Faster To Science: A Letter To The Science Community

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NASA’s Science Mission Directorate announced Competition Model 2.0, a plan to streamline how it competes and selects science missions. The agency says some mission classes could see selection timelines shortened by up to 45%, but the changes will roll out in stages and details for the smallest missions are incomplete in the available announcement.

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate has announced Competition Model 2.0, a revised process for competing and selecting science missions that the agency says will reduce proposal burdens and shorten selection timelines for some mission classes by up to 45%. NASA plans to explain the changes and take questions at a virtual town hall scheduled for Monday, October 26; the announcement does not give a year for the event.

NASA says the new model will make early proposals science-focused, postponing detailed engineering plans, cost estimates and implementation work until those materials are needed to make a decision. The agency describes the change as a way to spend less time and money on lengthy competitions while directing funding toward high-priority missions.

For the affected mission classes, NASA plans a revised two-step competition. Step 1 would request a compelling science case, a science implementation plan and a proof-of-concept mission design. NASA says this would remove roughly half the material currently required in an Announcement of Opportunity response. In Step 2, selected teams would take part in a Mission Implementation Study to assess scientific and implementation merit and surface risks earlier.

NASA estimates that the time from an Announcement of Opportunity to selection for Step 2 could fall from 35 months to about 19.5 months—a reduction of up to 45%. The agency also says small missions would move to a single-step competition, with smaller review teams and virtual site visits, reducing the time to final selection from about 32 months to about 19 months, or up to 40%. These figures are NASA projections, not reported results from competitions already completed under the new model.

Shorter Competitions, Earlier Science

The proposal would change how much work teams must complete before NASA decides which science concepts merit further development. By asking for fewer technical and cost details at the first stage, NASA says it can focus early review on scientific merit and avoid requiring every competing team to carry a detailed mission design through a long process.

NASA also says the lighter first-stage requirements could broaden participation. The agency states that principal investigators without major university or commercial backing would receive fair consideration, and that NASA investigators at any center remain eligible. If implemented as described, that could reduce the advantage held by teams with greater resources for proposal preparation. Whether the revised criteria produce a broader pool of selected teams remains to be seen.

The plan also shifts some implementation assessment into a NASA-supported study before final selection. NASA says that teams not selected will not have to carry concepts through the remainder of Phase A on their own. For mission planners, contractors and research groups, the central practical question will be how the new timetable and division of work affect proposal costs, technical risk and continuity between selection stages.

How NASA Plans to Reshape Competitions

NASA says the change responds to problems with the existing process, which it describes as taking years and creating contract-management challenges, unpredictability and insufficient funding. The letter says the agency has heard concerns from the science community, but does not provide data on the scale of those problems or identify specific past competitions.

The new model does not apply uniformly. NASA says its largest flagship missions will remain under a process already reformed after the James Webb Space Telescope. Under that approach, NASA directs a mission to a lead center, which then competes science teams and instruments through targeted solicitations. Other mission classes would use the revised two-step process, while the smallest missions would move to one-step selection.

For the two-step competitions, NASA describes implementation studies involving Goddard Space Flight Center or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Depending on the science selected, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate may also award a study managed by Goddard to Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory for Discovery or New Frontiers missions. NASA says universities and industry partners can be among the implementing organizations, with past performance on projects of similar complexity and cost considered before selection.

Implementation Details Still Pending

NASA says the changes will be introduced in stages and refined with input from the science community, but the announcement does not provide a complete implementation schedule. It also does not specify when each mission class will first use the revised process, how upcoming solicitations will be handled, or whether the proposed timeline reductions will be achieved in practice.

The agency’s estimates are stated as maximum reductions—up to 45% for some two-step competitions and up to 40% for small-mission selection. The letter does not explain the calculation method or define the start and end points for every class in detail. The available source text also ends mid-sentence while discussing commercial practices for the smallest missions, so further details about that part of the plan are not available here.

NASA’s letter says the town hall is scheduled for Monday, October 26, but does not identify the year. It is also unclear from the announcement whether the event has already taken place or whether NASA has published subsequent guidance.

Town Hall and Staged Rollout

NASA said it would use the virtual town hall to explain Competition Model 2.0 and answer questions from the science community. The agency also committed to rolling out changes in stages and refining them with community input. The next useful milestones will be detailed guidance for individual mission classes and the first solicitations issued under the revised rules.

Until those materials are available, mission teams will need to treat the timelines and process descriptions as NASA’s announced plan rather than as settled outcomes. Future solicitation documents should clarify proposal requirements, implementation-study arrangements, eligibility and how NASA will assess the promised schedule improvements.

Key Questions

What is NASA Competition Model 2.0?

Competition Model 2.0 is NASA Science’s proposed revised process for selecting missions. It puts more emphasis on science at the first stage and delays detailed engineering, cost and implementation work until later.

How much time does NASA expect to save?

NASA estimates that some two-step competitions could be shortened by up to 45%, including a projected reduction from 35 months to about 19.5 months for the timeline it describes. For small missions, it estimates a reduction from about 32 months to about 19 months, or up to 40%. These are projections, not demonstrated results.

Will the new process apply to NASA’s largest missions?

No change is planned for the largest flagship missions under this announcement. NASA says they will continue using the approach developed after the James Webb Space Telescope, with NASA directing the mission to a lead center and targeted competitions for science teams and instruments.

What happens during the second competition step?

Teams selected at Step 1 would take part in a Mission Implementation Study. NASA says it would assess scientific merit, science implementation and mission implementation, with the aim of identifying risks before a final mission selection.

When will the new rules take effect?

NASA says the changes will be rolled out in stages, but the announcement does not give a full schedule or identify the first competitions that will use the model. The town hall was listed for Monday, October 26, without a year in the source.

Source: primary