NASA Provides Hardware for Space Station DNA Repair Experiment
The Vented Fly Box holds and safely transports vials containing flies and fly food. It includes environmental sensors that monitor temperature and relative humidity.
NASA/Dominic Hart
When it comes to helping NASA scientists better understand the effects of space travel on the human body, fruit flies are the heavyweights of experiments in weightlessness. Because humans and fruit flies share a lot of similar genetic code, they squeeze a lot of scientific value into a conveniently small, light package.
Through a new Space Act Agreement between NASA and Axiom Space, the Vented Fly Box will enable fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) to launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. These tiny crew members will join the Axiom Mission 4 crew for scientific investigations on the International Space Station. The goal is to advance research into how spaceflight impacts DNA repair, a key factor in astronaut health on long-term space missions.
For decades, NASA has iterated and improved these specialized habitats to safely house generations of fruit flies for their trips to and from space. As the go-to organism for many of its studies, NASA gained unique knowledge and carefully finessed the steps astronauts take to perform the most efficient and rewarding life science experiments in space.
The study is supported by NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and Axiom Space.
This Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) solicitations page compiles the opportunities to collaborate with NASA’s aeronautical innovators and/or contribute to their research to enable new and improved air transportation systems.
Most opportunities to participate in research are officially announced through the Web-based NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System, better known as NSPIRES. You are encouraged to visit the NSPIRES web site, create an account, and sign up for automated email announcements.
Other types of collaborative opportunities, such as those involving Requests for Information or academic research contests, also are included on this page.
This page has four major sections:
Quick list of open solicitations with key dates listed.
This announcement solicits proposals from accredited U.S. institutions for research training grants to begin the academic year. This Notice of Funding Opportunity is designed to support independently conceived research projects by highly qualified graduate students in disciplines needed to help advance NASA’s mission, thus affording these students the opportunity to directly contribute to advancements in STEM-related areas of study. These opportunities are focused on innovation and the generation of measurable research results that contribute to NASA’s current and future science and technology goals.
Research proposals are sought to address the key challenges summarized in the Elements section at the end of the Amendment 1 document, and which reference NASA’s Hypersonic Technology project.
UPDATE for June 6: Reflecting the Fiscal Year 2026 budget changes, the Transformational Tools & Technologies project opportunities originally described in this announcement were cancelled. Proposals citing this project will not be evaluated.
Notices of Intent are not required.
A budget breakdown for each proposal is required, detailing the allocation of the award funds by year. The budget document may adhere to any format or template provided by the applicant’s institution. Two pre-proposal teleconferences for potential proposers will be held and meeting links will be posted on NSPIRES.
NASA’s University Leadership Initiative (ULI) provides the opportunity for university teams to exercise technical and organizational leadership in proposing unique technical challenges in aeronautics, defining multi-disciplinary solutions, establishing peer review mechanisms, and applying innovative teaming strategies to strengthen the research impact.
Research proposals are sought in six ULI topic areas in Appendix D.4.
Topic 1: Safe, Efficient Growth in Global Operations
Topic 2: Innovation in Commercial High-Speed Aircraft
Topic 3: Ultra-Efficient Subsonic Transports
Topic 4: Safe, Quiet, and Affordable Vertical Lift Air Vehicles
Topic 5: In-Time System-Wide Safety Assurance
Topic 6: Assured Autonomy for Aviation Transformation
This NASA Research Announcement will utilize a two-step proposal submission and evaluation process. The initial step is a short mandatory Step-A proposal, which is due June 26, 2025. Those offerors submitting the most highly rated Step-A proposals will be invited to submit a Step-B proposal. All proposals must be submitted electronically through NSPIRES at https://nspires.nasaprs.com. An Applicant’s Workshop will be held on Thursday April 30, 2025; 1:00-3:00 p.m. ET (https://uli.arc.nasa.gov/applicants-workshops/workshop9) (Page will be live closer to the event.)
An interested partners list for this ULI is at https://uli.arc.nasa.gov/partners. To be listed as an interested lead or partner, please send an email to hq-univpartnerships@mail.nasa.gov with “ULI Partnerships” in the subject line and include the information required for the table on that web page.
NASA’s University Student Research Challenge (USRC) seeks to challenge students to propose new ideas/concepts that are relevant to NASA Aeronautics. The challenge will provide students from accredited U.S. colleges or universities with grants for their projects, as well as the challenge of raising cost share funds through a crowdfunding campaign. The process of creating and implementing a crowdfunding campaign acts as a teaching accelerator — requiring students to act like entrepreneurs and raise awareness about their research among the public.
The solicitation goal can be accomplished through project ideas such as advancing the design, developing technology or capabilities in support of aviation, by demonstrating a novel concept, or enabling advancement of aeronautics-related technologies.
Notices of Intent are not required for this solicitation.
Proposals for Cycle 3 are due June 26, 2025.
Proposals can also be submitted later and evaluated in the second and third cycles.
The USRC Q&A/Info Session and Proposal Workshop will be held on the days/times below. Please join us on TEAMS using the Meeting Link, or call in via +1 256-715-9946,,317928116#.
