SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- SCIENTIFIC SERVICES AND RELATED SUPPORT FOR AIRBORNE TOPOGRAPHIC MAPPER (ATM) EXPERIMENTS
- Notice Date
- 7/23/2003
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Wallops Flight Facility, Code 210.W, Wallops Island, VA 23337
- ZIP Code
- 23337
- Solicitation Number
- RFO5-14861-GBC
- Archive Date
- 7/23/2004
- Point of Contact
- Andrew S Dennis, Contract Specialist, Phone (757) 824-1066, Fax (757) 824-1974, Email Andrew.S.Dennis@nasa.gov - James R. Dolan, Contracting Officer, Phone (757) 824-2587, Fax (757) 824-1974, Email James.R.Dolan@.nasa.gov
- E-Mail Address
-
Email your questions to Andrew S Dennis
(Andrew.S.Dennis@nasa.gov)
- Description
- NASA/GSFC plans to issue a Request for Offer (RFO) for support services involving research, development, verification, and transfer of advanced airborne remote sensing and other space and earth related technologies in support of various program areas including Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM), Global Carbon Cycle Studies, and Ocean Surface Metric Measurements Measurements. It should be noted that all field equipment necessary to support the programs, including aircraft, will be provided by the Government. Please see the following detailed requirements: Airborne Topographic Mapper: The ATM, and its preceding flying laser laboratory version, the Airborne Oceanographic Lidar (AOL), have been utilized as research tools to demonstrate the feasibility of performing various tasks in the areas of airborne lidar applications for remote sensing of terrain information to government agencies needing the technology. The ATM project will require mission planning, instrument development, calibration, mission operation, and data processing and analysis to provide ice and terrain mapping data in support of programs such as the following: measurements of glacier and ice sheet topography in remote areas of the Arctic and Antarctic, including Greenland, the Canadian archipelago, Svalbard, and Alaska and other areas as the need develops; airborne coastal mapping including surveying of large tracks of beaches extending around most of CONUS and additional coastal surveys in other areas of the world that may become of interest as a result of changing focus in earth science programs; measurement of sea ice topography and freeboard including the development of methods to associate the topographic and freeboard measurements with associated sea ice thickness and subsurface morphology; mapping of other areas of geologic interest in support of earth science investigations such as volcanic features of Iceland or other sites including regions of subsidence that may result from programmatic collaboration with investigators from various institutions; high density lidar measurement of oceanic wave fields including methods to mitigate problems associated with mixed returns from the ocean surface and volume; highly precise surveys of segments of ice or land, potentially hundreds of kilometers long, for use in calibration and validation of satellite instrumentation such as the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS). The measurement of the glaciers, ice sheets, and coastal areas will all involve the capability to repeat flight lines over the targets to establish net changes in surface morphology and height related to regional climate change (ice) and coastal processes (coastline). Satellite data, such as from GLAS, is planned to be used to study elevation change of ice sheets by comparing both with ATM data and satellite data from earlier years. The proper use of GLAS data will require analyses to determine instrument pointing errors, timing errors, range bias, and any other data anomalies. Such analysis will be required throughout the satellite lifetime, but particularly after switches in satellite laser, and can involve data taken over ice and other terrain. Analytical requirements including relating the ice sheet measurements to patterns of change in the ice sheet including rates of change and discharge in outlet glaciers, the general stability and mass balance of ice sheets and glaciers, and forecasting future rates of change in these parameters. ATM missions utilize DoD's Satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) to derive precise aircraft trajectories essential for determination of individual laser spot elevations, and Glonass data may be added for some future missions. The ice surface measurements in particular involve large separation distances between the location of the staging airport and the survey sites, sometimes in excess of 2,500 km. ATM support requires the development of software for producing trajectories for such missions and determining the number and location (including actual position estimation) of ground tracking stations required to achieve the required accuracy. Currently, vertical accuracy required for Greenland surveys is 7 cm, including both GPS positioning and laser pointing and measurement errors. The ATM program has generally utilized aircraft inertial navigation systems (INS) of various types in the computation of laser pointing, but the orientation of the laser system relative to the INS varies from one aircraft installation to another and must be determined. ATM support includes the development of efficient techniques to determine orientation parameters. In addition, the full capabilities of a recently installed integrated GPS/INS attitude system need to be determined and exploited. Global Carbon Cycle Measurements Program: Support for the Global Carbon Cycle Studies Program is categorized into 5 areas as follows: Airborne Oceanographic Lidar Operations; Water Leaving Radiance Modeling; Application of Water Leaving Radiance Modeling to Ocean Color Satellite Imagery; the Development of Airborne Pump-and-Probe (PP) or Analogous Fast Repetition-Rate (FRR) Methods; and the Laser Laboratory and Calibration laboratory Development and Maintenance. The Airborne Oceanographic Lidar (AOL) is utilized as a tool for validation of MODIS chlorophyll biomass, CDOM/Gelbstoff (chromophoric dissolved organic matter), and chlorophyll