NASA ROSES Earth Science Guide

Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) is the annual omnibus research announcement released by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD). Operating as a multi-element solicitation, ROSES funds basic and applied scientific research, technology development, and satellite observation analysis across five primary science divisions. Within this framework, Earth environmental scientists, oceanographers, and atmospheric researchers access core research funding through Earth Science Division program elements designated under Appendix A.

For research teams and sponsored projects offices in geology, climate modeling, and remote sensing, applying to NASA ROSES requires navigating the NASA NSPIRES proposal portal, complying with Dual-Anonymous Peer Review (DAPR) anonymization standards, and implementing mandatory Open Science and Data Management Plans (OSDMP). Understanding how Appendix A solicitations operate within ROSES is essential for assembling competitive grant proposals.

What it is and who runs it

NASA ROSES is managed and administered by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Each year, NASA issues the omnibus NASA Research Announcement (NRA)—designated under solicitation series like NNH25ZDA001N—which establishes overarching proposal rules and serves as the umbrella for dozens of focused program elements.

As described on the official NASA program pages on 2026-11-08, ROSES is organized into disciplinary appendices corresponding to SMD divisions: Earth Science (Appendix A), Heliophysics (Appendix B), Planetary Science (Appendix C), Astrophysics (Appendix D), and Biological and Physical Sciences (Appendix E), alongside cross-division programs (Appendix F). The Earth Science Division (ESD) uses Appendix A to support foundational research across carbon cycles, water and energy cycles, atmospheric composition, climate variability, and terrestrial ecology. Solicitations range from topical satellite data analysis teams to the Early Career Investigator Program (ECIP) and Rapid Response and Novel Research in Earth Science (RRNES).

Eligibility

As described on the official NASA Science Mission Directorate pages on 2026-11-08, eligibility to propose under ROSES encompasses diverse organizational categories, subject to specific federal and division-level restrictions:

• Eligible Organizations: U.S. institutions of higher education, non-profit research organizations, commercial and for-profit companies, NASA Centers, and state or local government agencies may submit proposals through designated Authorized Organizational Representatives (AORs).
• Earth Science Division (Appendix A) Specific Restriction: Federal agencies other than NASA and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) other than the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) will not receive funding from Appendix A elements. Non-NASA government researchers may participate only as unfunded Co-Investigators or collaborators.
• Foreign Organization Participation: Foreign entities may participate on a no-exchange-of-funds basis, meaning foreign investigators must secure their own independent funding from national sponsoring agencies.
• Statutory Restrictions: By federal statute (Section III.c of the ROSES solicitation), NASA is prohibited from funding bilateral collaborative projects with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) or Chinese-owned companies.

What it funds or requires

Awards deriving from active ROSES program elements are issued as federal assistance awards—specifically grants or cooperative agreements—with contracts explicitly excluded from standard research calls. Award commitments range from under $100,000 per year for targeted data analysis up to more than $1,000,000 per year for extensive airborne science campaigns or instrument development. Periods of performance typically span three years, with select programs supporting up to five years.

NASA enforces strict scientific and programmatic compliance across all ROSES awards:

1. Scientific Information Policy (SPD-41a): All ROSES proposals must include an Open Science and Data Management Plan (OSDMP). Under SPD-41a, research outputs must be made publicly available without embargo. Peer-reviewed manuscripts must be deposited in designated open-access repositories like NASA PubSpace, while research data and computational software must be archived with persistent identifiers such as a Crossref DOI and shared under open licenses.
2. Dual-Anonymous Peer Review (DAPR): Many Earth Science program elements implement DAPR. Proposers must anonymize their Scientific/Technical/Management Section, redacting investigator names, institutional affiliations, and self-referential citations. Institutional qualifications, team expertise, and detailed budgets are submitted as separate non-anonymized attachments evaluated only after scientific merit ranking.
3. Satellite Data Utilization: NASA Earth Science programs emphasize the calibration, validation, and scientific utilization of spaceborne observations from missions such as NISAR, SWOT, PACE, and Landsat, alongside datasets curated in international systems like the Copernicus Climate Data Store.

Application or compliance steps

Preparing and submitting a ROSES proposal requires navigating multi-stage administrative and technical workflows:

1. NSPIRES Registration: The proposing institution, Principal Investigator (PI), Co-Investigators (Co-Is), and collaborators must all register active personal accounts in the NSPIRES system. Proposers must link their profiles to their employer’s institutional affiliation.
2. Program Element Identification (Tables 2 and 3): Consult Table 2 (alphabetical by topic) and Table 3 (chronological by deadline) on the NSPIRES ROSES portal to identify target Appendix A elements, noting whether a Notice of Intent (NOI) or Step-1 proposal is mandated.
3. Step-1 / Step-2 Process: When an element employs two-step submissions, submit the preliminary Step-1 summary by the initial deadline. For binding two-step calls, only teams that submit an approved Step-1 proposal are eligible to submit the full Step-2 application.
4. Drafting Anonymized Narratives (DAPR): For DAPR-designated elements, compose the technical narrative in passive or third-person phrasing (e.g., “Prior work demonstrated” rather than “In our previous NASA grant”). Verify that no author names or institutional watermarks appear in the main proposal PDF.
5. OSDMP and Budget Redaction: Construct a comprehensive Open Science and Data Management Plan addressing data repositories, software repositories, and publication access. Prepare detailed institutional budgets and upload redacted budget tables into NSPIRES as required by the call.
6. AOR Routing and Submission: Release the final application to the organization’s Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR), who performs institutional compliance review and executes the electronic submission prior to the 11:59 PM Eastern Time deadline.

