MPS Astronomical Sciences Research Programs

The U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences supports foundational research in the astronomical sciences through the MPS Astronomical Sciences Research Programs. NSF MPS is the primary federal funder of America's ground-based exploration of space through astronomical sciences. This solicitation consolidates most astronomical sciences funding opportunities within the directorate and covers three programs: Astronomical Sciences Core Research, Astronomical Sciences Technology & Instrumentation, and Astronomical Sciences Innovations. The programs support foundational astronomical sciences research and instrumentation focused on exploring space and advancing fundamental understanding of the universe. NSF is particularly interested in intellectually ambitious and potentially transformative foundational research, including incremental advances, bold high-risk inquiries, interdisciplinary work, opportunities for early-career investigators, and scientifically justified uses of emerging technologies such as AI, advanced computation, and automation. Astronomical Sciences Core Research supports individual investigators and collaborative research groups conducting observational, theoretical, laboratory, and archival data studies in astronomy and astrophysics. Relevant areas include cosmology, extragalactic and galactic astronomy, stellar astronomy, exoplanets, solar and solar system astronomy, time-domain astrophysics, laboratory astrophysics, and statistical and computational methods. Astronomical Sciences Technology & Instrumentation supports advanced technology development, concept feasibility studies, instrumentation, and software that enables ground-based observations that are difficult or impossible with existing means. Routine upgrades to existing instruments and facilities are not prioritized, and proposed capabilities should benefit the broad U.S. astronomical sciences community. Astronomical Sciences Innovations supports a small number of larger activities involving science projects, facilities, research infrastructure development investments, and open-access capabilities such as instruments, observing time, and data archiving, management, and analysis. Proposals must describe the merit of the proposed work in the context of foundational advances in astronomical sciences or they will be returned without review. All proposals should advance one or more stated measures of success, including scholarly publications, established or expanded data sets, new technologies or techniques, undergraduate and graduate student training in critical areas, new infrastructure, or research facility usage. Proposals must explain how applicable measures of success will be achieved and evaluated, with progress reported in annual reports. Proposals predominantly using NASA data or resources should instead be submitted to NASA. Proposals involving extensive modeling or analysis of NASA mission or archive data must include a labeled section explaining why those data are required. Technology & Instrumentation proposals must significantly advance ground-based astronomy observations and have only secondary relevance to space-based projects. Accomplishment-based renewal proposals are not accepted under this opportunity. The anticipated program funding is $100,000,000, subject to availability of funds, with approximately 140 awards anticipated overall. The solicitation identifies approximately 130 Astronomical Sciences Core Research awards, 10 Astronomical Sciences Technology & Instrumentation awards, and 1-3 Astronomical Sciences Innovations awards. No individual award minimum or maximum is stated in the provided solicitation text. Awards may be Standard Grants or Continuing Grants. Inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited, and no indirect cost or other budgetary limitations are specified. NSF encourages proposals across a wide range of funding levels and project durations and notes that investigators may consider mechanisms such as Planning Proposals, RAPID, EAGER, and RAISE where appropriate. NSF also encourages proposals requesting up to five years of support when longer awards would benefit ambitious, transformative research and reduce administrative burden. Eligible proposers are the categories identified in Chapter I.E of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide. The solicitation specifically states that unaffiliated individuals are not eligible to submit proposals. There are no restrictions or limits on who may serve as principal investigator, the number of proposals per organization, or the number of proposals per PI or co-PI. Full proposals may be submitted through Research.gov or Grants.gov and must be prepared under the applicable PAPPG requirements or, for Grants.gov submissions, the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide. Collaborative proposals submitted as separate submissions from multiple organizations must use Research.gov. Letters of intent and preliminary proposals are not required. Astronomical Sciences Innovations proposals in categories 2 and 3 must include an outline of a project execution plan as a supplementary document; this document is optional for categories 1 and 4. NSF evaluates proposals using the National Science Board-approved Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts criteria. Following an initial compliance check, an NSF Program Officer reviews the proposal and, in most cases, three or more external experts participate through ad hoc review, panel review, or both. All else being equal after merit review, NSF may give preference to institutions with lower indirect cost rates. Proposals are accepted at any time, but November 16, 2026 is the stated target date, followed by the third Monday in November annually thereafter. Proposals received after a target date may be reviewed in the following fiscal year. Thus, the program is continuously accepting proposals even though NSF establishes an annual target review date. No award notification date or specific performance period is stated in the provided solicitation. Program questions may be directed to astro-core@nsf.gov for Astronomical Sciences Core Research, astro-instrumentation@nsf.gov for Astronomical Sciences Technology & Instrumentation, and astro-innovations@nsf.gov for Astronomical Sciences Innovations. Research.gov technical assistance is available from the NSF IT Service Desk at rgov@nsf.gov or 1-800-381-1532, and Grants.gov assistance is available at support@grants.gov or 1-800-518-4726. Standard NSF award conditions and reporting requirements apply. Unless an award notice provides otherwise, the principal investigator must submit annual project reports and a project outcomes report for the general public. NSF may also share proposal information with NASA under an existing memorandum of understanding for possible joint funding consideration.

Center the proposal on foundational advances in astronomical sciences and explicitly address Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts. Show how stated measures of success will be achieved and evaluated. For Technology & Instrumentation, demonstrate a significant advance in ground-based observations and broad U.S. astronomical community benefit rather than a routine upgrade. For Innovations, address transformative research, strategic goals, project management, operations, data archiving, and applicable execution-plan requirements. Proposals predominantly using NASA data or resources should go to NASA; explain extensive NASA-data use when applicable. NSF strongly encourages Innovations proposers to contact a program officer before submission.