Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘DOE and NASA Inter-
agency Research Coordination Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND NATIONAL AERO-
NAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION RE-
SEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT COORDINATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy (in this 
section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) and the Adminis-
trator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administra-
tion (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Administrator’’) 
may carry out, as practicable, cross-cutting and collabo-
rative research and development activities to support the 
advancement of Department of Energy and National Aero-
nautics and Space Administration mission requirements 
and priorities. The Secretary and Administrator, in ac-
cordance with subsection (e), may make competitive awards 
to carry out such activities. 
(b) MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING.—The Secretary 
and the Administrator shall coordinate the activities under 
subsection (a) through memoranda of understanding, or 
other appropriate interagency agreements. 
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(c) COORDINATION.—In carrying out the activities 
under subsection (a), the Secretary and the Administrator 
may— 
(1) conduct collaborative research and develop-
ment activities in a variety of focus areas that may 
include— 
(A) propulsion systems and components, in-
cluding nuclear thermal and nuclear electric pro-
pulsion, radioisotope power systems, thermo-
electric generators, advanced nuclear fuels, and 
heater units; 
(B) modeling and simulation, machine 
learning, data assimilation, large scale data 
analytics, and predictive analysis in order to op-
timize algorithms for mission-related purposes; 
(C) fundamental high energy physics, astro-
physics, and cosmology, including the nature of 
dark energy and dark matter, in accordance 
with section 305 of the Department of Energy 
Research and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 18643); 
(D) fundamental earth and environmental 
sciences, in accordance with section 306 of the 
Department of Energy Research and Innovation 
Act (42 U.S.C. 18644) and section 60501 of title 
51, United States Code; 
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(E) quantum information sciences, includ-
ing quantum computing and quantum network 
infrastructure, in accordance with sections 403 
and 404 of the National Quantum Initiative Act 
(15 U.S.C. 8853 and 8854); 
(F) radiation health effects, in accordance 
with section 306 of the Department of Energy 
Research and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 18644); 
(G) ground- and space-based technology nec-
essary for the transmission to the Earth’s surface 
of solar energy collected in space; and 
(H) other areas of potential research and 
development collaboration the Secretary and the 
Administrator determine important to achieving 
agency missions and objectives; 
(2) develop methods to accommodate large vol-
untary data sets on space and aeronautical informa-
tion on high-performance computing systems with 
variable quality and scale; 
(3) promote collaboration and data and informa-
tion sharing between the Department of Energy, Na-
tional Aeronautics and Space Administration, the 
National Laboratories, and other appropriate entities 
by providing the necessary access and secure data and 
information transfer capabilities; and 
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(4) support the Administration’s access to the 
Department’s research infrastructure and capabilities, 
as practicable. 
(d) AGREEMENTS.—In carrying out the activities 
under subsection (a), the Secretary and the Administrator 
are authorized to— 
(1) carry out reimbursable and non-reimbursable 
agreements between the Department of Energy and 
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; 
and 
(2) collaborate with other Federal agencies, as 
appropriate. 
(e) MERIT REVIEW PROCESS.—The Secretary and the 
Administrator shall ensure any competitive awards made 
to carry out the activities under section (a) shall follow all 
appropriate laws and agency policies, including the fol-
lowing: 
(1) Selection by merit-review-based processes. 
(2) Consideration of applications from Federal 
agencies, National Laboratories, institutions of higher 
education, non-profit institutions, and other appro-
priate entities. 
(f) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the date 
of the enactment of this section, the Secretary and the Ad-
ministrator shall submit to the Committee on Science, 
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Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and 
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the 
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 
the Senate, a report detailing the following: 
(1) Interagency research and development coordi-
nation activities between the Department of Energy 
and the National Aeronautics and Space Administra-
tion carried out under this section. 
(2) How such coordination activities expand the 
technical capabilities of the Department and the Ad-
ministration. 
(3) Collaborative research and development 
achievements. 
(4) Areas of future mutually beneficial activities, 
including potential applications of clean energy tech-
nologies, such as marine energy. 
(5) Continuation of coordination activities be-
tween the Department of Energy and the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration. 
(g) RESEARCH SECURITY.—The activities authorized 
under this section shall be applied in a manner consistent 
with subtitle D of title VI of the Research and Development, 
Competition, and Innovation Act (enacted as division B of 
the CHIPS Act of 2022 (Public Law 117–167; 42 U.S.C. 
19231 et seq.)). 
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