Letter to the Canadian Space Exploration Community: NASA 2007 Scout Mission

Dear Colleagues,

As complements to the NASA Mars Exploration Program, Scout missions offer the unique chance to propose creative and innovative scientific missions to Mars. The first Scout mission is expected to be launched in 2007 with a planned NASA funding cap of $325M [U.S. F.Y.03]. Under the NASA rules, international participation on the bidding teams is allowed, up to a maximum contribution of an additional 1/3 the total mission cap. Within this envelope, teams are given a minimum of constraints in order to maximize the ingenuity of the proposals. Science goals addressed by Scout missions are those defined in the Mars Exploration Payload Analysis Group (MEPAG) document (http://spacescience.nasa.gov/an/marsscoutsworkshop/mepag.pdf), as well as any rapid response to recent scientific discovery. Any viable platform may be proposed, including, but not limited to, orbiters, landers, rovers, balloons, gliders and airplanes. For more information on the 2007 Scout Mission, including all documents related to the AO, please refer to the following link: http://research.hq.nasa.gov/code_s/nra/current/AO-02-OSS-02/index.html

Guidelines for CSA Support

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) encourages Canadian organizations to become members of proposal teams for this NASA Scout AO. CSA foresees the planned 2007 Scout mission as an opportunity for Canadian organizations to become involved with international partners on an exciting and highly visible mission.

If Canadians are members of proposing teams at the time of submission of the proposal, and if proposals that include Canadians are selected by NASA for funding through the Phase A process, it is CSA’s intention to support Canadians that are part of these selected proposals for these Phase A studies, providing they meet CSA requirements as described in this letter.

In order to be eligible for this support, Canadians will need to follow the published CSA Space Science AO policy, specifically the section “Responses to Foreign AOs”, as published on the CSA website (http://www.space.gc.ca/science/space_science/announce_opp/policy/default.asp).

Additional important points:

1. Canadian participation must be science-driven. A direct benefit to the Canadian scientific community must be demonstrated in order to obtain CSA support. We require both industrial and scientific participation in each proposal involving Canadians.

2. The return to Canada (both scientific and technical) must be commensurate with the investment being proposed for Canada to contribute to the final mission.

3. A Notice of Intent to Propose (NOI) must be submitted to CSA (following the same NOI deadline set by NASA). If a Notice of Intent to propose is being submitted to NASA, a copy of this NOI is sufficient.

4. The Notice of Intent to Propose must be accompanied by (or under separate cover) a document listing each Canadian organization participating in the proposal, a contact name and contact info for each organization, their signature, and a maximum one-page summary of the proposed roles and responsibilities for each Canadian organization. A rough order of magnitude estimate of the proposed Canadian contribution must be made and stated in this additional document to CSA.

5. CSA must receive a copy of the proposal submitted to NASA (following the same deadline set by NASA).

6. With the copy of the proposal (or under separate cover), CSA must receive an additional appendix containing:

· A clear description of the Canadian contributions to the work to be carried out during the Phase A studies.

· An estimate of the potential Canadian contribution to the mission if it is selected for flight (costs in August 2002 Canadian dollars).

· A statement of scientific and industrial benefits to Canada and to Canadians.

· A description of the Canadian science team and a description of the Canadian industrial team, with signatures from each participating Canadian organization.

· A letter of endorsement from the Principal Investigator of the Scout proposal supporting the Canadian involvement in the mission.

7. Letters of endorsement will be generated by CSA at the request of a representative of the Canadian team participating in each proposal if all of the above requirements (1-6) have been met.

8. CSA intends to award contracts to Canadians of up to CDN$150k (including overhead) per NASA-selected proposal for the Phase A studies if all of the above requirements have been met.

Once the Phase A studies are complete, if the selected mission for flight contains a Canadian component, CSA will consider funding that contribution.

Please complete a Space Exploration Database form for each Canadian principal participant. Forms may be accessed at www.space.gc.ca/se-form. Completion of this form is a requirement of any submission to Space Exploration effective February 2002. This can be done electronically through the website.

The CSA point of contact is:

Dr. Alain Berinstain
Mars Program Lead, Space Science Program, Canadian Space Agency
Tel: 450 926 6573, Fax: 450 926 4766
Email: alain.berinstain@space.gc.ca

All submissions must be addressed to:

Dr. David Kendall
Space Science Program
Canadian Space Agency
Postal Address:
P.O. Box 7275
Vanier Postal Station
Ottawa, Ontario K1L 8E3

Courier address:
100 Sussex Drive
Room 1029
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6
Fax: (613) 952-0970 or (613) 941-4294

Electronic submissions: MS Word, WordPerfect, RTF, PDF or ASCII documents are acceptable, either as mail attachments or via ftp. For email submissions or for questions relating to electronic submission, please use: exploration@space.gc.ca. Please allow three business days for response to these emails.

Electronic submissions are preferred, with signature pages sent by post or courier within a week of receipt of electronic submission.

Distribution of this letter

This letter is being released to the Space Exploration community only in electronic form. It would thus be appreciated if it could be widely distributed by all recipients to colleagues and other potentially interested parties. A copy of this AO will also be available on the CSA web site.

Intellectual Property

Proposals will be considered commercially sensitive if requested so by the proposers. Proposals must clearly identify any proprietary information that should not be released other than to internal and external reviewers. Any background intellectual property must be declared at the time of the proposal, but this will not be taken into account in the evaluation process.

Resultant Contract

Due to the Research and Development nature of the proposed work, any resultant contract which may result from this competition will be subject to the most recent General Conditions Research and Development DSS 9624, as well as the Federal Contractors Program for Employment Equity, a copy of which can be found electronically at http://www.pwgsc.gc.ca/sacc. Submission of a proposal acknowledges the Bidder’s agreement with the application of the DSS 9624 General Conditions to the contract work. Any resultant contract will be negotiated and issued through Public Works and Government Services Canada(PWGSC).

Any contract resulting from this competition will contain a clause pertaining to communications/public affairs defining contractor responsibilities and authorities. The CSA retains the right to make primary contract announcements. Any subsequent contract-related announcements will be undertaken in cooperation with and subject to the approval of the CSA.