- Type
- NASA Research Announcement
- Dates
- Release
- Jul 10, 2025
- XGO25 Type 2 Proposals Due
- Feb 27, 2026
- IXPE25 Phase 2 Budgets Proposals Due
- Mar 06, 2026
- NICER25 Phase 2 Budget Proposals Due
- Mar 13, 2026
- SWIFT25 Phase 2 Budget Proposals Due
- Jun 25, 2026
- Nu STAR25 Phase 2 Budget Proposals Due
- Jun 26, 2026
- XGO25 Type 1 Phase 2 Budget Proposals Due
- Jul 31, 2026
- FERMI25 Cycle 19 Budget Proposals Due (Corrected Structure)
- Jul 31, 2026
- Title
- D.3 Combined General Investigator General Observer Program
- Number
- NNH25ZDA001N-AGIGO
- Pdf Text
- i
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA)
SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE
Fiscal Year of Release = 2025
RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES IN SPACE AND EARTH SCIENCES
(ROSES) – 2025
NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT (NRA)
ANNOUNCEMENT NUMBER: NNH25ZDA001N
ASSISTANCE LISTINGS NUMBER: 43.001
INITIAL ANNOUNCEMENT ISSUED: JULY 10, 2025
KEY DATES
FULL (STEP-2) PROPOSALS DUE
NO EARLIER THAN SEPTEMBER 8, 2025
SEE TABLES 2 AND 3 AND SECTION IV(A)
ANTICIPATED NOTIFICATION OF AWARD APPROXIMATELY 6 MONTHS AFTER DUE DATE
OMB CONTROL NUMBER 2700-0092
NOTICE: Amended: June 15, 2026. Several additions, changes, and clarifications
have been made to this ROSES-25 Summary of Solicitation to conform with
Agency and administration priorities, see Sections I, I(g), II(a), II(b), III(b), III(d),
V(b)ii, VI(c) & VIII(b). New text is in bold.
Amended: December 12, 2025. Section I(e) on High-End Computing Resources
was updated, a warning about "portfolio" PDFs was added to Section IV(b)ii, and
a statement about public disclosure of proposal information was added to the
end of Section V(e).
Amended July 15, 2025. Restrictions on funding interagency awards have been
applied to Appendices A-D, and F.3 Exoplanets research, see #3 on the list of
significant changes since last year’s ROSES in Section I(d)i, Section III(a), and the
research program overviews (A.1 – D.1 & F.1)
Six-Page Summary of ROSES-2025
ii
A. ROSES-2025 Basic Information
1. Funding Details:
Available Funding for the entire omnibus NOFO: Approximately $125-150 Million,
contingent on funding.
Available dollar value or range for each of the approximately 35 proposal opportunities
is given in the summary table at the end of each.
Anticipated number of awards for the entire omnibus NOFO: Approximately 300 Awards
Anticipated number of awards for each of the approximately 35 proposal opportunities is
given in the summary table at the end of each program element.
Expected dollar value or funding range of awards: A wide range from tens of thousands
per year for data analysis to millions per year for flight.
Expected dollar value or funding range of awards for each of the proposal opportunities
may be calculated from the budget and number of awards given in the summary table at
the end of each program element.
Anticipated Award Date: Approximately 6 months after proposal due date.
Full/Step-2 Due dates are from September 2025 - May 2026.
2. Executive Summary:
Approximately 35 proposal opportunities comprise this "ROSES" Solicitation that
supports a wide range of research relevant to NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
including: theory about what will be observed; the development of technology to make
observations to test those theories; collection of samples and data from land, sea, air
and space; analysis of samples and data collected; laboratory measurements of
samples and fundamental parameters to compare to data; and modeling using the data,
resulting in a better understanding of the real-world implications of all of the above, for
e.g., effects of natural disasters on Earth and the exploration of space. For more
information see Section I(b) and the list at
https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2025table3
3. Contact Information:
Contact for the entire Omnibus NOFO: sara@nasa.gov
A program specific technical point of contact for each opportunity is given in the
summary table at the end of each program element.
For technical assistance with NSPIRES, please contact the NSPIRES Help Desk at
nspires-help@nasaprs.com or (202) 479-9376, Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM – 6:00
PM ET
For technical assistance with Grants.gov, call the customer support hotline 24 hours
per day, 7 days per week (except federal holidays) at (800) 518-4726 or email
support@grants.gov.
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B. Eligibility
1. Eligibility: Unless otherwise specified in a program element, all organizations of all
types are eligible to propose, but not all can receive funding, see Section III.
However, see below regarding the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
2. Cost Sharing: Unless otherwise specified in a program element, cost sharing is not
required, see Section III(d).