Typical timeline phases

NASA ROSES cycles operate along an annual cadence with phased deadlines across program elements:

• Phase 1: Annual Omnibus Release: The overarching ROSES NRA is issued in February or mid-year, publishing general terms, program rules, and initial due-date tables on NSPIRES.
• Phase 2: Rolling Solicitations and Amendments: Throughout the year, NASA SMD issues amendments releasing final text, funding estimates, and exact due dates for individual Appendix A elements.
• Phase 3: Step-1 Proposals or Notices of Intent: Deadlines for Step-1 proposals or optional NOIs typically occur 4 to 8 weeks prior to the full proposal deadline.
• Phase 4: Step-2 Full Proposal Deadlines: Full proposals are submitted electronically via NSPIRES, with deadlines distributed across the calendar year based on division schedules.
• Phase 5: Merit Review Panels and DAPR Evaluation: Peer review panels evaluate proposals against three core GCAM criteria: Intrinsic Scientific Merit, Relevance to NASA, and Cost Realism. For DAPR programs, science merit is scored prior to revealing author identities.
• Phase 6: Selection Decisions and Award Issuance: NASA typically announces selection decisions within 6 to 9 months of proposal submission, with selected proposals transitioning to grant or cooperative agreement negotiation.

Common mistakes

• Violating DAPR anonymization rules: Accidentally including author names, institutional acknowledgments, or un-redacted grant numbers in the main narrative of a DAPR call can lead to proposal non-compliance and administrative rejection without review.
• Inadequate Open Science Plans: Submitting generic or vague Data Management Plans that fail to identify specific public repositories or commit to open-source software licenses under SPD-41a.
• Ignoring Appendix A eligibility constraints: Including budget requests for non-NASA federal agency personnel in Earth Science proposals where policy prohibits funding non-NASA federal entities.
• Unlinked NSPIRES team affiliations: Failing to ensure all co-investigators have confirmed their institutional affiliations and accepted electronic participation invitations in NSPIRES prior to AOR submission.
• Procrastinating AOR submission: Waiting until the final hours before the 11:59 PM Eastern deadline, risking internal university routing delays or unexpected electronic submission errors.

Related programs

NASA and partner federal agencies offer complementary funding mechanisms supporting Earth and environmental science research:

Mechanism	Sponsoring Agency / Division	Target Audience	Primary Scope
ROSES Appendix A	NASA Earth Science Division (ESD)	Faculty, researchers, and professional scientists	Basic and applied Earth observations, remote sensing, and climate modeling
NASA FINESST	NASA SMD (including Earth Science)	Graduate students and academic mentors	Pre-doctoral research training grants aligned with NASA science goals
NASA SBIR / STTR	NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate	Small businesses and research partners	Commercialization of sensor hardware, instrumentation, and data algorithms
NSF EAR Core Programs	National Science Foundation (GEO/EAR)	Academic researchers in geosciences	Fundamental terrestrial, hydrologic, and deep-Earth surface processes

FAQ

What does ROSES stand for in NASA grants?

ROSES stands for Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences. It is the annual omnibus research announcement used by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate to solicit and fund basic and applied scientific research across multiple disciplines.

Which section of ROSES funds Earth Science research?

Earth science research is solicited under Appendix A of the ROSES announcement. Appendix A contains dozens of individual program elements managed by the Earth Science Division (ESD), covering climate processes, hydrology, ocean biology, carbon cycles, and satellite data science.

How does Dual-Anonymous Peer Review (DAPR) work in NASA ROSES?

Under DAPR, proposers submit scientific technical narratives that redact all investigator names, institutions, and identifying information. Review panels evaluate and score the scientific and technical merit of proposals without knowing who authored them, minimizing unconscious bias in selection decisions.

What is NASA’s SPD-41a policy for grant recipients?

SPD-41a is NASA’s Scientific Information Policy for the Science Mission Directorate. It mandates open science practices for all funded projects, requiring open-access publication of peer-reviewed articles without embargo, public deposition of research data in approved repositories, and open sharing of scientific software.

Sources

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2025). Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science (ROSES) 2025 Released. Science Mission Directorate. https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/solicitations/roses-2025/research-opportunities-in-space-and-earth-science-roses-2025-released/. Checked 2026-11-08.
• NASA Science Mission Directorate. (2025). SARA FAQs and Solicitations Information. https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/faqs/. Checked 2026-11-08.
• NASA Science Mission Directorate. (2023). Scientific Information Policy for the Science Mission Directorate (SPD-41a). https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/open-science/science-information-policy/. Checked 2026-11-08.