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NSF AST (NSF Astronomical Sciences Division or just AST) is the division of the US National Science Foundation (NSF) dedicated to supporting research in astronomy/astrophysics. Support includes funding individual's research projects, funding the development of instruments, and development and continuing funding of observatories. As such, it is always faced with tradeoffs, e.g., continuing to support existing observatories versus providing funds for new ones.
Among the programs is MSIP, Mid-scale Innovations Program, aiming at projects and ongoing research at a level less than the most expensive. The program includes requirements aimed at making a funded project generally useful, e.g., making freely-available a certain amount of results-data and offering some access to other research efforts.