NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) announces a funding opportunity for public-private partnerships to achieve NASA’s goals of expanding capabilities and opportunities in space. Through the solicitation titled "Utilizing Public-Private Partnerships to Advance Tipping Point Technologies,” released on January 29, NASA seeks to enable industry to develop and qualify selected technologies for market.
Through this solicitation, NASA’s STMD is seeking commercial space technologies that are at a “tipping point” in their development cycle. For the purpose of this Appendix, a space technology is at a tipping point if:
- an investment in a ground demonstration or flight demonstration will result in:
- a significant advancement of the technology's maturation, and
- a significant improvement in the offerers' ability to successfully bring the technology to market, and
- previous investments have been made to mature the proposed technology system (e.g., venture capital, corporate investment, etc.) in preparation for
- commercialization, demonstrating a pre-existing plan to commercialize the technology, and,
- the proposed technology system is at a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of at least 4 at time of submission of the preliminary proposal.
This release is soliciting tipping point technologies from the following topics (see section 1.3 of the Appendix for full details):
Topic 1: Cryogenic Fluid Management Technology Demonstration (active cooling, transfer, and pressure management)
Topic 2: Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative Technology Demonstration
Topic 3: Closed-Loop Descent and Landing Capability Demonstration
Proposals submitted under this Appendix must be led (and submitted by the lead offeror) by a United States (U.S.) for-profit entity. A “U.S. for-profit entity” is a commercial firm or business incorporated and operating in the United States of America. See section 3.0 of the Appendix for full list of eligibility requirements/restrictions.
This Appendix will utilize a two-step proposal and peer/technical review evaluation process, where Step 1 is a Mandatory Preliminary Proposal (MPP) submitted via NSPIRES. Those offerers submitting the most highly rated MPPs will be invited to submit a final proposal. All proposals must be submitted electronically through NSPIRES by an authorized organizational representative (AOR).
Key Dates:
Mandatory Preliminary Proposal Due:March 18, 2020 (5 p.m. Eastern)
Notification Letter:May 18, 2020 (target)
Final Proposal Questions Due:July 15, 2020
Final Proposal Due:July 20, 2020 (5 p.m. Eastern) (target)
Selection Announcement:September 30, 2020 (target)
Award Date:January 15, 2021 (target)
The complete solicitation may be found online at the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) via the button below.
This is an opportunity external to the NAMC. Please do not contact NAMC directly with questions.