The IRAD develops strategic technical capabilities in support of the center competencies and thereby enables science, technology, and engineering efforts for future agency missions. The advances in science and technology expected through this program will provide opportunities for technical risk reduction and/or increased cost effectiveness and initiate potentially transformational solutions.

FY27 IRAD/CIF/ARIA request for proposals

The Deputy Center Director, the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS), and the Office of the Center Chief Technologist (CCT) are pleased to announce the FY2IRAD/CIF/ARIA request for proposals.

The purpose of these calls is to develop strategic technical capabilities in support of Ames Center competencies and thereby enable science, technology and engineering efforts for future Agency missions.  The advances in science and technology expected through this program will provide opportunities for technical risk reduction and/or increased cost effectiveness and initiate potentially transformational solutions. A major goal of the program is potential fusion of the work into NASA missions.  This will be measured for individual proposals by the future prospect of follow on funding for Ames (assuming the proposed work is successful).

Propsal Scope

This call is open to NASA Ames civil servants only.  This Ames center internal call focuses on science, technology and engineering investments that will develop skills, capabilities and systems relevant for future Ames work.

It is incumbent upon the proposer to demonstrate clearly the true innovation of the proposed project, based on existing state-of-the-art, and to demonstrate how their proposal supports Agency objectives and Center priorities.

The IRAD proposals are open to any area of science, technology or engineering research investment relevant to Ames*.  Proposals that include funded collaborations with other Centers, USGS, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz and SJSU are encouraged. The STMD civil Space shortfalls may be found here.

Ames NASA Specific Mission Focused Areas:

• Moon-to-Mars (M2M) mission, technology and exploration science
• Earth and Mars Entry Systems
• Air Traffic Management & Advanced Air Mobility
• UAV/UAS testing capability
• Intelligent/Adaptive systems
• Advanced Computing
• Space Biology, Astrobiology, Space & Weather Science
• Planetary Science Instrumentation, especially lunar and martian

The following are not within the scope of this call and proposals will not be submitted for review:

• Augmentation of already funded programs or projects
• Projects that have consistently failed peer review
• Construction of facilities or general equipment purchases
• Funding of contractor-led research
• Projects that do not enhance Ames capabilities

Eligibility, Funding Amounts, and Project Duration:

This IRAD-CIF-ARIA call is only open to NASA Ames civil servants. Requested IRAD budgets are not to exceed $200K (FY27) with awards expected to be made in October 2026. Requested CIF and ARIA budgets are limited to $100K and $70K, respectively. Funds can be split between FTE and Procurement, including contract labor. A minimum of 70% of the budget must be allocated for work conducted at or procurement for Ames. Line management has the authority to shift contract labor requests to FTE allocations.

Please note:

• Funding may not be used to support travel
• Co-investigators may be located at other institutions

Proposed efforts may be for up to three years in duration. Proposals selected in FY27 will be funded for execution in FY27. Continuation proposals for out years will be required but progress reports and an updated budgets will be requested.
Decisions regarding awards will be based on availability of funds. All funding must be obligated by the end of the FY (September 30, 2027).

Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions:

All FY27 IRAD proposers must submit the following to harry.partridge@nasa.gov and jacob.cohen-1@nasa.gov with the subject line IRAD27_PI Last Name_Short Proposal Name by 5:00 p.m. (pacific) on June 29, 2026:

1. Cover page (1-page)
2. Abstract (maximum of 1-page)
3. Proposal (maximum of 4-pages)
4. Alignment and ROI (maximum of 1-page)
5. Resource Requirements (maximum of 3-page)
6. Reference list (optional; 1-page)
7. Quad chart (1-page)

Templates for the cover page, proposal, budget breakdown, quad chart, and abstract are included below. All submitted documents must adhere to instructions printed in blue.  Proposers must use 1-inch margins and 12-point standard font (Times or Arial).

NOTE: Proposers have the responsibility to clearly explain critical details needed for a reviewer to properly assess the proposal. Proposers should not assume that reviewers are experts in the specific area, nor that the reviewers will look at any material other than what is provided in the proposal.

Proposal Approval:

Proposers must inform their direct line management about their IRAD proposals for concurrence on the strategic value, availability of labor resources, and proposal-development support. This step is important to ensure availability of resources needed to deliver in the time allotted, if selected. Approval of a Branch Chief or higher is required for proposal submission.

General Selection Process:

IRAD proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria: technical merit; soundness of the approach; strategic relevance, value to Ames and NASA; and future funding prospects.

