NASA Launches New Metascience Initiative and Doctoral Fellowships to Accelerate Space Innovation

NASA is launching two science and technology programs to accelerate space innovation and scientific understanding. The agency announced the new efforts alongside the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during a Washington summit. The first program establishes a coordinated metascience initiative within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

This effort expands the use of dual anonymous peer review to evaluate proposals solely on scientific merit, which supports unconventional research ideas. The second program creates the Genesis Mission Fellowships to support 10 doctoral students who have dual skills in super intelligence and science or engineering. These fellows will work directly in NASA laboratories on agency mission areas.

The initiatives build on a July report to the President and aim to improve the efficiency, transparency, and productivity of NASA’s research practices. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios discussed the programs during a fireside chat at the summit.

The fellowship program is modeled after NASA’s Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology program.

The agency stated that these steps will help position NASA at the forefront of American innovation and discovery.