SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- SCIENTIST PARTICIPANT SUBORBITAL RESEARCH PROGRAM
- Notice Date
- 9/25/2008
- 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
- NNH08ZDA011L
- Response Due
- 12/5/2008
- Archive Date
- 9/25/2009
- Point of Contact
- Dr. Yvonne Cagle, General Engineer, ARC: VP, Phone 281-244-8628, Fax 000-000-0000, />
- E-Mail Address
-
Yvonne.D.Cagle@nasa.gov<br
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)Scientist Participant Suborbital Research Program All Mission DirectoratesNASA General Information: Solicitation Number: NNH08ZDA011L Release Date: September 23, 2008 Response Date: December 5, 2008 Classification Code: A -- Research and Development The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recognizes the advancement ofthe commercial suborbital spaceflight industry and requests information on potentialflight experiments enabled by this capability. NASA is determining whether this newplatform represents a unique, efficient, cost-effective way of doing business for theagency and is eager to explore all possibilities represented by the various options soonto be available from a variety of commercial providers. NASA is in the formulation phaseof a possible new program to fly government-sponsored payloads and/or researchers oncommercial suborbital systems with the intent of advancing NASAs research goals andobjectives across Directorates, including the Space Operation Mission Directorate and theExploration Systems Mission Directorate. Responses to this RFI will be used to informNASAs program planning. Background: Suborbital missions have provided an important arena for astronomical, terrestrial, andother areas of space research, including technology demonstration, for over 60 years.They offer the opportunity to make astronomical and Earth observations at wavelengths andspecial observing geometries not accessible from the ground; they also offer theopportunity to study microgravity and other phenomena related to the fundamental physicsof the space and Earth sciences. Additionally, suborbital platforms offer cost effectiveaccess to space to test and qualify new instruments and technologies that cut acrossdisciplines. Research activities range, for example, from in-situ sampling of atmosphericregions that neither spacecraft nor aircraft can reach, to making celestial observationsthat are not possible with currently operating spacecraft, to testing science andspacecraft instruments before committing to orbital or interplanetary flight.The emergence of human suborbital flight for commercial purposes now offers a natural andtimely opportunity to open a new research venue to the broader NASA research community.The potential to fly a researcher with the payload could reduce the hardware and autonomyrequirements of many potential payloads. In addition, the potential to fly a smallunaccompanied payload regularly and frequently also opens broad avenues of research inEarth System Sciences and other fields.The Science Mission Directorate at NASA issued a RFI in February 2008 requestinginformation on human tended suborbital science investigations that address NASAs scienceobjectives in astrophysics, Earth science, heliophysics, and planetary science. NASA iscurrently soliciting proposals for funded concept studies of human tended suborbitalscience investigations in those four science disciplines through the ResearchOpportunities in Space and Earth Sciences 2008 (ROSES-08) NASA Research Announcement(NRA) (NNH08ZDA001N-HTSS) (proposals are due December 5 see http://nspires.nasaprs.com/, select Solicitations, select Open Solicitations, select NNH08ZDA001N, selectList of Program Elements, select Concept Studies for Human Tended SuborbitalScience).In this RFI, NASA is soliciting ideas and comments from the science, research, andtechnology communities on potential suborbital investigations with the option of, but notlimited to, a human in the loop that support any of NASAs goals. With input fromresponses to this RFI, NASA intends to (i) consider acquiring commercial suborbital seatsand/or flights for NASA-funded researchers to conduct suborbital investigations and (ii)consider an additional solicitation for proposals for suborbital investigation conceptstudies that address NASAs research needs, especially those in science disciplinesbeyond those included in the current ROSES-08 solicitation. For an overview of NASAsstrategic goals and objectives refer to The 2006 NASA Strategic Plan (2006), available athttp://www.nasa.gov/about/budget.It is NASAs intent to consider a formal solicitation for suborbital spaceflight servicesin 2009, which could lead to a pilot program of suborbital flight operations in2010-2011. If so requested in your response, all information received from this RFI will beconsidered confidential and proprietary, however NASA may use responses to aid thedrafting of an open solicitation for research investigations. 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 threepages in length. The response should contain the following information: Name of submitter and contact information (institutional affiliation, email address); NASA strategic goals and Directorate with which the suborbital investigation is bestaligned (Space Operations Mission Directorate, Exploration Systems Mission Directorate,Science Mission Directorate, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate); Description of the potential investigation and payload/experiment that can be flown onany of the variety of manned suborbital vehicles being developed for commercial personalspaceflight, including any information that might be useful to NASA in considering whatcommercial suborbital services would best serve the research community and whether tosolicit and/or sponsor investigations flown on commercial suborbital vehicles within anyof NASAs programs. This information might include, but not be limited to: a descriptionof the experiment/investigation including research objectives, the development status ofthe investigation and when it might be ready for flight, the investigations heritage,the physical size/mass and power/data/other requirements, any requirements on thesuborbital flight environment, the expected cost of preparing the investigation and crewfor flight and completing post-flight data analysis, the expected number of flightsnecessary to complete the investigation, the extent to which a human in the loop isrequired or beneficial, whether the investigation team intends to fly their own qualifiedteam member or to have NASA supply a flight scientist, and any other information thatmight be helpful to NASA in acquiring commercial suborbital services and planning asuborbital research program. 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 the formof 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). Neitherinstitution registration nor an institution affiliation is required to respond to thisRFI. 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: NNH08ZDA011L (Science Participant Suborbital ResearchProgram) from the bullet list of announcements. Click Continue.6. Enter RFI responsetitle (NOI title field will be shown). Click Continue.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 requested informationshould be included in the attached PDF document. Information which is entered into NOIDetails 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, and e-mail address so the file is self-contained. File names format shouldbe PI Last Name - First Name - RFI. The response should not exceed three pages inlength. 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 Please note: You may delete and replace form fields and uploaded documents anytime beforethe submission deadline of December 5, 2008. For further information on the Science Participant Suborbital Research Program, pleasecontact Dr. Yvonne Cagle, Mail Code VP, NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA94035; phone at 281-244-8628; email at Yvonne.D.Cagle@nasa.gov.
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