ROSES25: A.15 Biosphere

The close date above is the date for the Step-2 proposal due date. The Step-1 proposal due date is September 4, 2026. Step-2 proposals cannot be submitted if a Step-1 proposal was not submitted. NOTICE: September 18, 2026. Details on the redacted and anonymized budget requirements have been added to Table A.15-1 to make it consistent with Section 4.2.1, and the instructions regarding BioSketches and Current and Pending Support in Table A.15-2 have been improved. New text is in bold and deleted text is struck through NOTICE: August 4, 2026. Going forward, a $0.09/SBU charge now applies to all proposing to Earth Science (ROSES Appendix A) to use any NASA high-end computing resource. Proposers must account for this in their budget, per the instructions provided in Section 7.3 of ROSES-25 A.1 Earth Science Research Overview. NOTICE: Amended July 20, 2026. This amendment adds this new program element to ROSES-2025. This element uses a two-step proposal process (Section 4). Step-1 proposals are due by September 4, 2026, and Step-2 proposals are due November 6, 2026. Any proposal not preceded by an on-time compliant Step-1 proposal will be returned without review. The page limit for the S/T/M section of Step-2 proposals is 12 pages. Proposers to this program element are strongly encouraged to use the optional Earth Science Division template for the required summary table of work effort of the proposal; templates are available at https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/templates-for-earth-science-division-appendix-a-roses-proposals. Proposals submitted to this program will be evaluated using dual anonymous peer review, see Section 4.3 of this program element. 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 This synopsis is a generic summary that is posted for each of the many individual "program elements" in NASA’s Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) – 2025...

Proposers must be affiliated with an institution at nspires.nasaprs.com/ and, in general, NASA provides funding only to U.S. institutions. Organizations outside the U.S. that propose on the basis of a policy of no-exchange-of-funds; consult the NASA Grant and Cooperative Agreement Manual (GCAM) (https://www.nasa.gov/grants-policy-and-compliance-team/#Regulations) for specific details. Some NRAs may be issued jointly with a non-U.S. organization, e.g., those concerning guest observing programs for jointly sponsored space science programs, that will contain additional special guidelines for non-U.S. participants. Also reference the GCAM for special instructions for proposals from non-U.S. organizations that involve U.S. personnel for whom NASA support is requested.

Unless otherwise specified in the NOFO, the evaluation criteria considered in evaluating a proposal are intrinsic merit, relevance, and cost. Intrinsic Merit includes the consideration of the following factors, as applicable to the particular proposal 1) The scientific quality of the proposed project, including, but not limited to, the scientific rationale and the expected significance and/or impact of the proposed work. 2) Overall, technical quality of the proposed work, includes, but is not limited to, the quality of the management plan and project timeline for carrying out the work and the effectiveness and resilience of the proposed experimental designs, methods, techniques, and approaches for achieving the proposed goals and/or objectives. 3) The qualifications, capabilities, and expertise of personnel demonstrated by the proposal (e.g., publications, delivered products, and other measures of productivity and/or experience) that would affect the likelihood of achieving the objectives. 4) Facilities, instruments, equipment and other resources or support systems presented in the proposal that would affect the likelihood of achieving the proposed objectives. A proposal's relevance includes the consideration of the potential contribution to NASA's mission as expressed in its most recent NASA strategic plans and the permitted scope and specific objectives and goals given in the funding announcement. Cost of a proposed effort includes the reasonableness of the proposed...

Most awards have no matching requirement. Specifics about cost sharing and matching resources are described in the NOFO.

Fiscal year 2025: The focus of the BioS-ENDURES Consortium is innovation, acceleration, and implementation of space biology specific knowledge and technology centered on human-plant-microbiome relationships to enable a durable human presence in low Earth orbit and beyond. Studying fundamental relationships between humans, plants, and their microbiomes under space flight conditions will reveal new biological mechanisms that will address needs for sustainability and risk mitigation in space exploration. A more thorough understanding is needed of mechanisms underlying responses to space-relevant stressors (ionizing radiation, microgravity, circadian disruption, abiotics, and biotics) to both humans and plant food sources and what role microbiomes may play in shaping those responses. Relationships between microorganisms and humans in isolated and constrained environments such as space habitats must be better understood to enable successful long-term habitation in space. Human/animal, plant, and microbial biologists will work together to ensure an integrated view of the space flight biosphere by enhancing data acquisition, modeling, and testing. Fiscal year 2026: SMD publishes...