Fellows may engage in observational, instrumental, theoretical, laboratory or archival data research in any area of astronomy or astrophysics, in combination with a coherent educational plan for the duration of the fellowship. The program supports researchers for a period of up to three years with fellowships that may be taken to eligible host institution(s) of their choice. The program is intended to recognize early-career investigators of significant potential and to provide them with experience in research and education that will establish them in positions of distinction and leadership in the community.
GEM is a broad-based, community-initiated research program on the physics of the Earth's magnetosphere and the coupling of the magnetosphere to the atmosphere and to the solar wind. The purpose of the GEM program is to support basic research into the dynamical and structural properties of geospace, leading to the construction of a global Geospace General Circulation Model (GGCM) with predictive capability. The exact structure of a GGCM may be modular or may consist of a "spine" such as a global MDH model with links to special modules. The strategy for achieving GEM goals is to create a series of Focus Groups, each of which addresses a specific problem in understanding and modeling the magnetosphere.
This solicitation invites proposals for support of R&D and construction of future generation experiments that conduct direct-detection searches for dark matter particles. Proposals are not limited to searches for WIMPs or axions; any viable dark matter species may be the object of an investigation.
The Particle Astrophysics program supports university research in many areas of particle astrophysics, including the study of ultra-high energy particles reaching Earth from beyond our atmosphere, experiments or research and development projects for underground facilities and non-accelerator-based experiments studying the properties of neutrinos.
Currently supported activities include: ultra-high energy cosmic-ray, gamma-ray and neutrino studies; the study of solar, underground and reactor neutrino physics; neutrino mass measurements; searches for the direct and indirect detection of Dark Matter; searches for neutrino-less double beta decay; and studies of Cosmology and Dark Energy.
The Astrophysics and Cosmology Theory program supports proposals that primarily are involved with theoretical particle astrophysics and big-bang cosmology as well as more speculative string theory inspired cosmologies. Understanding the quarks to cosmos connection has been a recent focus of the program as well as better understanding the implications of the fluctuation spectra of the cosmic microwave background. The cosmology and astrophysics research supported by the program is usually associated with people with training in particle theory and encompasses dark matter, dark energy, high energy cosmic rays as well as exotic cosmologies arising from Brane-world and String Theory scenarios.
The Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee is a federal advisory committee chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which resulted from one of the primary recommendations of the Presidential Committee on the Organization and Management of Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics (COMRAA). COMRAA was originally called for in the President's budget blueprint for Fiscal Year 2002, which appeared in February 2001.
The universe is the ultimate laboratory, and we can now probe it as never before through several powerful and diverse windows - electromagnetic waves, high-energy particles, and gravitational waves. Each of these windows provides a different view. Together they reveal a detailed picture of the Universe that will allow us to study matter, energy, and the cosmos in fundamentally new ways.
The NSF's Big Idea "Windows on the Universe" is implemented through this WoU-MMA program. WoU-MMA identifies three categories of messengers - electromagnetic waves, high-energy particles including neutrinos and cosmic rays, and gravitational waves. The goals of WoU-MMA are to build the capabilities and accelerate the synergy and interoperability of the three messengers to realize integrated, multi-messenger astrophysical explorations of the Universe.
The Smart and Autonomous Systems (S&AS) program focuses on Intelligent Physical Systems (IPS) that are capable of robust, long-term autonomy requiring minimal or no human operator intervention in the face of uncertain, unanticipated, and dynamically changing situations. IPS are systems that combine perception, cognition, communication, and actuation to operate in the physical world. Examples include, but are not limited to, robotic platforms, self-driving vehicles, underwater exploration vehicles, and smart grids.
Most current IPS operate in pre-programmed ways and in a limited variety of contexts. They are largely incapable of handling novel situations, or of even understanding when they are outside their areas of expertise. To achieve robust, long-term autonomy, however, future IPS need to be aware of their capabilities and limitations and to adapt their behaviors to compensate for limitations and/or changing conditions.