USRC Cycle
Information Session/Q&A Date
Proposal Due Date
Cycle 1
Sept. 20, 2024 at 2 pm ET
Nov. 7, 2024
Cycle 2
Jan. 27, 2025 at 2 pm ET
March 13, 2025
Cycle 3
May 12, 2025 at 2 pm ET
June 26, 2025
The Project F.I.R.E. team receives their “Future Game-Changer” award during the 2024 Gateways to Blue Skies forum held at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. Gateways to Blue Skies is one of several Aeronautics Innovation Challenges open to the academic community.
NASA / Brandon Torres
Aeronautics Innovation Challenges – OPEN
NASA’s nationwide team of aeronautical innovators are committed to giving students of all ages opportunities to solve some of the biggest technical challenges facing the aviation community today. Through NASA-sponsored challenges and competitions, students representing multiple disciplines will put their skills to work by designing and building solutions to real-world problems.
NASA’s Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project used this request for information to identify technologies that addressed current challenges facing the wildland firefighting community. NASA was seeking information on data collection, airborne connectivity and communications solutions, unmanned aircraft systems traffic management, aircraft operations and autonomy, and more. This would support development of a partnership strategy for future collaborative demonstrations.
Interested parties were requested to respond to this notice with an information package submitted via https://nari.arc.nasa.gov/acero-rfi no later than 4 pm ET, October 15, 2023. Submissions were accepted only from U.S. companies.
This request for information is being used to gather market research for NASA to make informed decisions regarding potential partnership strategies and future research to enable Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). NASA is seeking information from public, private, and academic organizations to determine technical needs and community interests that may lead to future solicitations regarding AAM research and development.
This particular RFI is just one avenue of multiple planned opportunities for formal feedback on or participation in NASA’s AAM Mission-related efforts to develop these requirements and help enable AAM.
The respond by date for this RFI closed on Feb. 1, 2025, at 6 p.m. EST.
The announcement solicited proposals from accredited U.S. institutions for research training grants to begin the academic year. This Notice of Funding Opportunity was designed to support independently conceived research projects by highly qualified graduate students, in disciplines needed to help advance NASA’s mission, thus affording these students the opportunity to directly contribute to advancements in STEM-related areas of study. Advanced Air Vehicle Program fellowship opportunities are focused on innovation and the generation of measurable research results that contribute to NASA’s current and future science and technology goals.
Research proposals were sought to address key challenges provided in Elements of Appendix A.8.
A budget breakdown for each proposal was required, detailing the allocation of the award funds by year. The budget document could adhere to any format or template provided by the applicant’s institution.
The proposal for the fuel injector design aimed to establish current state-of-the-art in low NOx supersonic cruise while meeting reasonable landing take-off NOx emissions. The technology application timeline is targeted for a supersonic aircraft with entry into service in the 2035+ timeframe.
Proposals were due by May 31, 2024 at 5 pm EDT.
NASA Research Opportunities in Aeronautics
Competition for NRA awards is open to both academia and industry.
The current open solicitations for ARMD Research Opportunities are ROA-2024 and ROA-2025.
Here is some general information to know about the NRA process.
NRA solicitations are released by NASA Headquarters through the Web-based NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES).
Participation is open to all categories of organizations, including educational institutions, industry, and nonprofits.
Any updates or amendments to an NRA is posted on the appropriate NSPIRES web pages as noted in the Amendments detailed below.
ARMD sends notifications of NRA updates through the NSPIRES email system. In order to receive these email notifications, you must be a Registered User of NSPIRES. However, note that NASA is not responsible for inadvertently failing to provide notification of a future NRA. Parties are responsible for regularly checking the NSPIRES website for updated NRAs.
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the barred spiral galaxy NGC 685.
ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Lee, F. Belfiore
A galaxy ablaze with young stars is the subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. Named NGC 685, this galaxy is situated about 64 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus (the River). NGC 685 is a barred spiral because its feathery spiral arms sprout from the ends of a bar of stars at the galaxy’s center. The Milky Way is also a barred spiral, but our galaxy is a little less than twice the size of NGC 685.
Astronomers used Hubble to study NGC 685 for two observing programs, both focused on star formation. It’s no surprise that NGC 685 was part of these programs: numerous patches of young, blue stars highlight the galaxy’s spiral arms. Also visible are pink gas clouds, called H II (pronounced ‘H-two’) regions, that glow for a short time when particularly hot and massive stars are born. An especially eye-catching H II region peeks out at the bottom edge of the image. Despite the dozens of star-forming regions evident in this image, NGC 685 converts an amount of gas equivalent to less than half the mass of the Sun into stars each year.
The Hubble data collected for the two observing programs will allow astronomers to catalogue 50,000 H II regions and 100,000 star clusters in nearby galaxies. By combining Hubble’s sensitive visible and ultraviolet observations with infrared data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and radio data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, researchers can peer into the depths of dusty stellar nurseries and illuminate the stars forming there.
Astronauts Update Science Software and Hardware Keeping Up Ongoing Space Research
NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers processes samples of deep-sea bacteria for a science experiment testing a specialized 3D microscope.
