NASA: Responses Due Sept 30 to Express Partnering Interest for GDC Scientific Instruments RFI
Solicitation Number: NNH20ZDA013L
Release Date: September 10, 2020
Response Date: September 30, 2020 11:59 pm Eastern Time
NASA’s Science Mission Directorate seeks commercial and non-commercial organizations that may be interested in partnering with scientific instrument providers for the fabrication, assembly, and testing of scientific instruments for a potential Geospace Dynamics Constellation mission. NASA particularly encourages interested organizations that have expertise with the production of spaceflight instruments but that do not regularly engage with the heliophysics community to respond to the Request for Information: Partnering for Production of Spaceflight Scientific Instruments for Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC).
The GDC mission concept has a science focus on the coupled ionosphere-thermosphere system and is envisioned as a spacecraft constellation (6-12 observatories) orbiting Earth at an altitude of 350-400 km with orbital inclinations of >80 degrees. GDC’s science objectives and launch readiness date would require the production of flight units on a forward-leaning schedule and significant calibration efforts on the ground and in flight.
For science missions like GDC, NASA conducts an open competition for science investigations that include the delivery of flight hardware for accommodation on the spacecraft. NASA expects that the science community will be interested in proposing a combination of in situ instruments (e.g., neutral particle instrument, charged particle instrument, magnetometer) and remote sensing instruments (e.g., RF receivers, optical sensors, active sounders).
The full text of the RFI and response instructions visit: https://nspires.nasaprs.com/
RFI responses must be submitted through the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES). Information submitted via this RFI will be made public on the Science Office for Mission Assessment website (SOMA, at NASA Langley Research Center) for optional use by the science community planning for a potential GDC mission. The SOMA website may be found at https://soma.larc.nasa.gov/
Address questions and comments to:
Jared Leisner, Program Scientist, Heliophysics Division, Science Mission Directorate, email: jared.s.leisner@nasa.gov (subject line to read “SMD RFI NNH20ZDA013L Question”).
