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NASA overhauls science-mission selection to cut costs and time
Space.com reports NASA Science Mission Directorate head Nicky Fox outlined Competition Model 2.0 on Oct. 21, aiming to shorten proposal timelines and put scientific merit first, with a town hall on Oct. 26.
NASA is changing how it selects and develops science missions, according to Space.com, which cited an Oct. 21 open letter from Nicky Fox, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate, describing Competition Model 2.0 as directed by Administrator Jared Isaacman1.
The agency now often uses competitive Announcements of Opportunity in a two-step process that can take almost three years, with teams required to submit detailed engineering and financial plans before NASA picks finalists, Space.com reported1. Fox said in the letter that bringing ideas forward has been too heavy a burden1.
Under the new model, initial proposals would emphasize scientific objectives and a preliminary plan, deferring much of the engineering and cost work, according to that account1. Discovery-class planetary missions, larger New Frontiers spacecraft and Astro-Probes would keep a shortened two-step process with about half the material in first-round proposals, cutting a 35-month timeline to about 19.5 months, Fox wrote1.
Flagship missions would keep procedures recently revised after a study of James Webb Space Telescope development, Space.com said1. Medium-class Explorer and Earth Explorer missions would be opened to a wider set of applicants, including universities and commercial groups, with NASA weighing developers' records on similar work and allowing principal investigators to request Goddard Space Flight Center or Jet Propulsion Laboratory support in the first stage1.
Smaller programs — Small Explorer and Earth Venture missions, Missions of Opportunity, hosted payloads and rideshares — would move to a one-step selection, with final-selection timelines expected to fall from about 32 months to 19, according to Space.com1. Fox wrote that the smallest missions would move faster with a maturing commercial space market1.
The letter also stressed tighter cost and schedule control, Space.com reported1. "Breaches of control thresholds will carry real consequences," Fox wrote, including possible cancellations1. NASA hopes greater involvement of Goddard and JPL will cut competition between the centers while using agency expertise1.
Fox and other NASA science officials were scheduled to brief the community in a virtual town hall on Oct. 26 at 2 p.m. EDT, Space.com said, with a livestream and a public question form1. The letter itself was not independently reviewed for this filing1.