3. Other Eligibility Criteria: Participation in ROSES-funded research by non-U.S.
organizations is welcome on a "no exchange of funds" basis, see Section III(b).
Moreover, proposals from or involving bilateral participation by the People’s
Republic of China (PRC) are prohibited, see Section III(c).
C. Program Description
Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) is an omnibus NOFO
containing many active proposal opportunities each with its own topics and schedule
that, together, solicit research and technology development activities across NASA’s
Science Mission Directorate (SMD). The first five appendices of ROSES correspond to
the five Science Divisions of SMD and they are:
• The Earth Science Research, Applied Sciences, Technology, and Data Systems
Programs sponsor integrative research to understand the Earth system and its
climate, integrate and advance knowledge of the Earth as a system to meet the
challenges of environmental change, strengthen our Nation, and improve life for
all people (Appendix A).
• The Heliophysics Research Program sponsors research to understand the Sun
and its interactions with the Earth and the Solar System, including space weather
(Appendix B).
• The Planetary Science Research Program sponsors research to explore the
Solar System to study its origins and evolution, including the origins of life within
it (Appendix C).
• The Astrophysics Research Program sponsors research to explore the Universe
from the search for extrasolar planets to the origin, evolution, structure, and
destiny of the Universe itself (Appendix D).
• The Biological and Physical Sciences Research Program sponsors research to
understand how biological and physical systems respond to and accommodate
spaceflight environments (Appendix E).
In addition, there are topics solicited that pertain to more than one of these five divisions
above (e.g., Exoplanets Research). This cross-division research is in Appendix F.
For a full list of all of the program elements in ROSES-25 see
https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2025table3
iv
D. Application Format and Contents
1. Format
All program elements in ROSES require the same format for all proposal PDF files: The
body text and captions may not, on average across a solid block of text, exceed 15
characters per horizontal inch, including spaces, though text within figures and tables
may be smaller if still judged by the reviewers to be readable. Proposals may not have
more than 5.5 lines per vertical inch of text, must have at least one-inch margins, be set
for US letter size (8.5x11) paper, and may not have expository text necessary for the
proposal located solely in figures, tables, or their captions, see Section IV(b)ii for more
information.
2. Components and Content of the Application
Typically, an electronic proposal consists of electronic forms (i.e., the NSPIRES cover
pages) and either two or three required attachments, e.g., the technical proposal
including the Scientific/Technical/Management (S/T/M) Section, a separately uploaded
Total budget file, and an optional high-end computing (HEC) request, see Section I(e). If
the program is using dual-anonymous peer review (DAPR), see Section V(b)i, the main
technical proposal is divided into two parts: an anonymized proposal and a separate
"Expertise and Resources Not Anonymized" document.
Please note that the budgets and justifications in peer reviewed proposals should not
include salary, fringe, or overhead, see Section IV(b)iii.
In general, the required components of a proposal are listed in Table 1 of ROSES and
their content described in Section IV(b). An "Open Science and Data Management
Plan" replaces the default Agency requirement for a "Data Management Plan" and it is
located right after the references and citations for the S/T/M Section, see Section II(c).
E. Submission Requirements and Deadlines
1. How To Request an Application Package
Applications may be submitted via NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review
and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2025 or via
the Grants.gov. Submitting via NSPIRES does not require an "application packet". Most
program elements will be set up for application via Grants.gov only if requested at least
30 days in advance of the due date. For more on Grants.gov submissions see Section
IV(b)v. For more on submissions via NSPIRES, see Section IV(b)iv.
2. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management
Entities doing business with the federal government must use a Unique Entity Identifier
(UEI) created in the System for Award Management (SAM). See Sections I(k) and III.
3. Submission Instructions
In almost all cases submissions may be made through NSPIRES or Grants.gov, see
above. Electronic proposal submission is required; no hard copy is permitted. For more
v
on Grants.gov submissions see Section IV(b)v. For more on submissions via NSPIRES,
see Section IV(b)iv and the online NSPIRES help pages at
https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/externalhelp/public/index.htm#t=First_Topic.htm
4. Submission Deadlines
As an omnibus NRA, ROSES has many active proposal opportunities each with its own
due dates. These are listed in chronological order in Table 2, at
https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2025table2 and in Table 3, organized by topic at
https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2025table3.
Proposals must be submitted electronically and on time by one of the officials at the
Principal Investigator’s (PI) organization who is authorized to make such a submission.
Hard copy submission is not permitted. Unless otherwise specified, the cut-off time is
11:59 pm Eastern Time. Late proposals will be handled according to the SMD Policy on
Late Proposals. The vast majority of late proposals are rejected without review.