The Distributed Arrays of Small Instruments (DASI) solicitation is designed to address the increasing need for high spatial and temporal resolution measurements to determine the local, regional, and global scale processes that are essential for addressing the fundamental questions in solar and space physics. This solicitation will be formally divided into two tracks: 1) development of instrumentation for future deployment in arrays and 2) deployment and operation of existing instruments in distributed arrays. This DASI solicitation emphasizes both strong scientific merit and a well-developed plan for student training and involvement of a diverse workforce.
The Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation (ATI) program provides grants to support the development and construction of state-of-the-art astronomical detectors and instruments for the visible, infrared, submillimeter, and radio regions of the spectrum.
Successful proposals will involve the application of new hardware and software technology and/or innovative techniques in astronomical research in any of a broad range of fields, including (but not limited to) imaging instruments and spectrometers, semiconducting and superconducting detector arrays for astronomy, precision radial velocity hardware, polarization measurement hardware and techniques, correlator hardware, interferometric imaging, and adaptive optics.
The Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation (ATI) program provides grants to support the development and construction of state-of-the-art astronomical detectors and instruments for the visible, infrared, submillimeter, and radio regions of the spectrum.
Successful proposals will involve the application of new hardware and software technology and/or innovative techniques in astronomical research in any of a broad range of fields, including (but not limited to) imaging instruments and spectrometers, semiconducting and superconducting detector arrays for astronomy, precision radial velocity hardware, polarization measurement hardware and techniques, correlator hardware, interferometric imaging, and adaptive optics.
The Transformational Tools and Technologies (TTT) Project advances state-of-the-art computational and experimental tools and technologies that are vital to aviation applications in the six strategic thrusts. The project develops new computer-based tools, computational fluid dynamics models, and associated scientific knowledge that will provide first-of-a-kind capabilities to analyze, understand, and predict aviation concept performance. These revolutionary tools will be applied to accelerate NASA's research and the community's design and introduction of advanced concepts. The Project also explores technologies that are broadly critical to advancing ARMD strategic outcomes. Such technologies include the understanding of new types of strong and lightweight materials, innovative controls techniques, and experimental methods. The TTT Materials and Structures Discipline emphasizes improved multifunctional and high temperature materials for airframe and engine application, as well as integrated multiscale modeling and simulation tool development to improve validated first-principles materials and structural modeling.
This solicitation addresses the overlapping objectives of the National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan (NSW-SAP) and the National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI) Update through a pilot program. The goal of this pilot program is to transform development of predictive modeling of the coupled evolution of the magnetized solar atmosphere and the solar wind, and their interaction with the Earth's magnetosphere and upper atmosphere. This requires advancing our understanding of the necessary and sufficient requirements of model complexity, computational performance, and observational inputs. The pilot program is also expected to directly contribute to the long-term goal of creating space weather models with quantifiable predictive capability.
solicits applied research in support of HRP goals and objectives. This response area is Appendix B of the Human Exploration Research Opportunities (HERO) NRA (80JSC017N0001).NASA is soliciting investigations lasting no more than one year that provide innovative approaches to any of the risks and gaps contained in the Integrated Research Plan of the Human Research Program. NASA is also soliciting novel research ideas that might not be directly aligned with HRP's identified risks from new investigators who have not received funding from NASA or the National Space Biomedical Research Institute in the last ten years. A virtual Pre-Proposers Conference is scheduled for August 7, 2017, and more details will be posted shortly alongside this solicitation on NSPIRES. Appendix B Step-1 proposals are due September 12, 2017. Invited Appendix B Step-2 proposals are due December 5, 2017.All categories of United States (U.S.) institutions are eligible to submit proposals in response to the NRA.
Though the mechanisms for the observed time dependence in nuclear decay parameters are not well understood, the importance of this work is twofold: 1.) the ability to account for noise sources associated with microelectronics in radiation environments, 2.) the exploration of new physical mechanisms that could lead to new detection technologies with significant impacts to DoD applications. Crane is interested in funding research to explore the existence of physical mechanisms of nuclear decay modulation.
