SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- TEAMING OPPORTUNITY FOR MARS AERIAL PLATFORM SCOUT MISSION
- Notice Date
- 1/18/2006
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541710
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Langley Research Center, Mail Stop 144, Industry Assistance Office, Hampton, VA 23681-0001
- ZIP Code
- 23681-0001
- Solicitation Number
- SS-NNL06MARSAerial
- Response Due
- 2/13/2006
- Archive Date
- 1/18/2007
- Description
- Teaming Opportunity for a Mars Aerial Platform Scout Mission (Mars) - NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) is seeking partners from other government agencies, industry, academia, non-profit organizations, and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC) to participate in developing a proposal addressing the goals and objectives for a NASA Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for the Mars Scout 2006 and Mission of Opportunity. Mars Scout missions are envisioned to be focused investigations of Martian biological, chemical and physical phenomena and processes. The Mars Scout mission opportunity was established to provide for innovative, rapid-response investigations. Mars Scout investigations are led by a Principal Investigator supported by Co-Investigators and an implementation team. These teams will pursue missions of high scientific value by utilizing observation platforms of their choice and design. The observation platform selected for use by the LaRC team is an aerial platform. The Mars Scout AO is expected to be released in April 2006 with the step-1 proposal due 90 days later. Multiple complete mission proposals will be selected to proceed to step-2 (Phase A), with a single mission selected for implementation. A launch date in 2011 is planned. LaRC is seeking partners in the following three mission areas for the full mission proposal; (1) design and development of the planetary entry system, (2) design and development of the liquid rocket propulsion subsystem for the aerial platform, and (3) design and development of the telecommunications subsystem for the aerial platform. It is noted that a previous teaming opportunity (SS-NNL05MARS) for Mars Aerial Platform Scout Mission was issued March 29, 2005, seeking partners in other mission areas (1) design and development of the science instrumentation, and (2) education and public outreach. That opportunity has closed. Key attributes of the baseline concept for each area are noted below. These attributes are provided as a guide to the Offerors, however, the final system design submitted for the Mars Scout proposal will be developed in partnership between the selected Offeror(s) and LaRC. All responses above should have demonstrated space heritage. While each of the systems (planetary entry system, propulsion subsystem, and telecommunications subsystem) are comprised of multiple elements, it is the intention of the Government to solicit an industry partner to serve as the provider and integrator of each of the (sub)systems in lieu of specific component providers. Key attributes of the baseline planetary entry system consist of using a 2.65 meter external diameter aeroshell with a biconic backshell. A supersonic parachute is used for additional deceleration of the aeroshell. The aerial platform is extracted from the backshell during the descent phase and subsequently released. Key attributes of the liquid rocket propulsion subsystem for the aerial platform include using a bi-propellant consisting of monomethyl hydrazine (MMH) and nitrogen tetroxide (MON-3). The baseline total thrust range necessary is between 50 Newtons to 95 Newtons. Key attributes of the telecommunications subsystem for the aerial platform is the use of the UHF band. The baseline system features include the ability to transmit at different data rates with a maximum radiated power of 40 watts and receive at a maximum rate of 8 kilo-bits per second. Teaming offers will be reviewed, evaluated, and selected at NASA LaRC. If selected through this synopsis, each partner is expected to become a full member of the technical assessment, proposal development, and mission implementation team. LaRC will require each selected partner to provide a letter of commitment. LaRC anticipates issuing contracts or other agreements to the providers of the planetary entry system, the propulsion subsystem, and the telecommunications subsystem, provided the mission concept is selected for implementation. Interested parties may propose as a partner for any, all, or any combination of the areas sought. Partner selections will be made by LaRC based on the listed criteria in the following order of importance: (1) Relevant Experience and Past Performance: This criterion evaluates the offeror?s relevant technical experience and past performance in similar development activities. Provide a description of relevant technical experience including a summary of significant achievements and technical performance. Offeror shall specifically discuss the relevance of their experience in reference to the design and development of planetary entry systems, liquid rocket systems, and/or UHF telecommunications systems. (2) Cost and schedule control: This criterion evaluates the offeror?s ability to control both cost and schedule. The offeror should provide evidence of successfully controlling cost and schedule for similar development programs and provide evidence of management processes in this area. (3) Technical Capability, Key Personnel and Facilities: This criterion evaluates the offeror?s technical capability to perform the development proposed, the availability and adequacy of key personnel, and the availability and adequacy of facilities. The offeror shall describe the technical capability, facilities and key personnel available to support the proposal and mission development. NASA will not reimburse organizations for the cost of submitting information in response to this synopsis. NASA will not pay for technical assessment or proposal preparation costs incurred by team members. It is expected that the teaming organizations will participate actively in the proposal process and that selection of the proposal for mission implementation would result in contract(s) for the selected partners. This synopsis teaming opportunity does not represent a guarantee to selection of award of any contracts, nor is it to be construed as a commitment by NASA to pay for the information solicited. It is expected that partner(s) selected would provide (at no cost to NASA), conceptual designs, technical data, proposal inputs, schedule and cost estimates consistent with the NASA Scout guidelines as described in the AO. Responses to this partnering synopsis shall be limited to 5 pages for each mission area of interest (i. e., Offerors responding to one or more of the three elements may submit up to 5 pages per element). Responses shall address each of the aforementioned evaluation criteria. A cover page that clearly identifies the area of interest addressed by the response does not count towards the total allocated page count. All responses shall be submitted to LaRC electronically via e-mail by 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on 13 February, 2006 to: e-mail: h.s.wright@larc.nasa.gov; Name: Henry Wright Technical and Programmatic questions should be directed to: Henry Wright at (757)864-6928 or e-mail: h.s.wright@larc.nasa.gov Procurement questions should be directed to: Nancy Sessoms at (757) 864-2471 or e-mail: Nancy.M.Sessoms@nasa.gov
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