SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - NEW SCIENCE INVESTIGATIONS USING THE EXISTING NASADEEP IMPACT SPACECRAFT
- Notice Date
- 10/5/2010
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Headquarters Acquisition Branch, Code210.H, Greenbelt, MD 20771
- ZIP Code
- 20771
- Solicitation Number
- NNH11ZDA003L
- Response Due
- 11/5/2010
- Archive Date
- 10/5/2011
- Point of Contact
- Mr. William Knopf, Planetary System Program Executive, Phone 202-358-0742, Fax 202-358-3097, Email wknopf@hq.nasa.gov
- E-Mail Address
-
Mr. William Knopf
(wknopf@hq.nasa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- NASAs Science Mission Directorate (SMD) currently sponsors a number of flightmissions, divided between missions in development and missions in operations. One ofSMDs programmatic objectives is to maximize the science return for the Nation within theavailable budget. This Request for Information (RFI) solicits input from the broad spacescience community that would contribute to NASAs study of possible new uses for the NASADeep Impact/EPOXI spacecraft beyond its current mission. Responses to this RFI will beused to inform NASAs program planning.Background:NASA has science missions under development and in operation that send spacecraftthroughout the Solar System, including low and high Earth orbits, station keeping nearSun-Earth Lagrangian points, orbits around every planet from Mercury to Saturn as well asthe Moon and asteroids, drift away Solar orbits, and trajectories out of the Solar Systemand into interstellar space. Each of these missions has science objectives that will berealized through a prime mission and possible mission extensions when the prime missionhas been completed. NASAs science missions are managed by the Science MissionDirectorate (SMD); information on these missions may be found athttp://science.hq.nasa.gov/missions/. It is a programmatic objective of SMD to get more science return from the availablebudget. One way of increasing the science return from NASAs science missions is tocontinue operating the spacecraft after the prime mission has been completed. NASA has abiennial review process, called the Senior Review, to consider and approve the operationof spacecraft and extend the prime science mission.An alternative to extending the prime science mission is to initiate a new scienceinvestigation with an existing spacecraft after the prime science mission has beencompleted. There have been several examples of this in the past, including the 1982approval to use the ISEE-3 spacecraft (renamed ICE) for an encounter with CometGiacobini-Zinner, the 2007 approval to use the Stardust spacecraft for the NewExploration of Temple 1 (NExT) investigation as a follow-on to Deep Impact, and the 2007approval to use the Deep Impact spacecraft (renamed EPOXI) for a study of extrasolarplanets during its cruise to encounter Comet Hartley 2. These new science investigationsrealize unique, high impact investigations that otherwise would cost substantially moreto execute, and they provide high science value for the funds expended.In February 2011, the Deep Impact (EPOXI) spacecraft will complete the Phase E primaryoperations phase of its mission. Details of the spacecraft design and performancecapabilities may be found on the Discovery Programs Science Support Office (SSO) ProgramAcquisition Website at http://discovery.larc.nasa.gov/deep_impact_package.html.Links 1 6 on that webpage describe the instruments and remain valid.Links 7 and 8,which describe orbital parameters and fuel budget, are superseded as follows:The orbit of the Deep Impact spacecraft following the Hartley 2 encounter on November 4,2010, has the following characteristics. The elements are in a heliocentric, Earth MeanOrbital reference frame. Deep Impact Spacecraft Orbital ParametersReference Epoch = December 1, 2010 00:00:00 ET Semimajor axis = 164114602.828260630 km Eccentricity = 0.111215495 Inclination = 3.201462042 deg Longitude of Ascending node = 95.119656916 deg Argument of periapse = 126.186162151 deg Time of periapse passage = -9126823.136892710 sec Mean anomaly = 90.610709095 deg True anomaly = 103.232671772 deg These values are based on the Design Reference Mission (DRM) 230 reference trajectory.Note that there are several maneuvers that will be implemented subsequent to when DRM230was created, and the size of these maneuvers will not be known until the comet ephemerisis improved through the use of approach data. Thus the above values are subject tochange, but the overall characteristics of the orbit are representative and can be usedfor most purposes not requiring extremely high accuracy.Deep Impact Spacecraft Fuel Budget (as of 7/27/10)Event = Fuel UsedFuel use through 7/27/10 (TCM-19) = 78.48 kgFuel use 7/27/10 through Encounter {1}= 1.22 kgUnusable Fuel = 1.15 kgRemaining Fuel (usable)= 4.15 kg {2}Delta V Remaining OR = 17.3 m/s {3}Attitude Control Duration Remaining = 11 19 years {4}Notes:{1} Fuel use 7/27/10 through Encounter includes: 3 TCMs totaling a Delta V Mean of 4.41 m/s (1.04 kg) Reaction wheel desats for attitude control through 12/27 (0.13 kg) Safe Mode (0.05 kg) {2} Uncertainty on amount of usable fuel remaining is -0/+5.8 kg {3} Delta V Remaining calculation uses Isp = 220.6 s this Isp is for small burns, ifburns > 2m/s are used, an Isp of 227.7 can be used, which will yield 17.8 m/s {4} Attitude control duration remaining based on flight actuals: 11 years is for worst case Science Attitude 19 years if for Cruise Attitude In this RFI, NASA is soliciting ideas and suggestions from the science and researchcommunities on potential new uses of the Deep Impact science spacecraft that supportNASAs science goals. A new science investigation using this spacecraft should addressone or more of NASAs science objectives in any of SMDs research disciplines(Astrophysics, Earth Science, Heliophysics, and Planetary Science). NASAs scienceobjectives are described in The Science Plan for NASAs Science Mission Directorate(2007-2016), available at http://science.hq.nasa.gov/strategy/. Note that the reuse of the Deep Impact spacecraft is not limited to a new mission in thePlanetary Science discipline, such as retargeting a planetary science mission to a newdestination, but that this request specifically includes the use of the Deep Impactspacecraft for a new science investigation in a different research discipline. This couldinclude, but is not limited to, the use of this planetary science spacecraft forheliophysics measurements or astrophysics observations.It is not the intent of this RFI to solicit observation requests, i.e. relatively modestchanges