NASA
The Expedition 73 crew serviced a variety of science software and hardware on Thursday keeping up its advanced space research experiments and technology demonstrations. Eye checks, Earth observations, and life support maintenance rounded out International Space Station’s schedule.
The orbital outpost is filled with numerous science components enabling a wide range of investigations into space phenomena that is unable to be replicated in Earth’s gravity environment. The facilities range from entire laboratory modules, refrigerator-sized research racks that can support multiple experiments, to computers that control the devices, monitor the experiments, and record the research data. Scientists use the results to promote innovative health solutions for both astronauts and Earthlings and benefit public and private industries in space and on Earth.
NASA Flight Engineers Jonny Kim and Anne McClain took turns today working on computer gear ensuring microgravity research continues to provide pristine, quality results. Kim worked in the Columbus laboratory module and swapped out a processor cartridge inside the Spaceborne Computer-2. The commercial-off-the-shelf computer is demonstrating the ability to speed up research insights on orbit without reliance on Earthbound assets. McClain updated the firmware inside the Blood Analyzer, a handheld biomedical device located in the Destiny laboratory module that quickly tests a blood sample for numerous constituents aboard the orbital outpost.
Station Commander Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) removed the AstroPi camera from a window on the Unity module then connected and powered it up inside Columbus. There are two AstroPi computers aboard the orbiting lab designed by the European Space Agency to support scientific and engineering skills among students. Onishi also downloaded data measuring the station’s atmosphere for the Aerosol Monitors technology demonstration to protect astronaut health.
NASA Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers once again processed deep-sea bacteria samples to test imaging operations inside a 3D research microscope, also known as the Extant Life Volumetric Imaging System, or ELVIS. The specialized 3D imaging device, located in the Kibo laboratory module, could be used to monitor water quality, detect potentially infectious organisms, and study liquid mixtures and microorganisms in space and on Earth.
Before all the science hardware work began on Thursday, Onishi, McClain, and Ayers took part in vision checks reading characters off a standard eye chart. At the end of their crew shift, the three astronauts joined Kim and called down to Earth for a ground conference with their mission’s flight director.
First time cosmonaut Kirill Peskov from Roscosmos wrapped an Earth photography session and downloaded imagery of landmarks he captured across the globe. Afterward, Peskov filled out a computer questionnaire to help researchers better understand how international crews and mission controllers from around the world communicate. Flight Engineers Alexey Zubritskiy and Sergey Ryzhikov spent their day on maintenance tasks filling an oxygen generator tank and cleaning a heater fan inside the Progress 90 cargo craft
NASA Awards Third Crowdsourcing Contract Iteration
Credit: NASA
NASA continues to collaborate with global communities to solve complex challenges through crowdsourcing with a series of 25 new NASA Open Innovation Service (NOIS) contracts managed by the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The contract aims to empower NASA’s workforce by actively engaging the public to find creative solutions to difficult space exploration challenges through rapid experimentation with new methodologies, new technologies, and unique perspectives, ensuring NASA remains at the forefront of innovation while accomplishing its missions.
This is the third NOIS contract, managed by NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI), and used by NASA and other government agencies. The NOIS3 contract will provide solutions through multiple crowdsourcing tools and methodologies, which include public prize competitions, freelance tasking, technology searches, and other crowd-based methods.
The total value of the NOIS3 contract is $475 million over 10 years. There is a guaranteed $500 minimum obligation for each contract award. The base contract spans June 5, 2025, through May 31, 2027, and there are two options, the first for three years, and the second for five years. If all options are exercised, work could continue through May 31, 2035.
The awardees are:
Blue Clarity, Vienna, Virginia
Capital Consulting Corp., Fairfax, Virginia
Challenge Works, London, United Kingdom
CrowdPlat Inc., Pleasanton, California
Design Interactive Inc., Orlando, Florida
DrivenData Inc., Denver
Ensemble Government Services, Hyattsville, Maryland
Hyperion Technologies, Arlington, Virginia
Floor23 Digital, Jackson, Wisconsin
Freelancer International, Sydney, Australia
HeroX, Wilmington, Delaware
HYVE Innovate, Munchen, Germany
Innoget, Rockville, Maryland
Institute of Competition Sciences, San Francisco
Loyal Source Government Services, Orlando, Florida
Luminary Labs, New York City
National Institute of Aerospace Associates, Hampton, Virginia
Randstad Federal, Duluth, Georgia
Rios Partners, Arlington, Virginia
SecondMuse, Bernalillo, New Mexico
TechConnect, Summerville, South Carolina
Toffler Associates, Arlington, Virginia
Tongal Inc., Los Angeles
Topcocder, Indianapolis
yet2.com Inc., Waltham, Massachusetts
NASA’s CoECI provides guidance on open innovation initiatives, helping define challenges and requirements and formulating and evaluating potential solutions. The center’s end-to-end service allows NASA and other federal agencies to rapidly experiment with new methods and solve critical problems through innovation and collaboration.
Learn more about the NASA Center of Excellence at:
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