NASA Community Announcement of Extreme Precision Doppler Spectrometer Call for Proposals

Synopsis – Dec 15, 2014

General Information

    Solicitation Number: NNH14ZDA015J

    Posted Date: Dec 15, 2014

    FedBizOpps Posted Date: Dec 15, 2014

    Recovery and Reinvestment Act Action: No

    Original Response Date: N/A

    Current Response Date: N/A

    Classification Code: A — Research and Development

    NAICS Code: 541712

Contracting Office Address

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Headquarters Acquisition Branch, Code 210.H, Greenbelt, MD 20771

Description

Summary of Announcement: This notice is to announce the upcoming release by NASA of an amendment to the ROSES-2014 NASA Research Announcement (NRA) soliciting proposals for development of an Extreme Precision Doppler Spectrometer for the Wisconsin, Indiana, Yale and NOAO (WIYN) 3.5-m telescope at Kitt Peak.

Background and Details: In its report, “New Worlds, New Horizons,” the Astro2010 Decadal Survey challenged NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to “support an aggressive program of ground-based high-precision radial velocity surveys of nearby stars in order to validate and characterize exoplanet candidates.” In response to that challenge, the two agencies recently announced the establishment of a new partnership for exoplanet research. This NASA-NSF Exoplanet Observational Research (NN-EXPLORE) partnership will take advantage of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) share of the 3.5-m WIYN telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory to provide the community with telescope access and tools to conduct ground based observations that advance exoplanet science. The NN-EXPLORE partnership will particularly emphasize research to validate space-based transit observations (e.g. K2, The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) or to inform the exoplanet observations of future NASA missions (e.g. James Webb Space Telescope and Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope/Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets.

In accordance with Astro2010, the cornerstone of the NN-EXPLORE partnership will be a new, NASA-funded Extreme Precision Doppler Spectrometer (EPDS) installed as a facility instrument on the WIYN telescope. NASA will require that the EPDS be capable of delivering a radial velocity precision of less than 50 cm/s, with a goal of ~10 cm/s. The goal is for the EPDS to be available for use in facility mode as early as FY 2018. To this end, NASA has identified a funding profile totaling $7M over the period FY 2015 – FY 2018, although the final budget and funding profile will be determined after review of the proposed instruments.

This community announcement is issued to provide the scientific community with advance notice that NASA plans to release a solicitation in the near future for the purposes of procuring the above EPDS. The solicitation w\r\rill be released as an amendment to the ROSES-2014 NRA, and is expected to be issued in early January 2015. The due date for proposals will be not less than 90 days after the release of the solicitation.

Point of Contact

Name:Dr Douglas Hudgins

    Title:Program Scientist NASA Exoplanet Exploration Prog

    Phone:202-358-0988

    Fax:202-358-3062

    Email:Douglas.M.Hudgins@nasa.gov