fluorescence line height products in conjunction with planned underflights of the satellite with and without the coordination with research vessels. In most cases the airborne laser-induced measurements cannot be directly compared to the MODIS products but must be converted into comparable units for successful satellite product validation. The AOL is maintained by the contractor as a research tool with frequent upgrades to state-of-the-art technology. The calibration of the AOL is an important factor in the MODIS product validation process. The AOL is generally flown along with a pair of passive hyperspectral radiometers, the Airborne Diode Array Spectrometer (ADAS) and Cosine Diode Array Spectrometer (CDAS) that respectively view the ocean and sky. The radiance and irradiance measurements acquired with these sensors is used to develop new ocean color algorithms, validate MODIS reflectance measurements, and to trouble shoot deviations between the MODIS products and concurrent product validation measurements made with the AOL. Instrument calibration procedures and techniques are a key factor in the success of the airborne sensor in these applications along with the preparation of the airborne spectra for comparison with the satellite reflectance spectra. The calibrated at-aircraft ocean color radiance spectra paired with chlorophyll concentration, phycoerythrin fluorescence and CDOM absorption derived from the analytic activities are the data set for developing, testing, and improving algorithms for retrieving inherent optical properties (IOP?s) constituents from the ocean color radiance spectra. The application of Water Leaving Radiance Modeling to Ocean Color Satellite Imagery;activities include the application of ocean radiance models developed and refined utilizing the airborne ocean color spectra to satellite ocean color imagery to produce wide-area scenes of phytoplankton pigment and CDOM absorption. Such scenes are routinely expected to be prepared for the Middle Atlantic Bight (MAB) using higher density Local Area Coverage (LAC) imagery. Extension of similar scenes to other areas or perhaps globally using lower density Global Area Coverage (GAC) imagery is part of this activity. This activity includes the development of animated GAC and LAC imagery over periods of time from weeks, months, and even years to provide insight into seasonal and longer term changes in the surface layer IOP?s on regional and global oceanic scales. The measurement of primary productivity has become an important component of NASA?s Earth Science Enterprise. According methods to remotely measure related parameters from an airborne platform are an important facet of the research required in the solicitation. Specifically, the application of advanced Pump and Probe and Fast Pulse Repetition Rate methods that have been demonstrated on lab and shipboard environments to an airborne platform is sought. Numerous obstacles to the laboratory Pump and Probe and Fast Pulse Repetition Rate methods are inherent in implementation of these methods into an airborne platform. Careful consideration to the solution of these obstacles is a key element to the potential success of this endeavor. Laser laboratory development activities include the development of advanced techniques for measuring ions in sea water to determine the inorganic carbon content excluding dissolved CO2. The development of methodology to extend this capability to aircraft platforms is a component of this program. Remote sensing measurement of phytoplankton taxonomy has been emphasized by NASA?s Earth Science Enterprise. Techniques for remotely measuring phytoplankton taxonomy using airborne laser spectroscopy are an important component of ongoing research within the Ocean Carbon Cycle Measurements program. Ocean Surface Metric Measurements Program: This program includes the development of radar and laser capabilities for mapping ocean surface features, and includes the acquisition of precise radar and laser ranging data of both ocean surface topography as well as power spectral information derived from the ranging data. NASA also requires the quantification of radar capabilities to perform terrain mapping as well as determining the biases associated with making ocean topographic measurements with satellite radar altimeters and assistance in expanding the ATM in conjunction with the WFF Multimode Airborne Radar Altimeter (MARA) in both the Scanning Radar Altimeter (SRA) mode, which has superseded the Surface Contour Radar (SCR), and Multibeam Altimeter (MA) mode for satellite missions such as TOPEX/POSEIDON and JASON. The Government does not intend to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12. See Note 26. The NAICS Code and Size Standard are 541710 and 500 employees, respectively. All responsible sources may submit an offer which shall be considered by the agency. The anticipated release date of the RFO is on or before August 29, 2003 with an anticipated offer due date of on or before September 29, 2003. An ombudsman has been appointed -- See NASA Specific Note "B". The solicitation and any documents related to this procurement will be available over the Internet. These documents will be in Microsoft Office 97 format and will reside on a World Wide Web (WWW) server, which may be accessed using a WWW browser application. The Internet site, or URL, for the NASA/GSFC Business Opportunities home page is http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eps/bizops.cgi?gr=C&pin=51 Prospective offerors shall notify this office of their intent to submit an offer. It is the offeror's responsibility to monitor the Internet site for the release of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Potential offerors will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Any referenced notes may be viewed at the following URLs linked below. All contractual technical questions must be submitted in writing (e-mail or fax). Telephone questions will not be accepted.
- Web Link
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- Record
- SN00380123-W 20030725/030723215511 (fbodaily.com)
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