Planetary Science Institute

Planetary Science Institute, a non-profit research organization headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, serves as prime recipient on federal research grants and cooperative agreements focused on planetary science, data analysis, theoretical modeling, and mission support for NASA and the National Science Foundation, with 94 percent of recent awards executed as prime recipient rather than subcontractor. PSI competes full-and-open (no set-aside designations across the portfolio) and operates as a child entity under a parent organization structure.

PSI's federal footprint centers on concrete planetary science research: detailed geological and mineralogical investigations of Mars surface processes including alluvial fan formation, lava flow morphologies, and subsurface ice deposits; lunar crater morphometry, seismic activity characterization, and geochemical analysis; outer planet magnetospheric dynamics and icy satellite observations from Juno and Cassini missions; small-body asteroid and comet composition and dynamics; exoplanet characterization; and development of scientific tools and data products. Representative recent work includes a $651,075 grant from NASA to investigate shallow moonquakes in the lunar crust (award date October 7, 2024, completion October 6, 2027); a $4.455 million grant for development of the Ultraviolet Micromirror Imaging Spectrograph (award date September 1, 2023, completion August 31, 2027); a $978,164 grant for high-resolution 3D radar mapping and modeling of Mars' North Polar Layered Deposits (award date October 1, 2023, completion September 30, 2026); and a $589,400 grant for lunar crater analysis using new datasets and analysis tools (award date September 1, 2023, completion August 31, 2026). PSI also operates as a data steward, archiving and distributing Mars Context Camera digital terrain models and hosting MARSTHERM, a thermophysical analysis tool used by over 140 global researchers.

Customer concentration is extreme: NASA's Shared Services Center funds 668 awards worth $123.5 million combined potential value (78 percent of the portfolio by count, 78 percent by dollar value). NASA Headquarters accounts for 84 awards and $17.1 million. The next-largest customer, NASA Ames Research Center, carries only $5.6 million across three awards. About 91 percent of recent awards are funded by NASA entities; the National Science Foundation comprises most of the remaining 9 percent. This concentration in a single customer and agency creates visibility for recompete cycles but limits customer diversification.

Activity has remained relatively flat year-over-year—49 awards in 2022, 52 in 2023, 52 in 2024, then declining to 34 in 2025 and 20 through October 2026—with 80 awards (combined potential value $25.9 million) reaching ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and therefore subject to recompete exposure. The source captures 987 total prime and sub awards with combined potential value of $158 million and actual obligations of $308.9 million across the dataset. Service Contract Inventory data covering federal service contracts above the $150,000 threshold shows minimal SCI-reportable activity: $337 thousand invoiced in FY2025 across 0.3 FTEs reported on prime records, with four named subcontractors averaging 6 percent of total contractor hours on prime contracts. This indicates PSI executes most of its federal work through research grants and cooperative agreements rather than fee-for-service labor contracts.

PSI maintains sub-recipient relationships with academic and research institutions including Southwest Research Institute, Cornell University, Smithsonian Institution, University of Arizona, MIT, Purdue University, and University of Tennessee on specific investigations. One recent example: a $489,147 October 2025 NASA grant on cratering processes in low-gravity comet environments includes sub-awards to Southwest Research Institute (obligated January 5, 2026), MIT (obligated February 17, 2026), and Purdue University (obligated February 9, 2026) for experimental impact analysis, cratering modeling, and simulation work. These teaming relationships are project-specific rather than structural; PSI operates predominantly as a standalone prime grant recipient with selective sub-engagement for complementary expertise.

Federal grant programs dominating PSI's portfolio span NASA's Science Mission Directorate (planetary science, lunar discovery, heliophysics, and astrophysics research solicitations under CFDA 43.001), the National Science Foundation Division of Earth Sciences and Division of Astronomical Sciences (research and CAREER awards on geophysics, subduction mechanics, and ring system modeling), NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (ocean modeling and eddy parameterization research), and NSF education programs including the Advancing Informal STEM Learning program (a $1.180 million award in December 2025 for AI literacy and planetary imagery education). The majority of research awards are project grants with three-to-four-year performance periods; cooperative agreements appear primarily for Mars Science Laboratory instrument support and NASA exploration initiative participation. PSI does not hold parent contract vehicles (GWACs, IDIQs) and does not compete for delivery orders under NASA or GSA-wide vehicles.