The NASA ROSES-2007 is out.
This is the omnibus announcement of opportunity/request for proposals for most of th in-house activities for the science mission directorate - everything from evolutionary biolology through test of relativity via the moon and mars - but it doesn't include the great observatory proposals - Hubble, Spitzer, Chandra have their own solicitations and support structure.
One of the few surviving fundamental science categories, as distinct from mission oriented proposals, is the Astrophysics Theory Program - which basically covers theoretical research which is not mission specific to a currently flying mission. It is now merged with what was "Beyond Einstein Foundation Science" - and the total amount of funding for both activities cut, incidentally. Classic move that.
But, "foundation science" includes experiment development - both concept studies and minor instrumentation (there is a separate proposal line for major instrument development for different class missions - nice work if you can get it).
The ATP call specifies that only LISA instrument development proposals will be considered; not Con-X or JDEM or other Beyond Einstein programs. Concept study proposals are allowed.
This is quite curious, and encouraging for people who like LISA
We'll see this autumn what it really means
Your posts on this subject are appreciated as always.