Information for Prior AO Grant Recipients

Do you have an XMM grant and are you moving to a new institution? If so, please be aware that you need to contact the NASA Technical Officer as soon as possible to make sure you can take your money with you! Click here for more information.

Note that final reports for XMM-Newton GO grants are required upon completion of the grant award period. Additional instructions for submitting final grant recipient reports, as well as a required form, can be found here. Yearly progress reports are also required.
Do you need to request a No Cost Extension (NCE) on an XMM grant? NCE Request Forms can be found here!
Have you published a peer-reviewed paper using NASA funds? Please remember that you are required to place it and any associated data into NASA's STI Repository. Instructions on how to submit your paper can be found here.

The AO-25 Call For Budget Proposals Is Open!

Schedule:

DATE	EVENT
Wednesday, 25 March 2026	Release of AO-25 NASA GO Budget Announcement (managed by the GSFC GOF)
Wednesday, 29 April 2026 at 5:30 PM EDT	Closure of AO-25 A/B Target Budget Submission Process
No later than July 2026	Results of AO-25 Budget Process Announced

AO-25 Budget Proposal Information:

AO-25 funding through the GOF is available for US PI XMM science proposals accepted at the A or B levels. Some funding is also available for proposals at the C level; we currently expect to be able to offer PIs $30,000 for C-ranked targets that are observed. Qualifying PIs are being/will be notified.

For the analysis of XMM data which are no longer proprietary, funding proposals may be submitted through the ADAP, which can be found in NSPIRES. Data which are still proprietary are not eligible for funding through the ADAP.

NASA has released a call for budget proposals in support of accepted XMM-Newton AO-25. The budget process is open only to observers who are employed by U.S. institutions during the periods of performance of the investigations.

The current schedule for the review of the budget proposals is listed above. Note, however, that the dates of events are subject to change.

Useful pages for making your proposal:

Useful general reference pages:

The XMM-Newton Users Handbook at: GOF-HTML or GOF-PDF SOC-HTML, SOC-PDF
The NASA Office of Space Science "Guidebook for Proposers" -- The main NASA documentation for proposals

Important Notes and Guidelines for AO-25 Budget Proposals:

There are several points that PIs should be aware of. There are discussed below.

MANDATORY
NASA requires a new current and pending (C&P) awards form and PI biosketch form (no longer a CV). The exact forms are here: C&P and biosketch. PIs MUST use the forms provided and DO NOT DELETE any text or the forms will be returned as non-compliant.
Information and examples are available:

An example C&P Form (includes an example In-Kind Contribution section)
How to complete the biosketch and C&P forms
How to sign the biosketch and C&P forms
A table with a checklist of what information is needed and which form it goes in

The forms and guidance can also be found at the NSSC's website.
Institutional budgets will no longer be allowed. PIs who are affiliated with institutions that require them may contact the Technical Officer if they have questions.

PIs will be contacted to fill out the ANOSGA form when the grant is being awarded.

The C&P and biosketch forms are uploaded separately from the rest of the Proposal Document, so there are now three things to upload in NSPIRES.
As in previous AOs, it is not necessary to include a justification letter for appointing a Budget PI (if not the same as the Science PI). The Budget PI must be at the same institution as the Science PI.

Check List for Everything to be Uploaded to NSPIRES

Three separate files must be uploaded to NSPIRES: the Proposal Document, the biosketch form, and the C&P support form. Detailed instructions for how to make the Proposal Document can be found in the ABC Guide for Budget Proposals, as can links to the necessary forms, instructions on filling them out, and examples.

A check list is provided below for convenience to verify that all needed materials are ready prior to uploading. PIs are reminded that reviewers will consider only those pages in each proposal section that do not exceed the page limits specified below.

PIs are strongly urged to read the proposal in its entirety before their institutions submit it. Is it internally consistent? Does it make sense? Is there a basis of estimate for everything that is requested? Does the Proposal Document contain all the sections that are needed, and none of those (such as Institutional Budgets) that are not? Are the sections in the correct order, as given by the checklist table below?

Proposals will be returned unevaluated if

any section is missing or incomplete;
the proposal is not internally consistent;
there is not a basis of estimate for everything that is requested;
there is an Institutional Budget attached.

PIs who are uncertain about the requirements may contact the Technical Officer for clarification.

For the Proposal Document:

SECTION	PAGE LIMIT	COMMENTS
Cover Page	n/a	REQUIRED. Entered into NSPIRES.
Budget Justification	2	REQUIRED. Justify the requested budget in detail.
Scientific Justification	4-5	REQUIRED. The 4 or 5 page Scientific Justification from the observation proposal.

For the forms:

FORM	PAGE LIMIT	COMMENTS
NASA Biosketch Form	As Needed	REQUIRED for the Budget PI. NASA has a Word document for this that must be used and followed exactly. Do not delete any text in the document. Please see the Biosketch form section of the ABC Guide for Budget Proposals for more information. Upload it separately from the Proposal Document.
NASA C&P Support Form	As Needed	REQUIRED for the Budget PI. NASA has a Word document that must be used and followed exactly. Do not delete any text in the document. Please see the C&P Support form section of the ABC Guide for Budget Proposals for more information. Upload it separately from the Proposal Document.

Help Desks

PIs with questions may contact the Technical Officer, Dr. Kim Weaver.

The XMM-Newton Helpdesk at the SOC provides a way to send technical queries to mission specialists and programmers.

Mail the XMM-Newton US GOF directly at xmmhelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov for all other XMM-Newton questions. Questions regarding funding and assistance in proposal submission may be addressed to Dr. Kim Weaver ( Kimberly.A.Weaver@nasa.gov).

If you have any questions concerning XMM-Newton send email to xmmhelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov