UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT INSTRUMENT PROJECT 2013

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UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT INSTRUMENT PROJECT (USIP) 2013 The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is releasing this Undergraduate Student Instrument Project (USIP) Educational Flight Opportunity (EFO) to solicit U.S. university proposals to develop an Earth or space science payload that will fly on a NASA suborbital vehicle, such as a sounding rocket, balloon, aircraft, or commercial suborbital reusable launch vehicle. SMD designed USIP to promote interest and proficiency in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and to develop careers in the STEM related fields through offering NASA’s unique suborbital research platforms for student educational flight opportunities. This EFO is intended to provide multidiscipline undergraduate student teams an exciting hands-on project, while at the same time promoting the technical and project management skills necessary to train the country’s future science and technology leaders. The maximum funding available from SMD for a proposed project, including the design, development, and testing of the science payload, is $50K. The science payload funding may be supplemented with contributions by the implementing university; however, there are no expectations as to the amount of the university contributions. The university contribution is determined strictly by the university based on the university’s capabilities and the project’s needs. The cost of payload integration with the suborbital vehicle and the launch/flight is provided by NASA at no cost to the university team. The selected projects must be launched or flight-ready within 13-16 months from the project initiation date. SMD expects to select approximately 15-20 projects, subject to available funding. The first goal of this USIP Educational Flight Opportunity is: To provide a hands-on flight project experience to enhance the science, technical, leadership, and project skills for the selected U.S. university undergraduate student team. The second goal of this solicitation is: To fly a science payload having a purpose relevant to the Science Mission Directorate’s science goals (http://nasascience.nasa.gov/ ). This solicitation will be available on or about December 21, 2012, at the NASA Research Opportunities homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ and then linking through the menu listing "Solicitations" to "Open Solicitations." The Point of Contact for further information and inquiries about the Undergraduate Student Instrument Project Educational Flight Opportunity is:

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