such as a single observation using the Deep Impact spacecraft for a short periodof time, but instead to solicit major and entirely new applications for existingspacecraft. With input from responses to this RFI, NASA intends to consider (i) whether there arescience opportunities for new uses of this spacecraft and (ii) whether a solicitation forproposals is warranted to enable such opportunities.If so requested in your response, all information received from this RFI will beconsidered confidential and proprietary; however NASA will use your response to aid inprogrammatic decisions about the future use of existing spacecraft and in the formulationof a potential solicitation for proposals.It is not NASAs intent to publicly disclose proprietary information obtained during thisRFI. To the full extent that it is protected pursuant to the Freedom of Information Actand other laws and regulations, information identified by a respondent as Proprietary orConfidential will be kept confidential. It is emphasized that this RFI is for planningand information purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment by theGovernment to enter into a contractual agreement, nor will the Government pay forinformation solicited. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If asolicitation is released, it will be synopsized in FedBizOps and on the NASA AcquisitionInternet Service.Requested Information:The response to this RFI will be in the form of a PDF document that is uploaded throughNASAs NSPIRES system (see instructions below). The response should not exceed four pagesin length.The response should contain the following information:Name of submitter and contact information (institutional affiliation, emailaddress);SMD research discipline with which the suggested new science investigation isbest aligned (Astrophysics, Earth Science, Heliophysics, or Planetary Science);Description of the potential new science investigation, what changes need to bemade to enable the new science investigation, and any other information that thesubmitter considers useful to NASA in assessing the response for program planningpurposes. This information might include, but is not limited to, the following:oScience objectives of the new science investigation and their relation to NASAscience objectives and to recommendations of National Research Council (NRC) studiesincluding Decadal Surveys;oDescription of the mission operations that would be required to enable the newscience investigation, and how those mission operations differ from the spacecraftsmission operations during its prime phase;oChanges in mission operations required to enable the new science investigationsuch as new operating modes, trajectory changes, software uploads, additional groundsystems, etc. (note that no changes to flight hardware will be considered, even forspacecraft that have not yet launched);oAppropriate timeline for deciding to approve the new science investigationincluding the latest date that a decision can be made and how that timeline aligns withthe current approved schedule for the spacecraft; oAny preliminary studies that should be undertaken in advance of a decision toproceed in order to determine the feasibility, sensitivity, cost, or othercharacteristics of the new science investigation; andoEstimated resources required including cost of preparing for the new scienceinvestigation, cost of operating the spacecraft during the new science investigation, andcost of conducting the new science investigation (including the science team, dataanalysis, all necessary calibration and validation, and the delivery of data to anappropriate NASA data archive).Instructions:All responses submitted in response to this RFI must be submitted in electronic form viaNSPIRES, the NASA online announcement data management system, located athttp://nspires.nasaprs.com/. For this RFI, a response submission will take theform of a Notice of Intent (NOI) within the NSPIRES online announcement data managementsystem. The RFI response itself will be a PDF-formatted document that is attached(uploaded) to the NSPIRES system.You must be registered with NSPIRES to submit a RFI response. See registrationinstructions at http://nspires.nasaprs.com (select Getting an account).Neither institution registration nor an institution affiliation is required to respond tothis RFI.1.Log in to your account at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/.2.Select Proposals from your account page.3.Select Create NOI from your proposals page.4.Click Continue on the next page.5.Select Request for Information: NNH11ZDA003L (New Science Investigations usingthe Existing NASA Deep Impact Spacecraft) from the bullet list of announcements. ClickContinue.6.Enter RFI response title (NOI title field will be shown).7.Select do not link at this time for submitting organization page.8.Click Save on next page.9.It is not necessary to complete any of the NOI Details; all requestedinformation must be included in the attached PDF document. Information which is enteredinto NOI Details but not included in the attached PDF document will not be considered.10.Prepare your RFI response offline and save as a PDF document (note NSPIRESinstructions on.pdf formats). The response document must include the respondents Name,institution, phone number, and E-mail address so the file is self-contained. File namesformat should be Respondent Last Name - First Name - RFI. The response should notexceed four pages in length.11.To attach (upload) your PDF document:a.Click add under NOI attachments section;b.Select Proposal Document from the drop down list;c.Browse to attach your PDF file;d.Select Upload;e.Click OK;f.Your RFI document has been uploaded to NSPIRES.12.Click Submit NOI button. NOTE that this does not complete the submissionprocess.13.Ignore any warnings about incomplete NOI elements. Ensure that your NOI documentis attached and click Continue.14.Click Submit. This will take you to the NOI submission confirmation page, whichprovides you with the NOI/RFI number for your records.Please note: You may delete and replace form fields and uploaded documents anytime beforethe submission deadline. Submitted NOIs cannot be deleted.For further information on this RFI, please contact Mr. William Knopf, Science MissionDirectorate, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street SW, Washington,DC 20546; email at wknopf@hq.nasa.gov.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/NASA/HQ/OPHQDC/NNH11ZDA003L/listing.html)
- Record
- SN02306388-W 20101007/101005234605-3434fc1314dd174fa1a73bed86fba6c2 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |