NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENTS

First NRA: Instrument Incubator Program

This first in a series of periodic IIP NRAs was released by the Office of Earth Science on April 20, 1998. The full text is available at the Office of Earth Science website under "ESE Research Announcements."

The NRA is broad in its scope both in the breadth of the measurement of Earth system science parameters to be considered and in the flexibility to address the measurement techniques and related instrumentation associated with these techniques. All research areas described in the Mission to Planet Earth Science Research Plan (September 1996) can be considered. There are five research areas described in this plan: Land-Cover and Land-Use Change and Global Productivity Research, Seasonal-to-Interannual Climate Variability and Prediction, Natural Hazards Research and Applications, Long-Term Climate: Natural Variability and Change Research, and Atmospheric Ozone Research.

This NRA solicits analytical studies, lab demonstrations, field demonstrations, instrument requirements analysis, instrument design, and engineering model construction for innovative measurement techniques which have the highest potential to meet goals of the IIP and the measurement capability requirements of the Office of Earth Science. Successful proposers must present concepts which have great potential for enabling new science measurements and/or reducing instrument cost, size, mass, and resource use. These concepts are expected to be immature with the associated developmental risk, and proposals are expected to address the issue of risk reduction.

An instrument design concept should be produced as a deliverable product. Laboratory and airborne activities may be funded and are expected to produce a working instrument or specific instrument subsystems. Entry and exit points are defined by the proposer; however, the exit point should advance the technology readiness level far enough that the measurement technique can compete successfully in future announcements of opportunity. The total proposed period of performance should not exceed 36 months.