Presolicitation Notice: NASA Research Announcement (NRA): “Living with a star environment testbeds”
General Information
- Document Type: Presolicitation Notice
- Solicitation Number: NRA-02-OSS-04
- Posted Date: Aug 26, 2002
- Original Response Date: Dec 18, 2002
- Current Response Date: Dec 18, 2002
- Original Archive Date: Aug 26, 2003
- Current Archive Date: Aug 26, 2003
- Classification Code: A — Research & Development
Contracting Office Address
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Headquarters Acquisition Branch, Code 210.H, Greenbelt, MD 20771
Description
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Living With a Star (LWS) Space Environment Testbed (SET) Program intends to solicit investigations from U.S. industry, universities, nonprofit organizations, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers, U.S. Government agencies, and non-U.S. organizations for its first project, SET-1.
The investigations will develop products that will reduce the requirements for margins in spacecraft design and operations to account for the uncertainties in the space environment in the presence of a spacecraft (i.e., the induced environment) and its effects. Only induced space environments and their effects that change with solar activity are included in the LWS SET Program. Minimizing the requirements for margins in spacecraft design and operations may increase the payload fraction in a spacecraft, permit the use of a smaller launch vehicle (thereby reducing mission cost), and/or enable routine operations in new segments of the environment (such as at the altitudes between 2000 km to 10,000 km above the Earth’s surface) at costs similar to those for operations below 2000 km. Several SET projects, one starting about every two years, will seek to reduce the requirements for margins. Each project contains several investigations, and each investigation includes collecting data in space and using it to develop investigation products.
Each proposal must contribute resources to its investigation that will complement NASA’s contribution. If the contribution affects only the single investigation contained in the proposal or if the proposer requests NASA funds for the investigation, the proposer is designated as an experiment partner and a proposal to the subject NRA is appropriate. However, if the resource contribution will affect more than a single investigation in the SET-1 Project and if no NASA funds are requested, the proposer should respond to the accompanying Request for Information (RFI) instead of responding to the subject NRA. No exchange of funds will occur with non-U.S. experiment partners.
The subject NRA will solicit proposals in response to requirements for products from investigations in five categories of space environments and effects as follows: (1) Characterization of the space environment in the presence of a spacecraft; (2) Definition of the mechanisms for materials’ degradation and the performance characterization of materials designed for shielding from ionizing radiation; (3) Accommodation and/or mitigation of space environment effects for detectors/sensors; (4) Performance improvement methodology for microelectronics used in space; and, (5) Accommodation and/or mitigation of charging/discharging effects on spacecraft and spacecraft components. NASA will issue contracts for awards to non-Government U.S. organizations and appropriate agreements for other organizations. Successful proposers will participate in a Study Phase and deliver a Study Report at the end of the Study Phase. The Study Reports will be used in a peer review process to reduce the number (i.e., down-select) of investigations that will continue with formulation and implementation. The NRA will be accessible on the Internet through the menu listings, “Research Solicitations” and then “Current (Open) Solicitations” starting from the Office of Space Science home page at http://spacescience.nasa.gov/ on or about September 17, 2002. Obtain additional programmatic information from Dr. Dana A. Brewer, LWS SET Program Executive, Sun-Earth Connection Division, Code SS, Office of Space Science, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC 20546-0001; TEL: (202) 358-1678; E-mail: dbrewer@hq.nasa.gov. This notice constitutes a NASA Research Announcement contemplated in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.102 (d)(2).
Original Point of Contact
Dr. Dana A. Brewer, LWS SET Program Executive, Phone (202) 358-1678, Fax (202) 358-3333, Email dbrewer@hq.nasa.gov
Email your questions to Dr. Dana A. Brewer at dbrewer@hq.nasa.gov
Current Point of Contact
Dr. Dana A. Brewer, LWS SET Program Executive, Phone (202) 358-1678, Fax (202) 358-3333, Email dbrewer@hq.nasa.gov
Email your questions to Dr. Dana A. Brewer at dbrewer@hq.nasa.gov
