FY2026 Department of Defense NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY (NOFO)
24 August 2025 | ZEROGeoengineering.com | “Background: The mesosphere and lower thermosphere, at about 50- 120 km altitude, is often called the “ignorosphere” due to being too high for investigations using balloons and too low for probing with satellites. The addition of significant and increasing quantities of human-made materials to the region, primarily via ablation of spacecraft during reentry and emissions from spacecraft fuel systems due to the increase in launches and mega-constellations to LEO, is requiring scientists to quantify how increased human activity is modifying the upper atmosphere…”
“Anticipated Resources: It is anticipated that awards under this topic will be no more than an average of $1.5M per year for 5 years, supporting no more than 8 funded faculty researchers.”
Department of the Navy Science and Technology Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Department of Defense Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (MURI)
Topic 1: (AFOSR) Characterization and Modeling of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere
Current atmospheric models do not include the possible chemistry and radiative transfer effects of black carbon particles or introduced metals, particularly aluminum, to the mesosphere or stratosphere.
Development of novel tools and methods that would enable accessible and scalable ground-based sensing methods for accurately determining the concentrations of major and less prominent gas-phase species and particulates at different altitudes in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere.
Link To NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY (NOFO)
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