The Notice of Intent (NOI) to propose is a brief summary of the planned work by the
proposer. Some program elements request, but do not require, an NOI, while some
require an NOI, and some require a Step-1 proposal prior to the submission of a full
proposal. Tables 2 and 3 and the text of the individual program elements indicate what
is expected or required. For more about NOIs see Section IV(b)vi. For more on the two-
step proposal submission process, see Section IV(b)vii.
5. Collection of Demographic Information
NASA collects demographic data from grant applicants for the purpose of analyzing
demographic differences associated with its award processes. Information collected
may include name, sex, race, ethnicity, and disability status. Submission of the
information is voluntary and is not a precondition of award.
F. Review Information
1. Criteria
Compliant and responsive proposals are peer reviewed against the standard evaluation
criteria defined in Section 12 of the NASA Grants and Cooperative Agreement Manual
(GCAM) as described in Section V(a). By default, cost sharing is not considered in the
peer review for ROSES proposals. See Section III(d) regarding cost sharing. If any
other criteria are used or additional factors are considered, that will be described in the
individual program element.
2. Review and Selection
Review and selection of proposals submitted to this NRA will be consistent with the
policies and provisions given in the NASA GCAM, the SMD Peer Review Policy, and the
SMD policy on avoidance of Peer Review Conflicts of Interest, see Section V(b).
SMD invites potential reviewers to volunteer to serve by filing out the web forms at
https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/volunteer-review-panels and some program
vi
elements explicitly request names of suggested reviewers, see Section V(c) Service as
a Peer Reviewer.
See also Section V(b)i and https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/dual-anonymous-peer-
review/ regarding Dual-Anonymous Peer Review.
See Section V(b)ii regarding selection.
3. Anticipated Award Dates
Anticipated start dates for awards are given in the summary table of key information at
the end of each program element. Generally, start dates are approximately 6 months
after the proposal due date or, for "No Due Date" programs
(https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/NoDD) start dates are approximately 6 months
after proposal submission, see Section V(e) Anticipated Selection Announcement and
Federal Award Dates.
G. Award Notices
1. Notice of Award
Proposers will receive a notification via NSPIRES regarding the disposition of their
proposal. The official notice from NASA will come from a NASA grants officer. See
Section VI(a) Award Notices.
H. Post-Award Information
1. See Section VI(b) Administrative and National Policy Requirements.
2. NASA Terms and Conditions
NASA publishes its grant terms and conditions, at https://www.nasa.gov/grants-policy-
and-compliance-team/#Regulations. In addition to these grant terms and conditions,
programs may have additional program-specific terms and conditions in the grant
award. See Section VI(b) Administrative and National Policy Requirements.
3. Funding Restrictions
All costs charged to awards covered by this NOFO must comply with the Uniform
Administrative Requirements in 2 CFR 200 and 1800, unless otherwise indicated in the
NOFO, the terms and conditions of the award, and the NASA Grants and Cooperative
Agreement Manual (GCAM). See Section IV(d) Funding Restrictions.
4. Environmental Statement
Awards of proposals related to this NOFO must comply with the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA), see Section VI(b).
5. Reporting
By default, recipients must provide annual reports, see Section VI(c) of this document
and Appendix C of the GCAM. Annual progress reports must include status of archiving
of data, publications, and software, consistent with the "Open Science and Data
vii
Management Plan" see Section II(c) Increasing Access to the Results of Federally
Funded Research.
I. Other Information
The web page at https://sara.nasa.gov has useful information for new proposers
including:
• A ROSES FAQ at https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/faqs/,
• A list of points of contact for all of the proposal opportunities at
https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/program-officers-list/,
• Spreadsheets with numbers of submitted and selected proposals by program
element at https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-stats/, and
• A "library" of policy documents and useful links at
https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/library-and-useful-links/ including talks
about proposal writing.
1. Access to NASA Facilities/Systems
See Section I(h)
2. Limited Release of Proposers’ Confidential Business Information
See Section V(b).
3. Cross-Waiver of Liability for International Space Station, Science or Space
Exploration Activities
Per NASA's Grant and Cooperative Agreement Award Terms and Conditions, for work
that involves the International Space Station, additional requirements apply. Cross-
waivers will require the recipient to extend the cross-waiver terms and conditions to their
subcontractors at any tier and related entities, ensuring those subcontractors and
related entities also waive all claims against any entity or person defined in the provision
for damages arising out of Protected Space Operations. This cross-waiver is intended to
be broadly construed, and NASA extends it to its related entities as set forth in the
provision. See Appendix E of the NASA Grants and Cooperative Agreement Manual for
specific conditions that will apply to an approved award
4. Flight Activities
Select program elements in ROSES may solicit proposals for flight, e.g.:
• Suborbital (e.g., aircraft, balloons, sounding rockets, rocket-powered vehicles)
• Earth orbit (e.g., SmallSats/CubeSats)
• Beyond Earth Orbit (e.g., payloads to the surface of the Moon, cis-lunar space,
Mars, and beyond).
