Overview & Issues of the Theme Selection of ``Microgravity Science Research International Announcement of Opportunity 2000''

Abstract

``Microgravity Science Research International Announcement of Opportunity 2000'' (hereinafter ``IAO'') is a solicitation of microgravity researches which plan to use the ``International Space Station'' (hereinafter ``ISS''). The IAO released in September 2000 and the proposal due was in January 2001. 115 proposals including 19 Japanese ones were applied to the IAO and have undergone three step evaluations; science, technical preliminary and program reviews. The authors have been involved in this selection process as the planning and management staffs of the space agencies and have found various issues. This report summarizes the theme selection process of the IAO and points out the issues that they found.