NASA JSC Solicitation: Lunar Communications
General Information
Notice Type: Sources Sought
Posted Date: December 9, 2016
Response Date: Jan 27, 2017 4:30 pm Central
Archiving Policy: Manual Archive
Archive Date: –
Original Set Aside: N/A
Set Aside: N/A
Classification Code: 58 — Communication, detection, & coherent radiation equipment
NAICS Code: 334 — Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing/334290 — Other Communications Equipment Manufacturing
This notice is issued by the NASA/JSC to post a Request for Information (RFI) via the internet, and solicit responses from interested parties. This document is for information and planning purposes and to allow industry the opportunity to verify reasonableness and feasibility of the requirement, as well as promote competition. Prospective offerors are invited to submit written comments or questions to: Carlos Roman Contract Specialist and Chrystal Wiseman Contract Officer no later than January 27, 2017. When responding reference NNJ17ZBH004L.
Do you have a product, or technology that can help provide Radio Frequency Communication between Earth and a Lunar Space vehicle? If so, NASA-JSC would like to hear back from you!
NASA-JSC is interested in communication systems and products capable of operating on a planetary rover “in-transit” to the moon and on the lunar surface and poles. During the transit phase, the communication system will support low-rate communications with Earth to exchange command, telemetry and calibration data (less than 10kbps). During surface operations, the system will operate at higher data rates to transmit science and engineering data (200 kbps – 1 Mbps). It is desirable for the system to provide radiometric measurements (range, range rate) to support navigation functions. The communication system needs to survive and operate in the environments on the lunar polar surface (low earth angles, vacuum, dust, radiation, and temperature [operating range managed by a thermal control system]); and be compatible with existing commercial and/or NASA ground station assets.
This RFI seeks information about communication systems and/or major components (Transponders, Antennas, Gimbals, Traveling-wave-tube amplifiers (TWTA’s)/Solid state power amplifiers (SSPA’s) etc.) that may be delivered as early as 2019. Solutions with flight heritage are preferred, however, NASA-JSC would be interested in any company, product, or technology that can help NASA meet these needs.
Interested offerors/vendors should provide a summary of their specialized capabilities and/or products to meet the above needs to Carlos Roman at Carlos.roman@nasa.gov no later than 4:30 p.m. Central time on January 27, 2017.
This presolicitation synopsis is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government, nor will the Government pay for the information submitted in response. Respondents will not be notified of the results.
NASA Clause 1852.215-84, Ombudsman, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/pub/pub_library/Omb.html.
The solicitation and any documents related to this procurement will be available over the Internet. These documents will reside on a World Wide Web (WWW) server, which may be accessed using a WWW browser application. It is the offeror’s responsibility to monitor the Internet cite for the release of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Potential offerors will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and amendments, if any.
More information https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=03348f0d6d014ac84a7c48582e9fcb91&tab=core&_cview=0