For more information see Section VIII.
viii
ROSES - 2025 SUMMARY OF SOLICITATION TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
I. Funding Opportunity Description ........................................................................... 1
(a) Strategic Objectives of NASA and the Science Mission Directorate ...................... 1
(b) Research Programs of NASA's Science Mission Directorate ................................. 2
(c) Flight-Based Research Investigations .................................................................... 4
(d) Significant Changes from Recent ROSES ............................................................. 4
(i) Changes from last year .................................................................................................................... 4
(ii) Changes made in recent years ....................................................................................................... 8
(e) NASA-Provided High-End Computing (HEC) Resources ....................................... 8
(i) Request HEC Resources ................................................................................................................. 9
(ii) Upload Request for HEC Resources............................................................................................. 10
(iii) Allocation of HEC Resources ....................................................................................................... 10
(f) Successor, Renewal, Resubmitted, Multiple and Duplicate Proposals ................. 11
(g) Order of Precedence ............................................................................................ 11
(h) Access to NASA Facilities/Systems ..................................................................... 12
(i) Citizen science ...................................................................................................... 12
(j) Science Activation ................................................................................................. 12
(k) Other Information about this Solicitation ............................................................... 13
II. Award Information ............................................................................................... 13
(a) Funding and Award Policies ................................................................................. 13
(b) Award Period of Performance .............................................................................. 15
(c) Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Research ........................ 16
(d) Rephasing of Award Budgets, Family or Medical Leave, and No-Cost Time
Extensions........................................................................................................... 19
III. Eligibility .............................................................................................................. 19
(a) Number of Proposals and Teaming Arrangements .............................................. 20
(b) Foreign Participation in General ........................................................................... 21
(c) Restrictions Involving China ................................................................................. 21
(d) Cost Sharing or Matching ..................................................................................... 22
IV. Proposal and Submission Information ................................................................. 22
(a) Web Addresses for Due Dates and Amendments ................................................ 23
(b) Content and Form of the Proposal ....................................................................... 24
ix
(i) Electronic Proposal Submission ..................................................................................................... 24
(ii) Proposal Format and Contents ..................................................................................................... 26
(iii) Table of Work Effort and Redaction of Salary, Fringe and Overhead Costs................................ 28
(iv) Submission of Proposals via NSPIRES, the NASA Proposal Data System ................................ 31
(v) Submission of Proposals via Grants.gov ...................................................................................... 32
(vi) Notice of Intent to Propose ........................................................................................................... 33
(vii) The Two-Step Proposal Process ................................................................................................. 34
(viii) The Two-Phase Proposal Process ............................................................................................. 35
(c) Proposal Due Dates ............................................................................................. 35
(d) Funding Restrictions............................................................................................. 36
(e) Other Submission Requirements ......................................................................... 38
(i) Demonstration of Access to Required Facility ............................................................................... 38
V. Proposal Review Information .............................................................................. 38
(a) Evaluation Criteria ................................................................................................ 38
(b) Review and Selection Processes ......................................................................... 39
(c) Service as a Peer Reviewer ................................................................................. 41
(d) Processes for Appeals ......................................................................................... 41
(i) Reconsideration by SMD................................................................................................................ 41
(ii) Ombudsman Program ................................................................................................................... 42
(iii) Protests ......................................................................................................................................... 42
(e) Anticipated Selection Announcement and Federal Award Dates ......................... 42
VI. Award Administration Information ....................................................................... 43
(a) Award Notices ...................................................................................................... 43
(b) Administrative and National Policy Requirements ................................................ 43
(c) Reporting .............................................................................................................. 44
(d) Acknowledgement of Support for Antarctic Access .............................................. 45
VII. Points of Contact ................................................................................................. 45
VIII. Other Information: Flight-Based Research Investigations ................................... 46
(a) Overview of Flight Platforms ................................................................................ 47
(b) General Guidelines for Flight Proposals ............................................................... 48
(i) Additional Guidelines for Suborbital Proposals .............................................................................. 48
(ii) Collision Avoidance / Conjunction Assessment Requirements ..................................................... 49
(c) Points of Contact for Flight Platforms ................................................................... 50
(i) NASA-provided Sounding Rocket Services ................................................................................... 50
x
(ii) NASA-provided Balloon Services .................................................................................................. 51
(iii) STMD Flight Opportunities Program Commercial Suborbital Launch Vehicles ........................... 52
(iv) Proposer-provided Commercial Suborbital Launch Vehicles ....................................................... 52
(v) Research Investigations Utilizing the International Space Station ................................................ 54
(vi) Short Duration Orbital Platforms, including CubeSats and other SmallSats................................ 54
Table 1: Checklist for ROSES-2025 Proposals ............................................................. 58
TABLE 2. Program Elements (ordered by due date) ..........................................follow link
TABLE 3: Program Elements (ordered by Division/Topic)..................................follow link
Note: Table 2 and Table 3 of this NRA are posted and updated as separate html
documents on the web and can be reached either by following the hypertext links above
embedded in the electronic version of this document, or at:
https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2025table2 and
https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2025table3, respectively, or by going to
https://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2025 and following the links there.
