New Hampshire NASA EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Development Program 2019-2022

The strategic goal of the NASA Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, Research Infrastructure Development (EPSCoR RID) project in New Hampshire is to support promising academic research enterprises within the State that are directed toward generating or enhancing long-term, self-sustaining, nationally-competitive capabilities in areas of strategic importance to the NASA mission and of mutual benefit to the research infrastructure in New Hampshire. The program elements included in this RID proposal provide 1) support for program management and meetings, 2) funding for research and technology infrastructure seed grants (including research travel grants for jurisdiction researchers for the purpose of establishing or enhancing partnerships), and 3) further development of a CubeSat Swarm mission concept called ARCS. The administration of the RID is based at the NH NASA EPSCoR Directorship office at the University of New Hampshire. The research leads for this proposal are from the University of New Hampshire and Dartmouth College. This proposal requests three years of funding for implementation of the RID objectives. The proposed cost includes a 1:1 matching funds requirement. NASA Alignment. NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) has four areas of research: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Planetary Science, and Astrophysics. The Research and Technology Infrastructure Seed Grants (and associated travel awards) of this RID proposal will be selected to promote the infrastructure for future competitive (non-EPSCoR) proposals in one or more of these SMD research areas. The ARCS swarm mission concept element aligns with the SMD’s Heliophysics area, particularly ionospheric studies. NASA has also listed “autonomous swarm operations” as a technology enabler in NASA’s Game Changing Technology program. DMP. This is a development effort that will not generate any data for release, so a Data Management Plan is not applicable.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.