The HHS Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) has opened the Comprehensive Organ System Modeling in Outer Space (COSMOS) Innovative Solutions Opening, Notice ID ARPA-H-SOL-26-165. COSMOS is designed to determine whether microgravity in low Earth orbit accelerates aging in human brain, heart, kidney, and uterine tissues and, if the effect is large enough, establish a platform for autonomous, high-throughput regenerative-drug screening in space.
Phase 1 will use microphysiological systems and organoids to compare tissue aging rates in space and on Earth across adult age groups. Phase 2 will advance only the tissue and age-range combinations that show sufficiently accelerated aging in space for targeted regenerative-drug testing. ARPA-H states that proposer teams should include, at minimum, a project manager, principal investigator, engineers, organ specialists, computational biology expertise, machine-learning or other modeling expertise, regulatory expertise, and intellectual-property counsel.
Proposals are due October 7, 2026 at 2:00 PM ET. ARPA-H anticipates multiple Other Transaction awards. The SAM.gov package includes the COSMOS ISO, eligibility and conformance certification, technical and management proposal model, task description model, milestone and payment table, schedule, cost proposal template, and administrative and national policy requirements. Submission is through the ARPA-H Solutions portal, and proposers should rely on the controlling solicitation and any amendments for eligibility, cost, milestone, intellectual-property, registration, and submission rules.
Atlas Opportunity Score: 48/100. N9+ Fit: 5/100. COSMOS is a legitimate advanced health R&D opportunity, but the work is centered on organoids, microphysiological systems, spaceflight experimentation, regenerative medicine, and highly specialized modeling. Dr. Miltie should not be advanced as a prime or technical contributor without documented capability directly relevant to those requirements.