EARLY STAGE INNOVATIONS (ESI26)

The Space Technology Research Grants (STRG) Program’s Early Stage Innovations (ESI) Appendix solicits proposals from U.S. institutions of higher education (IHEs) for innovative, early-stage space technology research of high priority to NASA. Proposals are sought on specific space technologies that are currently at low Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs). The appendix challenges IHEs to examine the theoretical feasibility of new ideas and approaches that are critical to making space exploration, space science, and other civil space pursuits more effective, affordable, and sustainable. The Appendix exclusively seeks proposals that are responsive to one of the 8 topics described in C.2 of this Appendix: 1) Acceleration of Computational Fluid Dynamics of High-Enthalpy Hypersonic Flows Using Advanced Numerics and Machine Learning 2) Advancements in Autonomous Maintenance and Manufacturing Technologies for the Moon and Mars 3) Computational Techniques for the Design and Characterization of Oxidation-Resistant Refractory Alloys for Aerospace Applications 4) Entry-Induced Fracture Modeling of Thermal Protection Materials 5) Experimental Characterization of Supersonic Retropropulsion Flows at Subscale 6) Innovative and Adaptive Filtering Approaches for Onboard Autonomous Spacecraft Navigation 7) Large Surface Area Electrospray Thruster 8) Robotic Construction and Outfitting for Surface Power Grids on the Moon and Mars The Appendix exclusively seeks proposals that are primarily responsive to civil-space needs and use cases and not terrestrial and/or non-civil-space applications.

Eligibility of Offerors and Limitation on Number of Proposals Per PI The PI must be either a tenured faculty member or an untenured faculty member on the tenure track from the proposing IHE. A PI may participate in no more than three proposals in response to this Appendix either as a PI, Co-Principal Investigator (CoPI), or a Co-investigator (Co-I). When more than one proposal is submitted featuring the PI in any of these roles, each proposal must be a unique, separate, stand-alone, complete document for evaluation purposes. More than three submissions, non-separate submissions, or non-unique submissions may result in all of the submissions being deemed non-compliant.