Astrobiology (general)

Stand Alone Mission of Opportunity Notice (SALMON) Announcement of Opportunity (AO); to include Astrobiology and Fundamental Space Biology

By Keith Cowing
September 4, 2008

NNH08ZDA009O, entitled “Stand Alone Missions of Opportunity Notice (SALMON)” is being released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on September 3, 2008. This Announcement of Opportunity (AO) solicits investigations that address the science objectives of the Science Mission Directorate’s (SMD) astrobiology, lunar science, and planetary science programs and the Exploration Science Mission Directorate’s (ESMD) fundamental space biology program.

SALMON is an omnibus AO that is comprised of several independent proposal opportunities. Three proposal opportunities are being released for the SALMON AO. Two related proposal opportunities are being released for the ROSES-08 NRA. The three SALMON opportunities are:

1. Focused Mission of Opportunity (MO) to provide an in-situ dust detector investigation for the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE). Notices of Intent (NOIs) to propose due September 24, 2008. Proposals due November 4, 2008.

2. Partner MOs in lunar and planetary science. NOIs due October 15, 2008. Proposals due December 2, 2008.

3. Small complete MOs in astrobiology and fundamental space biology. NOIs due October 15, 2008. Proposals due December 2, 2008.

Simultaneous with the release of the SALMON AO, NASA will release two amendments to the Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences 2008 (ROSES-08) NASA Research Announcement (NRA) (NNH08ZDA001N).

1. U.S. Participating Scientists in lunar and planetary science. NOIs due October 15, 2008. Proposals due December 2, 2008.

2. U.S. Participating Scientists in Earth science. NOIs due October 15, 2008. Proposals due December 2, 2008.

Participation is open to all categories of organizations (U.S. and non-U.S.), including educational institutions, industry, not-for-profit organizations, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), NASA Centers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and other Government agencies. Upon the AO release, the full text of the AO and all appendices will be available electronically at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/. A preproposal conference will be held in Washington, DC for all the solicitations except the LADEE solicitation; see http://salmon.larc.nasa.gov/ for details.

Direct questions specifically regarding this solicitation to: Dr. Carlos A. Liceaga; Program Executive for Missions of Opportunity; Mail Stop 7F25; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Washington, DC 20546-0001; TEL: (757) 846-5880; E-mail: [email protected] (subject line to read “SALMON AO”). [Source: NAI Newsletter]

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