Table 1 of ROSES is now also available as a separate stand-alone PDF file here.
Any amendments to the program elements will be indicated as bold and red in Table 2
and Table 3 of this NRA. Potential proposers may receive notification of amendments to
ROSES-2025 by signing up for the SMD NSPIRES mailing list. In addition, proposers
may want to bookmark the ROSES-2025 Blog at
https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/solicitations/roses-2025/
ROSES SoS-1
RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES in SPACE and EARTH SCIENCES (ROSES) – 2025
SUMMARY of SOLICITATION
I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION
This National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Research Announcement
(NRA), Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) – 2025, solicits
basic and applied research in support of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD).
Through this ROSES NRA, NASA encourages the participation of the space, Earth, and
biological and physical science communities in SMD’s research and technology
programs. These programs form the foundation of both the basic and applied research
that allows NASA’s space, Earth, and biological and physical science programs to be
properly planned and carried through to the successful interpretation of data and its
application to the needs of end users. Comments about this NRA are welcome and may
be directed to the point of contact for general questions and comments identified in
Section VII.
Per NASA’s implementation of Executive Order 14303, Restoring Gold Standard
Science, ROSES-25 requires that supported projects be conducted in a manner
that is: reproducible; transparent; communicative of error and uncertainty;
collaborative and interdisciplinary; skeptical of its findings and assumptions;
structured for falsifiability of hypotheses; accepting of negative results as
positive outcomes. Proposals will be subject to unbiased peer review (see
Section V(b)i) without conflicts of interest.
ROSES-25 is consistent with Ensuring American Space Superiority, especially
Sections: (c) (ii) "demonstrating spectrum leadership across space applications
to promote United States technology competitiveness, spectrum management
efficiency, and global market access…(d) Developing and deploying advanced
capabilities and approaches to enable the next century of space achievements
by: (i) optimizing space research-and-development investments ...use emerging
technologies and scientific discoveries to advance mission capabilities, and
enable scientific discovery...(iii) improving high-value space and Earth weather
forecasting and operations to meet needs on Earth (iv) enabling the sustainability
of space operations through effective and responsible approaches to space
traffic management; orbital debris mitigation and remediation; (v) establishing
ground, space, and lunar infrastructure and standards that enable
implementation of space priorities and a robust space industrial base." [Bold
paragraphs above added June 15, 2026]
ROSES is an omnibus NRA with many individual "program elements" (the calls for
proposals) that together cover the wide range of basic and applied research and
technology supported by SMD. See Table 2 and Table 3 of this NRA for a list of
elements, each of which has its own topic(s) and due date(s).
(a) Strategic Objectives of NASA and the Science Mission Directorate
NASA is chartered in the National Aeronautics and Space Act [51 U.S.C. § 20101 et
seq.] with, among other objectives, the expansion of human knowledge of the Earth and
ROSES SoS-2
of phenomena in the atmosphere and space. Working from this Congressional
authorization, U.S. National Space Policy directs NASA to advance fundamental
scientific knowledge of our Earth system, Solar System, and the Universe. This direction
is manifest in the 2022 NASA Strategic Plan, which includes Strategic Objectives 1.1
(Understand the Earth system) and 1.2 (Understand the Sun, solar system, and
universe).
Further insight into the strategic goals and objectives of SMD may be found in the
documents available at https://science.nasa.gov/about-us/science-strategy/ including
2025-2026 NASA Science Plan: A Vision for Scientific Excellence, and any more up-to-
date versions of the Science Plan or the NASA Strategic Plan that will be available
there.
All program elements in this NRA are relevant to NASA’s strategic goals and objectives,
and the successful performance of the awards will contribute to achieving the
performance goals in the FY 2026 Agency Performance and Evaluation Plans.
[Added June 15, 2026] Each proposal to this NRA demonstrates the relevance of its
proposed research to NASA by being relevant to the particular program element to
which it was submitted. Further instructions concerning relevance and the other
evaluation criteria are provided in Section V(a).
