Funder: NASA Headquarters
Due Dates: April 28, 2025 (final ROSES-24 deadline; proposals accepted any time before this date)
Funding Amounts: No fixed budget; most awards are for 1 year (up to 3 years with strong justification); typical rapid response projects: ~$75K–$150K/year.
Summary: Supports rapid-response research on unforeseen Earth system events and exceptionally novel, unscheduled ideas in Earth remote sensing.
Key Information: Contact a NASA program officer before submitting; only a very small number of proposals are funded each year.
Description
This NASA opportunity solicits proposals for rapid response to unforeseen or unpredictable Earth system events, as well as exceptionally novel research ideas in Earth remote sensing that do not fit within NASA’s regular solicitations. The program is part of the annual Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) omnibus announcement, specifically under element A.26.
The program is designed to:
- Enable quick-turnaround research to take advantage of targets of opportunity (e.g., major fires, volcanic eruptions, extreme floods, large-scale pollution events, harmful algal blooms, coral bleaching, or other rapid environmental changes).
- Support highly innovative, high-merit ideas in Earth remote sensing that have not been solicited by NASA in the past three years.
Proposals should be unique, urgent, and not responsive to any other current or recent NASA solicitation. The program is not intended for disaster mitigation or immediate hazard response (contact the Disasters Program Manager for those needs).
Note: NASA Earth Science Division has not reserved dedicated funds for this opportunity; only a very small number of meritorious proposals are expected to be funded each year.
Due Dates
- Proposals may be submitted at any time up to April 28, 2025 (11:59 PM Eastern).
- This is the final deadline for the ROSES-24 version; a new ROSES-25 version will overlap for continuous submission.
- No Notice of Intent (NOI) is required.
Funding Amount
- No specific budget is set for this program element.
- Most rapid response projects are expected to be ~$75,000–$150,000 for one year.
- Proposals may request up to three years of funding (must be strongly justified).
- Only a very small number of proposals will be funded, depending on merit and available funds in relevant NASA programs.
Eligibility
- U.S. institutions are generally eligible for funding.
- Foreign organizations may participate on a no-exchange-of-funds basis (see NASA Proposer’s Guide for details).
- Proposers must be affiliated with an institution registered in NSPIRES.
- All types of organizations (government, private, for-profit, not-for-profit, academic) may apply.
- Proposals must not duplicate work submitted elsewhere or recently funded by NASA.
Application Process
- Contact the most relevant NASA program officer and the RRNES program officer before preparing a proposal. Skipping this step increases the risk of return without review.
- Submission: Proposals must be submitted electronically via NSPIRES or Grants.gov.
- Required documents:
- Download and follow the instructions in the application package (includes at least one required form).
- Prepare a central Science/Technical/Management section (5 pages for rapid response, 15 pages for novel ideas).
- Include an Open Science and Data Management Plan (up to 2 pages, not counted against main page limit).
- Budget justification and total budget file (see ROSES instructions for details).
- Review process: NASA will conduct an internal review (with limited feedback); some proposals may be externally peer reviewed at NASA’s discretion.
Additional Information
- Rapid Response proposals must:
- Justify urgency and significance.
- Explain why this mechanism is the only feasible way to request NASA support.
- Provide a detailed plan for rapid data acquisition, sharing, and dissemination.
- Normally be for one year or less; longer durations require strong justification.
- Novel Research proposals must:
- Demonstrate novelty and that the topic has not been solicited by NASA in the past three years.
- Focus on fundamental research in Earth remote sensing (not instrument/technology development, data systems, or education).
- Justify the need for up to three years if requested.
- Data sharing: All data, publications, and software must be made publicly available with no exclusive use period.
- Funding is not guaranteed: Only a very small number of proposals are expected to be funded each year, and only if they are of exceptional merit and relevance.
External Links
Contact Information
For technical questions about specific research topics, consult the list of NASA Earth Science program officers.