Technology Advancement Utilizing Suborbital Flight Opportunities “Tech Flights” | 80HQTR20NOA01 20FO F1

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Technology Advancement Utilizing Suborbital Flight Opportunities (Tech Flights)

1) What is the Tech Flights opportunity?

Tech Flights is a planned grant and cooperative agreement opportunity from NASA Headquarters (Space Technology Mission Directorate, STMD) to fund flight demonstrations of space technologies using commercial suborbital flight services. It is intended to move technologies out of the lab and into space-like test conditions quickly.

2) What is the main goal of Tech Flights?

The purpose is to mature and validate space technologies by flying them in realistic environments (for example, microgravity or high-altitude conditions) to collect meaningful performance or design data, reduce technical risk, and speed their path toward use in NASA missions or commercial products.

3) What kinds of activities does NASA want to fund under this appendix?

NASA intends to fund payloads and experiments that are already beyond basic ground development and are ready to be flown for demonstration or test campaigns. The emphasis is on maturation, validation, and de-risking, rather than early-stage concept development.

4) What is meant by "flight-ready" for this opportunity?

For Tech Flights, "flight-ready" means the technology has successfully completed its ground-based development phase and is prepared for a suborbital demonstration or test that will produce meaningful performance and/or design data in a relevant space-like environment.

5) Why is NASA using commercial suborbital flight providers?

The opportunity is designed to use suborbital flight services offered by commercial providers as a faster way to reach relevant test conditions. NASA also signals a broader intent to strengthen the U.S. commercial suborbital spaceflight ecosystem by creating steady demand for flight demonstrations.

6) What are the anticipated topic areas?

The solicitation anticipated two broad topic areas: (1) supporting sustainable lunar exploration and expanding economic activity into cislunar space, and (2) fostering commercialization of low Earth orbit (LEO) and making productive use of suborbital space.

7) What does the lunar/cislunar topic area emphasize?

This area signals interest in technologies that could support long-duration operations on or around the Moon, improve lunar mission capabilities, or enable a broader marketplace of services and infrastructure beyond low Earth orbit.

8) What does the LEO commercialization/suborbital topic area emphasize?

This area points to technologies that help build routine, commercially viable activity in LEO and that use suborbital platforms as stepping stones for qualification, validation, or early operational demonstrations.

9) Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is oriented toward non-NASA organizations with external principal investigators. Eligible organizations include U.S. private entities (for-profit and non-profit), U.S. universities, and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) explicitly excluded.

10) Can NASA employees or NASA contractors be the Principal Investigator (PI)?

No. NASA employees and contractors cannot serve as the lead PI under this appendix. However, they may participate as co-investigators or collaborators.

11) Can NASA personnel still be involved on a proposal?

Yes. Proposal teams may include NASA employees or contractors as co-investigators or collaborators, allowing teams to incorporate NASA expertise without NASA being the proposing organization.

12) Are foreign organizations allowed to participate?

A U.S. proposing organization may include a participating foreign entity, but the U.S. recipient is not permitted to transfer awarded funds to that foreign partner.

13) What is the key funding restriction related to foreign participation?

If a foreign entity is included as a participant, the U.S. awardee cannot pass NASA-awarded funds to that foreign partner, which is an important constraint for international collaboration planning.

14) What types of awards were planned?

Awards under Tech Flights were planned to be made as grants and/or cooperative agreements.

15) Is cost sharing required?

Cost share requirements were referenced as being described in the appendix itself. The summary information indicates cost share applies as specified in that appendix.

16) Who provided programmatic and financial support for Tech Flights?

NASA STMD provided the financial and programmatic support for the effort.

17) What were the planned award start dates?

Award start dates were planned for October 2020.

18) How many awards did NASA expect to make?

NASA indicated it expected to make roughly 10 to 20 awards, depending on proposal quality and available funding.

19) Could NASA decide not to make any awards?

Yes. NASA reserved the right to make no awards if proposals did not meet the required standard.

20) Was a maximum award amount listed in the summary?

The public listing did not specify a hard award ceiling in the summary fields.

21) What is the CFDA number associated with this opportunity?

The opportunity was associated with CFDA 43.012.

22) How were proposals required to be submitted?

Submission was to be handled entirely through NSPIRES, and proposals had to be submitted electronically by an Authorized Organizational Representative.

23) What was the Mandatory Abstract requirement?

A Mandatory Abstract was due March 20, 2020 at 5:00 pm Eastern, and submitting that abstract was a prerequisite for being allowed to submit a full proposal.

24) When were full proposals due?

Full proposals were due on or before April 24, 2020.

25) Why did NASA encourage early NSPIRES registration?

NASA encouraged applicants to register early to learn NSPIRES and to avoid last-minute problems, since account setup, roles, and organizational approvals can take time.

26) Where could applicants find additional updates, including FAQs?

NASA indicated that responses to questions could be provided by email and could also be rolled into an FAQ hosted on the NSPIRES page for the solicitation.

27) Would question submitters be identified in published FAQs?

No. NASA noted it would preserve the anonymity of those submitting questions.

28) Who was the technical/programmatic point of contact for questions?

NASA directed technical and programmatic inquiries to the Flight Opportunities Program Executive, Christopher Baker, via HQ-STMD-FO@nasaprs.com.

29) What is the funding opportunity number for this listing?

The opportunity was identified with the funding opportunity number 80HQTR20NOA01 20FO F1.

30) Under what broader announcement was Tech Flights planned to be released?

Tech Flights was planned to be released as an appendix under the broader SpaceTech-REDDI-2020 NASA Research Announcement.

31) What kind of program was this described as?

It was listed as a discretionary research and development program administered by NASA Headquarters.