(b) Research Programs of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
NASA’s SMD achieves its strategic objectives in part by supporting a wide variety of
research and technology development through this ROSES NRA including:
1. Flight--based research and technology development projects in the Solar
System;
2. Flight-based research and technology development projects in Earth orbit;
3. Suborbital-class research and technology development projects (on aircraft,
balloons, sounding rockets, various types of Cube- and Small satellites, and
commercial suborbital launch vehicles); and
4. Ground-based research and technology development activities that support flight
missions.
These ground-based investigations include, but are not limited to:
• Theory, modeling, and analysis of SMD science data including data from SMD’s
international and/or interagency partners;
• Development of concepts, techniques, and advanced technologies suitable for
future SMD space missions;
• Development of methods for laboratory analysis of both extraterrestrial samples
returned by spacecraft and terrestrial samples that support or otherwise help
verify observations from missions;
• Determination of atomic and composition parameters needed to analyze space
data and returned samples from the Earth or space;
• Earth surface observations and field campaigns that support and/or complement
SMD science missions to support NASA objectives;
• Development of integrated Earth system models;
ROSES SoS-3
• Development of systems for applying Earth science research data to societal
needs;
• Development of applied information systems applicable to SMD objectives and
data; and
• Conducting hypothesis-driven research experiments in the biological and
physical sciences using ground-based analogs of space-associated stressors to
inform work that needs to be done on future exploration missions in low Earth
orbit and beyond.
SMD research and technology development activities are organized into five Science
Divisions corresponding to the first five appendices of ROSES:
1. The Earth Science Research, Applied Sciences, Technology, and Data Systems
Programs sponsor integrative research to understand the Earth system and its
climate, integrate and advance knowledge of the Earth as a system to meet the
challenges of environmental change, strengthen our Nation, and improve life for
all people (Appendix A).
2. The Heliophysics Research Program sponsors research to understand the Sun
and its interactions with the Earth and the Solar System, including space weather
(Appendix B).
3. The Planetary Science Research Program sponsors research to explore the
Solar System to study its origins and evolution, including the origins of life within
it (Appendix C).
4. The Astrophysics Research Program sponsors research to explore the Universe
from the search for extrasolar planets to the origin, evolution, structure, and
destiny of the Universe itself (Appendix D).
5. The Biological and Physical Sciences Research Program sponsors research to
understand how biological and physical systems respond to and accommodate
spaceflight environments (Appendix E).
Appendices A, B, C, D, and E comprise program elements of these five Science
Divisions, respectively. Additionally, Appendix F comprises cross-division program
elements relevant to two or more of these science research programs.
Each of these appendices is prefaced with a Division Overview (A.1, B.1, C.1, D.1, E.1
and F.1) that introduces the research program content of that Appendix and lays out
default rules that apply to all program elements within that appendix, if not superseded
by individual program elements that make up each appendix.
Each one of these program elements has its own solicited topics, cadence, and due
dates, if solicited this year. Hypertext lists of those program elements and due dates are
given in Table 2 (ordered by due date) and Table 3 (ordered by Division/Topic, e.g., A.
Earth Science, B. Heliophysics…). Each name is hypertext linked to a web page and on
the right, at the bottom of the list of "Announcement Documents" a PDF version of that
program element may be downloaded.
This "Summary of Solicitation" you are reading now lays out rules that, by default, apply
to all program elements in ROSES unless superseded by a Division Overview or an
individual program element. See Section I(g) for more on the order of precedence of the
several places where proposal rules are described.
ROSES SoS-4
Unless a particular program element explicitly mentions contracts, proposers from non-
governmental organizations should assume that awards will be made as grants or
cooperative agreements, see Section II(a).
The SARA website at https://sara.nasa.gov has information for the research community,
including ROSES FAQs, a library of reference documents, selection statistics, a blog for
changes to ROSES-25, pages to sign up as a reviewer, and a list of all of the technical
points of contact for all of the program elements, to whom technical questions about the
contents of a specific program element should be directed.
(c) Flight-Based Research Investigations
Because investigations that require flight pose distinct challenges and have certain
requirements in common, Section VIII is devoted to such flight investigations.
(d) Significant Changes from Recent ROSES
(i) Changes from last year
First, there are a series of changes that derive from the update to 2 CFR 200 on
October 1, 2024:
1. The default Agency-level guidance for proposers that used to be called the
Proposer’s Guidebook has been replaced with the NASA Grant and Cooperative
Agreement Manual (GCAM) available at https://www.nasa.gov/grants-policy-and-
compliance-team/#Regulations
2. Proposers must use the NASA grants policy provided standard templates for
Biographical Sketches and Current and Pending (C&P) Support. There is no
longer a page limit for Biographical Sketch. The NASA grants policy template for
the new Biographical Sketch (CV) format may be found at:
https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/biosketch-form.docx
3. The NASA grants policy template for C&P support has been posted at:
https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/current-and-pending-support-
cps-form.docx This supersedes any prior division specific templates for current
and pending.
