The Solar Irradiance Science Team #2 (SIST-2) program is a competitively solicited National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Science Division (ESD) science research program providing three-year awards beginning in July 2018 to quantify and understand the solar irradiance and its variability. A key motivation for the SIST-2 program is to understand the solar radiation variability and implications for Earth’s climate and atmospheric composition. The purpose for the SIST-2 program is limited to the accurate specification of the incoming solar irradiance into the Earth system considering the 43-year satellite data record as well as proxies to which the satellite record can be tied. The SIST-2 program funded eight research grants to study the variability of the total solar irradiance (TSI) and solar spectral irradiance (SSI) and to develop improved space-based data sets, solar proxies, and variability models of the solar irradiance. The SIST-2 projects are briefly introduced.