The Ames Research Center Research and Technology Council (ARTC) will evaluate all submitted proposals that meet the above criteria. The technical Directors will review the ARTC’s input and make programmatic recommendations to the Center Director’s Office.

All awardees will be required to participate in the HQ concurrence review and to submit a final report and participate in the Ames Research and Technology Showcase. Any awardee that does not submit a final report will be barred from participating in future IRAD RFPs until they submit the final report.

IRAD Schedule:

Proposals Due Date: June 29, 2026
Start of Award: October, 2026 (Anticipated)
Final Report: November 2027
Participation in Ames Research and Technology Showcase (ARTS): TBA
Participation in NASA IRAD showcase: TBA.

A report template will be provided to all awardees.

FY27 IRAD/CIF/ARIA proposal packages must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. (Pacific) June 29, 2026 via email to harry.partridge@nasa.gov and  jacob.cohen-1@nasa.gov with “IRAD26_PI Last Name” in the subject line.
 
Please note that late submissions will not be accepted nor reviewed.
Technology development questions: Harry Partridge at harry.partridge@nasa.gov
Scientific research questions: Jacob Cohen at jacob.cohen-1@nasa.gov.

FY 26 IRAD Continuations

Lee	Jessica	LuxBio: Light-based biological sensing and control for automated deep-space experimentation	SCR
Peterson	Keith	Enabling Automated Production of Near-Net Shape Felted TPS up to 2m Scale	TSM
Brecht	Amanda	AIR (Ames Infrared) Imager Maturation	STT
Haw	Magnus	IMPedance Analysis & Certification Technnology (IMPACT)	TSM
Alvarado	Walter	Radiation Biomarker Detection in Breath	SCR

FY 26 IRAD-ARIA Continuations

Shirazi	Yasaman	Multi-Analyte Prediction of Bone Fracture	SCB
Koehne	Jessica	Detection and Characterization of Single Mag-EC ELISAConstructs for Ultra-Low LOD Life Detection	RET

FY 26 IRAD-Additional CIF Awards

97	Wong	Uland	TI	CoOptiSense – Cooperative Optimized Sensor Fusion for Next-Gen Rover Navigation
19	Cummings	Haley	AV	High Lift (High Solidity) Rotor Blades for Mars Helicopters
21	Deans	Matthew	TI	Efficient Learning for Control of Autonomous Mobility in Navigating Obstacles
96	Withrow-Maser	Shannah	AV	Feasibility of Earth-Based Testing for Mars Rotorcraft Dynamics
44	Khasin	Michael	TI	TABS: Transfer-line Acoustic Bubble Sensing

Past Internal Research and Development Winners

FY24 IRAD Awardees:

• Walter Alvarado – Biomarkers in Radiation Exhalation Assessment Tool for Health Evaluation (BREATHE).
• Don Banfield – Mars Doppler Wind & Thermal Sounder Ozone Cell Maturation.
• Grace Belancik – Cryocooler-Deposited CO2 Purifier.
• Amanda Brecht – AIR (Ames Infrared Imager): Maturation of a Compact and Versatile Hyperspectral Imager.
• Anthony Colaprete – Moon3D and Dust Particle Suite: An Artemis IV Deployed Payload.
• Magnus Haw – IMPedance Analysis and Certification Technology (IMPACT).
• Tori Hoehler – Verification and Validation of ARC Enceladus Life Signatures and Habitability (ELSAH) Payload Elements for New Frontiers 5.
• Brian Kempa – DARTS: Distributed Autonomous Robotic Tomography of Seismics.
• Jessica Lee – Fluorescence detection and optogenetic activation for microbial experimentation beyond LEO.
• Mike Padgen – SAMMS: Spaceflight Autonomous Multigenerational Microbial Sequencer.
• Keith Peterson – PICA-Flex: A Low-Cost Advanced Ablative TPS in NASA’s New MERINO Family of Materials (Materials Engineered for Re-entry using Innovative Needling Operations).
• Richard Quinn – Microfluidic Icy-World Chiral-Chemistry Analyzer (MICCA).
• Naseem Rangwala – Enabling a New Vacuum High-Contrast Imaging Testbed for NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory.
• Farid Salama – Developing a New Negative Ion Production System on the COSmIC Facility for Interstellar and Planetary applications.

