NASA has unveiled a new Competition Model 2.0 (CM 2.0) that will cut the time and cost of selecting science missions, allowing more projects to reach orbit faster.
In an open letter to the science community on Oct. 21, Associate Administrator Nicky Fox announced that the agency will prioritize scientific merit over detailed engineering and financial plans in early proposal reviews. The new process will reduce the typical 35‑month selection cycle to roughly 19½ months for many mission classes, while still ensuring mature concepts at the point of award.
CM 2.0 keeps the current two‑step process for flagship missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope, but streamlines it for smaller programs. Discovery, New Frontiers, and Astro‑Probe missions will submit lighter initial proposals, and Medium‑Class Explorer (MIDEX) and Earth Explorer projects will open to a broader range of applicants, including universities and commercial teams.
Small‑scale programs—SMEX, Earth Venture, Missions of Opportunity, hosted payloads and rideshares—will shift to a single‑stage selection, dropping final timelines from about 32 months to just 19 months. The change is designed to leverage the growing commercial space economy and NASA’s own centers, Goddard and JPL, to accelerate development.
Fox emphasized that the reforms will also impose stricter cost and schedule oversight, with “real consequences” for projects that miss control thresholds, including possible cancellations. The agency hopes the new model will reduce the technical and financial burden on competitors and bring science ideas to orbit more efficiently.
NASA will discuss the reforms in a virtual town hall on Oct. 26 at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT). A livestream and public Q&A will be available online.
