The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters anticipates a release of a solicitation, titled Technology Advancement Utilizing Suborbital Flight Opportunities, as an Appendix to the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) umbrella NASA Research Announcement (NRA) titled "Space Technology Research, Development, Demonstration, and Infusion 2018 (SpaceTech-REDDI-2018), on or about March 30, 2018. The solicitation is available by opening the NSPIRES homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ , selecting "Solicitations," then selecting "Open Solicitations," and, finally, selecting "Technology Advancement Utilizing Suborbital Flight Opportunities". The Flight Opportunities program within the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) strategically invests in the growth of the commercial spaceflight market while helping advance technologies that will enable future space missions for exploration and science. The Flight Opportunities program achieves these self-reinforcing objectives by selecting promising technologies from industry, academia, and government to test on commercial suborbital launch vehicles, reduced gravity aircraft, and high-altitude balloon flights. Investment in tests that take technologies from the laboratory to a relevant flight environment facilitates technology maturation, validates feasibility and reduces technical risks. These investments enable infusion of key technologies into STMD programs and future exploration missions. Historically, the Flight Opportunities program has planned the release of two Appendices per year. Beginning with this call for proposals, the program plans to release one call per year while maintaining the same amount of funding for the year. The following topics are anticipated for the final Appendix: Demonstration of Space Technology Payloads; Demonstration of Vehicle Capability Enhancements and Onboard Research Facilities for Payload Accommodation. All U.S. private entities (for-profit & non-profit), Federally Funded Research & Development Centers (except NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)), and U.S. Universities may propose under this Appendix. See Appendix Section 3.0 for complete eligibility restrictions. Awards to this Appendix will be accomplished via grants and/or cooperative agreements. See Appendix for cost share requirements. The technology proposed for flight must have successfully completed ground-based development and be ready for demonstration, testing, or collection of design data in a space-like environment relevant to its intended use. The financial and programmatic support for the Flight Opportunities program comes from the STMD. Awards are planned to start in January 2019. NASA plans to make approximately 12-15 awards as a result of this Flight Opportunities 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). Proposals are due on or before June 8, 2018. Detailed submission instructions are provided in the solicitation. Potential proposers and their proposing organizations are urged to familiarize themselves with the submission system(s), ensure they are registered in NSPIRES, and submit the required proposal materials well in advance of the deadline. Technical and programmatic comments and questions may be addressed by e-mail to the Flight Opportunities Program Executive, Robert Yang at
[email protected]. 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.