NASA rewrites how science missions compete: Competition Model 2.0 promises selections up to 45% faster

NASA's Science Mission Directorate is changing how it competes and selects science missions. In a letter to the science community, Associate Administrator Nicola "Nicky" Fox said the new Competition Model 2.0 (CM2.0) will cut the time from an Announcement of Opportunity to the second-step selection by up to 45%, from about 35 months to about 19.5 months (confirmed, NASA). NASA is explaining the plan at a public virtual town hall today, Monday October 26, from 2 to 3 p.m. EDT (19:00–20:00 CET).

What happened

• Science first: Fox wrote that CM2.0 "starts from a simple idea: compete on the science first", with proposals that do not need detailed engineering plans, cost and implementation work until they are needed for a decision (confirmed, NASA).
• Discovery, New Frontiers and Astro-Probes: step 1 asks only for a science case, a science implementation plan and a proof-of-concept mission design, which NASA says removes roughly half of the material in today's proposals. Step 2 is a Mission Implementation Study run with NASA Goddard or JPL, and the down-select to one mission happens partway through Phase A (confirmed, NASA).
• Smaller missions: in a presentation to the National Academies' Space Studies Board, NASA said SMEx, Missions of Opportunity, Earth Venture, hosted payloads and rideshares would be selected in a single-step competition with smaller review teams and virtual site visits. Flagship missions stay directed and are unchanged (confirmed, NASA presentation).
• Commercial push and cost discipline: the same slides say teams will be expected to adopt commercial capabilities where they help, and that breaching cost and schedule control thresholds "carry real consequence", up to mission termination (confirmed, NASA presentation).
• Who asked for it: Fox wrote that NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman directed the directorate to speed up science and reduce the time and money spent on long competitions (confirmed, NASA).
• Budget backdrop: SpacePolicyOnline notes that none of the 12 FY2027 appropriations bills has cleared Congress yet, and Congress is in recess until after the midterm elections (reported, SpacePolicyOnline).

Why it matters for space investors

Faster, cheaper competitions with an explicit push toward "commercial capabilities" could open more NASA science work to commercial spacecraft builders, launch providers and rideshare suppliers, not just traditional prime contractors. Firms such as Rocket Lab, which builds small spacecraft and launches rideshares, and lunar and planetary players like Intuitive Machines are the kind of listed companies that tend to bid on smaller science missions. The catch is money: the new process changes how missions are chosen, not how many NASA can afford, and the FY2027 science budget is still undecided. Other dates to watch this week include Boeing's third-quarter results on October 27 and a NASA/CSA spacewalk at the ISS on October 29 (reported, SpacePolicyOnline); see our calendar.

Not financial advice.

Sources

• NASA Science: Faster to Science, A Letter to the Science Community (Nicola Fox)
• NASA Science: NASA Science Leadership to Hold Town Hall Meeting
• National Academies: NASA SMD presentation to the Space Studies Board, October 21, 2026 (PDF)
• SpacePolicyOnline: What's Happening in Space Policy October 25-November 1, 2026
• ExecutiveGov: NASA Unveils New Science Mission Competition Model