4. As you will see from the forms, the rules about what must be reported have
changed. Refer to the grants policy list of requirements
(PDF) at https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/nasa-pre-award-
and-post-award-disclosure-requirements-2.pdf
5. See also the NASA grants policy YouTube video at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXraCMrhSeE
6. Caveat: the NASA grants policy instructions tell proposers to digitally sign
documents, but this must not be done in a way that locks the file since anything
that locks a proposal PDF is a problem for NSPIRES. Please refer to the NASA
grants policy instructions on "How to Sign Biosketch or Current and Pending
Support Form" (PDF) at the bottom of the page at https://www.nasa.gov/grants-
policy-and-compliance-team/#Regulations under the heading "Grant Forms". The
key point is: Do not click the box next to "Lock Document after Signing". Also,
after having uploaded your documents to NSPIRES, please click the “Generate”
button to be sure that your PDF files are compatible. It is an easy way to know
ROSES SoS-5
that your PDF files are compliant, and the cover page need not be finished, and
you don’t need to be ready to submit to take that step.
7. Questions about the new Biographical Sketch and C&P documents,
requirements, and instructions should be directed to Grants Policy at: hq-dl-
grants-policy-compliance@nasa.gov
The following other significant changes occurred since last year’s ROSES solicitation:
1. Based on the president’s budget request, fewer program elements are solicited
than in prior years. In most cases, when program elements are not solicited, they
do not appear in the tables of due dates and program elements have been
renumbered.
2. Dual-Anonymous Peer Review (DAPR) is now the default review process for
ROSES. See Section V(b)i and https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/dual-
anonymous-peer-review/ for an introduction to DAPR. All but a few programs in
ROSES-25 will employ DAPR thus most technical proposals must be
anonymized. This summary of solicitation has been updated in several ways
because DAPR is now the default review process, e.g., the part of Section IV(b)i,
that describes the various proposal attachments has been updated. The program
element will say explicitly whether it’s using the DAPR review process or not and,
if so, describe how the anonymized technical proposal is to be prepared.
3. All Earth Science Division (Appendix A) and Planetary Science Division
(Appendix C) program elements have a new eligibility restriction: Federal
agencies other than NASA and FFRDCs that are funded via other government
agencies than JPL will not receive funding from Appendix A and C elements.
Team members from government agencies other than NASA are welcome at no
cost (as unfunded Co-Is or collaborators). Potential proposers to Heliophysics
(Appendix B), Astrophysics (Appendix D), and F.3 The Exoplanets
Research Program must receive approval from the program element point
of contact prior to submitting proposals with investigators or organizations
funded via interagency awards, see B.1, D.1 and F.1. In Astrophysics
(Appendix D) there is also a dollar threshold for IATs, see D.1. [Amended
July 15, 2025]
4. Table 1 of ROSES has been updated to place the Table of Personnel and Work
Effort before the Biographical Sketches, since it makes sense to see who is
participating before getting into their details.
5. SMD is now providing an optional standard SMD template for the Open Science
and Data Management Plan (OSDMP) that will work across all of ROSES at
https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/faqs/OSDMP. The template is
optional, merely provided for the convenience of proposers. See Section II(c).
6. The past requirement for "Inclusion Plans" in select programs has been removed.
7. Historically, very few proposals have been submitted via Grants.g
- Documents
- Title
- ROSES-2025 Summary of Solicitation as amended on 06152026 (.pdf)
- Title
- Table 1 ROSES-25 Proposal Checklist (also included in Summary of Solicitation document) (.PDF)
- Title
- DUE DATES: Table 2 lists and links to all program elements in due date order as amended on 07212026 (.HTML)
- Title
- DUE DATES: Table 3 lists and links to all program elements in appendix order as amended on 07212026 (.HTML)
- Title
- D.1 Astrophysics Research Program Overview (.pdf)
- Title
- D.3 Combined General Investigator General Observer Program as corrected on 05212026 (.pdf)
- Title
- Link to the Grant and Cooperative Agreement Manual - GCAM (formerly the NASA Proposer's Guide)
- Title
- Guidelines for Proposers to ROSES GO/GI DAPR Programs
- Description
- - NOTICE: Research security training required starting August 5, 2026. All PIs and any Co-Is that would spend ≥ 10% time on a proposed grants or cooperative agreements must certify they have taken research security training. NASA will be satisfied with the four online research security training modules on the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Research Security Training website at https://www.nsf.gov/research-security/training or the SECURE Center condensed version of the four modules at https://www.secure-center.org/ctm
- NOTICE: May 21, 2026. A newly established joint program with XMM-Newton was added to the IXPE General Observer Cycle 4 proposals, see Section 9. New text is in bold. The due date for Phase-1 Proposals (submitted via ARK RPS) remains September 17, 2026.
