NASA SMD: Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) Final Text and Due Dates

This third Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) program element solicits proposals for an investigation that include development and flight of science-driven suites of instruments that will be delivered to the lunar surface by the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS).

This PRISM call is for science investigations that will be delivered to the lunar surface in mid-Calendar Year CY27. This delivery will go to a safe landing site (see Section 3.2) identified and justified by the proposer that resides within ±75o of the lunar equator. Both nearside and far side destinations are open to consideration. This PRISM call provides the opportunity to leverage survive-the-night services and mobility services provided by the CLPS provider. Further details for each of these services are included in the text.

Changes from the previous draft version of this program element are detailed in the FAQ document available on the NSPIRES page for this element. One change of particular note is the removal of sample acquisition as a CLPS-provided service. Complexities of sample acquisition, in particular with contamination control concerns and interfaces between the sample acquisition and instrument ingestion process, increase the cost and complexity of this delivery to the potential detriment of the science and delivery schedule.

ROSES-2022 Amendment 51 releases final text and due dates for F.10 PRISM, which had been previously released as draft. Step-1 proposals are due October 24, 2022, and Step-2 proposals are due December 20, 2022.

On or about September 19, 2022, this Amendment to the NASA Research Announcement “Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2022” (NNH22ZDA001N) will be posted on the NASA research opportunity homepage at http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/ROSES2022 and will appear on SARA’s ROSES blog at: https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2022/

Questions and comments concerning PRISM may be directed to Debra Needham and Ryan Watkins at HQ-PRISM@mail.nasa.gov.