Earth Venture Mission-3 Draft Announcement of Opportunity Summary and Request for Comments

NASA has reactivated and amended this betaSAM notice to announce that a “Community Announcement” (CA) entitled “ Anticipated Significant Changes between the Draft and Final Earth Venture Mission-3 (EVM-3) Announcements of Opportunity ” is available on or after the date of this amended notice under “Other Documents” on the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES). To download a full copy of this important EVM-3 Community Announcement, it is necessary to visit the link at the end of this notice or https://nspires.nasaprs.com , and search on solicitation number NNH20ZDA006J . Comment on the CA is due via email on or about October 23, 2020 to the point of contact specified below . On or after the date of this betaSAM notice, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is releasing for public comment a draft Announcement of Opportunity (AO) to solicit Principal Investigator (PI)-led science investigations for the Earth Venture Mission-3 (EVM-3) element of the Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) Program. For this solicitation, NASA will prioritize consideration of proposals that address the Earth Science questions laid out in the 2017 Decadal Survey and will use the classification of the question being addressed as a guide. All investigations proposed in response to this solicitation must support the goals and objectives of the EVM-3 Announcement of Opportunity, must be implemented by PI-led investigation teams, and must be implemented through the provision of complete spaceflight missions. Proposed investigations will be evaluated and selected through a single-step competitive process. The PI-managed mission cost cap for an EVM-3 investigation is expected to be no greater than $190M in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 dollars, including launch but not including any contributions, and are expected to be managed as Class D missions, see NASA Procedural Requirement NPR 8705.4 , “ Risk Classification for NASA Payloads, " https://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/displayDir.cfm?Internal_ID=N_PR_8705_0004_&page_name=main. NASA desires to launch the EVM-3 investigation within 5 years of initiation of formulation. Launch Vehicle costs and procurement will be the responsibility of NASA. Launch vehicle standard services will be provided by a NASA Launch Service Provider; and the cost, pending the type of access to space, will be reduced from the PI-managed cost cap. Proposals in response to this AO will be due 90 days after its formal release with a target selection date of early calendar year 2021. Participation will be 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, NASA Centers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and other Government agencies. Non-U.S. organizations may participate on a no-exchange-of-funds basis. NASA recognizes and supports the benefits of having diverse and inclusive scientific, engineering, and technology communities and fully expects that such values will be reflected in the composition of all proposal teams as well as peer review panels (science, engineering, and technology), science definition teams, and mission and instrument teams. This is a summary notice only and does not constitute a commitment, implied or otherwise, that NASA will take action in this matter. This notice is not a complete or verbatim summary of the Science Mission Directorate’s (SMD) EVM-3 Draft AO; therefore, it is necessary to download the full draft using the link at the end of this notice or to visit the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES), https://nspires.nasaprs.com, and download the full version of solicitation number NNH20ZDA006J. The EVM-3 AO is based on the Standard PI-led Mission AO Template version 5.0 available at https://soma.larc.nasa.gov/StandardAO/pdf_files/StandardAOTemplate181023f.pdf Any costs incurred by prospective investigators in preparing submissions in response to the NNH20ZDA006J draft announcement are incurred completely at the submitter's own risk. The comment period for the Draft EVM-3 AO ends at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on May 20, 2020. Comments/questions will be accepted by email only with the subject line to read "DRAFT EVM-3 AO" addressed to: [email protected]. Dr. Jucks is the EVM-3 Lead Scientist. Responses to comments/questions will be posted on the website of the Science Office for Mission Assessments (SOMA) of the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) at https://soma.larc.nasa.gov/ on the EVM-3 Acquisition Pages. Anonymity of persons/institutions who submit comments will be preserved. Further information will be posted, as it becomes available, on the website of the Science Office for Mission Assessments (SOMA) of NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) at https://essp.larc.nasa.gov/EVM-3/evm-3_library.html .