Welcome to the NSF/CASIS Feasibility Review Form. The International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory is managed by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) under a Cooperative Agreement with NASA.
The Division of Chemical, Bioengineering and Environmental Transport (CBET) in the Engineering Directorate of the National Science Foundation (NSF) is partnering with the ISS National Lab to solicit research projects in the general field of transport phenomena that can utilize the ISS National Lab for research that will benefit life on Earth. U.S.-based entities including academic investigators, commercial companies, nonprofit independent research labs, and academic-commercial teams are eligible to apply.
The purpose of this solicitation is to attract proposals that make use of the ISS National Lab for research projects in the fields related to the NSF Transport Phenomena Cluster and Nanoscale Interaction programs. Responsive proposals will describe utilization of the ISS National Lab for development and testing of:
- Fluid dynamics
- Particulate and multiphase processes
- Combustion and fire systems
- Thermal transport processes
- Nanoscale interactions
The two-step process below provides potential offerors with an easy, efficient submission process.
- 1
ISS National Lab Feasibility Review Form Submissions
The deadline for Feasibility Review Form submissions has passed. The ISS National Lab will respond with the status of the review within four weeks after submission of the form.
- 2
NSF Full Proposal Submissions
The submission window for full proposals has closed.
Offerors that submitted Feasibility Review Forms that pass initial review will be invited to submit a full proposal for evaluation by NSF. Documentation from the ISS National Lab confirming approval to submit a proposal must be provided when full proposals are submitted to FastLane or Grants.gov.
A Statement of Work (SOW) from the offeror's selected Implementation Partner must be included as an appendix to the full proposal. Requests for funding to support implementation costs for this solicitation are capped at $350,000.
For more information on the full proposal, please see NSF 21-525
Flight Hardware Information
For overview information regarding available flight hardware that may be of particular interest to transport research, please see the ISS Hardware Information document. An expanded listing of flight hardware and research facilities that support physical science investigations on the ISS is provided by NASA (Space Station Research Facilities).
Offerors are strongly encouraged to use existing flight hardware and facilities rather than proposing to develop new platforms. The ISS National Lab Operations ([email protected]) team is available to answer questions regarding facility availability and current flight capabilities.
Offerors will work with an Implementation Partner—a commercial services provider with experience and expertise in flight payload development and integration. Implementation Partners can be a key ally to support and facilitate the translation of ground-based research to flight experiments, and many ISS National Lab facilities are owned and/or operated by Implementation Partners. For more information about Implementation Partners, go here.
Additional Information
Awardees under this solicitation will need to execute a User Agreement with the ISS National Lab in order to conduct research on the ISS. A template agreement has been developed to streamline this process.
We thank you for your interest in conducting research on the ISS National Lab! For general questions regarding this solicitation, contact us at [email protected].
** Please verify that none of the information submitted is subject to the export control laws of the United States, such as the EAR or the ITAR. If any information is subject to such laws, please mark all pages containing such information and identify the appropriate export control jurisdiction and classification.**
Guidance on Foreign Nationals
Principal and Co-Principal Investigators:
The Principal Investigator (PI) and any Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PIs) for the proposal are required to be “United States persons” as defined by 22 U.S. Code §6010: “‘United States person’ means any United States citizen or alien admitted for permanent residence in the United States, and any corporation, partnership, or other organization organized under the laws of the United States.”
Other Team Members:
Additional team members on the proposal, those beyond the PI and Co-PIs, are determined strictly at the discretion of the proposing entity. The entity will be fully responsible for compliance with all U.S. export control laws and regulations, including (but not limited to) the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 C.F.R. Parts 120 through 130, and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), 15 C.F.R. Parts 730 through 799. All licensing and other approvals, including identification, classification, and marking of data subject to these regulations, are the responsibility of the proposing entity.
NASA has compiled a list of “Designated Countries” that have additional restrictions imposed. If a member of the team working on the proposal is a citizen of a country on the “Designated Countries List,” the proposing organization is responsible for prior consultation and approval from NASA Export Control and the NASA Office of International and Interagency Relations. CASIS does not get involved in an entity’s export control program, particularly regarding ITAR and EAR. We rely on universities and companies to take all appropriate measures regarding export, including following NASA regulations.
- NASA’s Export Control Program: https://oiir.hq.nasa.gov/nasaecp/
- NASA Designated Countries: https://www.nasa.gov/oiir/export-control
Access to NASA centers and/or NASA IT data systems is limited to United States persons, as defined above.