- NOTICE: Amended May 15, 2026. This amendment releases a second opportunity to propose to the IXPE and NICER observatories in ROSES-25. NICER General Observer (GO) Cycle 8 was previously solicited in Section 6 and IXPE GO -- Cycle 3 was previously solicited in Section 7. This amendment invites proposals for IXPE General Observer Cycle 4 (see Section 9) and NICER General Observer Cycle 9 (see Section 10). The due date for Phase-1 Proposals (submitted via ARK RPS) for both IXPE and NICER is September 17, 2026.
- NOTICE: Amended December 22, 2025. This amendment releases final text for TESS General Investigator (GI) and announces that the Phase-1 proposals are due March 10, 2026 (via ARK RPS). See Section 5, new text is in bold.
- NOTICE: Amended, December 12, 2025. Instructions in Section 9.1 about how to request high-end computing have been modified. New text is in bold and deleted text is struck through.
- NOTICE: Amended, December 10, 2025. This amendment releases final text and due dates for XRISM General Observer, which was previously TBD. Both the Type-1 Phase-1 due date and the Type-2 (NSPIRES) proposal due date for this program are February 27, 2026. Revised text includes opportunities for new joint observations with XMM-Newton and NuSTAR, allowing coordinated or simultaneous studies across observatories when scientifically justified. Additionally, time-constrained and Target-of-Opportunity (TOO) observations, up to a combined maximum of 20% of total observing time are also allowed. See Section 8.
- NOTICE: Amended November 19, 2025. In Section 4, NuSTAR, three changes have been made: joint observations with XRISM have been added, joint observations with NICER have been removed, and the Technical POC for NuSTAR has been updated. New text is in bold and deleted text is struck through. The due date for Phase-1 proposals (via ARK RPS) remains January 29, 2026.
- NOTICE: Amended August 25, 2025. The Programmatic POC for Swift has been updated, see Section 2.2. New text is in bold.
- NOTICE: Amended July 30, 2025. On June 17, 2025, NICER science operations were suspended due to a hardware anomaly in the pointing system. A rich data analysis opportunity remains, see Section 6. Sections 4-7 have been updated to reflect the change. New text is in bold and deleted text is struck through.
- The description of the specific proposal opportunity on this page is contained in the document 'D.3 Combined General Investigator General Observer Program'. The document 'D.1 Astrophysics Research Program Overview' describes research activities within the NASA science division that is managing the specific proposal opportunity on this page and may impose requirements upon proposals submitted to this program element. The document 'Summary of Solicitation' describes the common requirements for all ROSES-2025 proposal opportunities. The document 'Table 1' contains the proposal check list from the Summary of Solicitation. The documents 'Table 2' and 'Table 3' contain the list of all proposal opportunities and their due dates, sorted by (full or Step-2) proposal due date or appendix number, respectively. All of these documents are kept up to date and incorporate amendments, clarifications, and corrections in a clearly identifiable manner.
- Directorate
- Science Mission Directorate
- File Excerpt
- i NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA) SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE Fiscal Year of Release = 2025 RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES IN SPACE AND EARTH SCIENCES (ROSES) – 2025 NASA RESEARCH ANNOUNCEMENT (NRA) ANNOUNCEMENT NUMBER: NNH25ZDA001N ASSISTANCE LISTINGS NUMBER: 43.001 INITIAL ANNOUNCEMENT ISSUED: JULY 10, 2025 KEY DATES FULL (STEP-2) PROPOSALS DUE NO EARLIER THAN SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 SEE TABLES 2 AND 3 AND SECTION IV(A) ANTICIPATED NOTIFICATION OF AWARD APPROXIMATELY 6 MONTHS AFTER DUE DATE OMB CONTROL NUMBER 2700-0092 NOTICE: Amended: June 15, 2026. Several additions, changes, and clarifications have been made to this ROSES-25 Summary of Solicitation to conform with Agency and administration priorities, see Sections I, I(g), II(a), II(b), III(b), III(d), V(b)ii, VI(c) & VIII(b).
- Release Date
- Jul 10, 2025
- Contact Email
- sara@nasa.gov
- Contact Phone
- (202) 479-9376
- Proposals Due
- Feb 27, 2026
