1. Short title This Act may be cited as the DOE and NASA Interagency Research Coordination Act . 2. Department of Energy and National Aeronautics and Space Administration research and development coordination (a) In general The Secretary of Energy (in this section referred to as the Secretary ) and the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (in this section referred to as the Administrator ) may carry out, as practicable, cross-cutting and collaborative research and development activities to support the advancement of Department of Energy and National Aeronautics and Space Administration mission requirements and priorities. The Secretary and Administrator, in accordance 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. (c) Coordination In carrying out the activities under subsection (a), the Secretary and the Administrator may— (1) conduct collaborative research and development activities in a variety of focus areas that may include— (A) propulsion systems and components, including nuclear thermal and nuclear electric propulsion, radioisotope power systems, thermoelectric 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 optimize algorithms for mission-related purposes; (C) fundamental high energy physics, astrophysics, 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