This year, the IRAD was highly competitive with more than 65 proposals submitted from across the center and represents an over 100% increase in the number of proposals submitted compared to last year. The 14 proposals selected represent an approximately $2.8 million center investment over two years and consists of 13 proposals by principal investigators not in the FY23 awards. 

We appreciate everyone’s interest in this important program and look forward to hearing about the results of these investigations.

FY23 IRAD Awardees

• Don Banfield – Mars Doppler Wind & Thermal Sounder (DWTS): Ozone Gas Cell Development
• Anthony Colaprete – Atmospheric Structure Investigation (ASI) for New Frontiers OPIS (Observatory for probing internal Saturn Atmosphere) Proposal
• Jay Feldman – Modernization of Tile Manufacturing for Reusable Thermal Protection Systems
• Kevin Fogarty – Prototype for the PIAA-Vortex Coronagraph
• Jeremy Frank – Adaptive Automated Airborne Mapping of Dynamic Flows
• Matthew Gasch – Affordable Robust Compliant TPS (ARCTPS)
• Marcus Murbach – Nano-sat Re-entry Demonstration of a Self-stabilizing Probe: In-situ Measurement of the Edney Type 4 Shock-Shock Interaction
• Raj Pai – AviateNLP, Foundation Artificial Intelligence Model for Aviation
• Richard Quinn – MICA: Microfluidic Icy-World Chemical Analyzer Technology Advancement and Risk Reduction
• Antonio Ricco – Maturing and Testing SPLIce: Demonstration of Mission-Critical Functional Performance Required for a Successful New Frontiers 5 Proposal
• Yasaman Shirazi – Quantitative microRNA sequencing on a nanopore platform
• Mary Beth Wilhelm –  Grinding Rocks in Martian Gravity: Preparing for Partial-g Flight Testing of the ExCALiBR Comminutor Subsystem with ARC UAS

FY21 IRAD Awardees

Please join us in congratulating the FY21 IRAD awardees:

• Thomas Bristow – A New X-ray Detector for Planetary X-ray Diffraction Instruments
• Sarah D’Souza – Entry, Descent, and Landing, or EDL, for Aeolus
• Laura Iraci – sUAS Tracking of Subtle Volcano Emissions
• David Murakami – Automated sUAS Inspection Capability for NASA’s Mission Critical Testing Facilities
• Antonio Ricco – ChIPPS: Charged Information-storage Polymer Preparation System
• Paul Wercinski – Computational Aerothermal Modeling and Simulation of Hypersonic, Low-density Flows for the ADEPT Drag Modulated Aerocapture Mission

FY19 IRAD Awardees

Please join us in congratulating the FY19 IRAD awardees:

• Ruslan Belikov – Maturing Linear Dark Field Control for Exoplanet Imaging
• David Blake – CheMin-V: Development of an XRD/XRF Instrument for the Venera-D Mission to Venus
• Anthony Colaprete – Maturing Ozone Gas Cells for Aeolus’ DWTS (Doppler Wind & Thermal Sounding) Instrument
• Stephen Dunagan – Miniature unmanned airborne Sunphotometer for Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research (muSSTAR)
• Laura Iraci – Getting ALOFT: Advancing the Ames-LGR OCS FlighT instrument to Mission Readiness and Proposal Success
• David Murakami – Automated sUAS Inspection Capability for NASA’s Mission Critical Testing Facilities
• Tony Ricco – µCAFE: Integration and End-to-End Demonstration of microChemical Analysis of Fluids for Exobiology System
• Nettie Roozeboom – NAS Intercenter netWork for Research and Development
• Mary Beth Wilhelm – Novel Life Detection System Coupling Lipid Extraction with Raman Spectroscopy

FY18 IRAD Awardees

Please join us in congratulating the FY18 IRAD awardees:

• Ved Chirayath – MiDAR – Multispectral Imaging, Detection, & Active Reflectance Instrument – kW-class Transmitter & Receiver Development
• Tony Colaprete – Maturation of a Laser Nephelometer for In-Site Atmospheric Missions
• Matthew D’Ortenzio – Jigsaw: Software for Critical Event Deconfliction for Interplanetary NanoSat Missions
• Terry Fong – PHALANX – Projectile Hordes for Advanced Long-term And Networked eXploration Distributed Miniature Projectile Sensor Networks
• Tom Greene – Laboratory advancement of high precision exoplanet measurements for the Origins Space Telescope
• Raj Venkatapthy – Highly Reliable 3-D Woven TPS for Mars Sample Return Mission