SPECIAL NOTICE
A -- Slow Rotating Rooms for Use in Ground-Based Studies on Artificial Gravity - Request for Information
- Notice Date
- 9/8/2016
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Mail Code: BH, Houston, Texas, 77058-3696, United States
- ZIP Code
- 77058-3696
- Solicitation Number
- NNJ16ZSA002L
- Point of Contact
- Vance Benton, Phone: 2817927978, Anna Carter,
- E-Mail Address
-
vance.benton@nasa.gov, anna.carter-1@nasa.gov
(vance.benton@nasa.gov, anna.carter-1@nasa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- NASA Request for Information (RFI) on Slow Rotating Rooms for Use in Ground-Based Studies on Artificial Gravity NASA Request for Information (RFI) on Slow Rotating Rooms for Use in Ground-Based Studies on Artificial Gravity 1. Request Summary This is a Request for Information (RFI) only and does not constitute a commitment, implied or otherwise, that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will take procurement action in this matter. The information gathered will be used by NASA to make decisions regarding the use of Slow Rotating Rooms for performing ground-based studies on artificial gravity on humans. 2. Background NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) investigates and mitigates the highest risks to astronaut health and performance in exploration missions. The goal of the HRP is to provide human health and performance countermeasures, knowledge, technologies, and tools to enable safe, reliable, and productive human space exploration, and to ensure safe and productive human spaceflight. The scope of these goals includes both the successful completion of exploration missions and the preservation of astronaut health over the life of the astronaut. The rotation of a Mars-bound spacecraft or an onboard human centrifuge offers significant promise as an effective, efficient multi-system artificial gravity countermeasure for mitigating the physiological deconditioning associated with prolonged microgravity. Identification of the optimal requirements for a spinning transit vehicle or a spinning part of a vehicle to mitigate the effects of microgravity to Mars exploration crewmembers is very important for future crewed missions (Paloski et al. 2014). However, artificial gravity generated by a rotating environment is an untested area in orbit and only limited data are available from prior ground-based studies. Potential side effects of continuous rotation need to be understood so appropriate plans can be developed. These side effects are due to the Coriolis and cross-coupled angular accelerations generated by head and body motion in a rotating environment, which can cause motion sickness, disorientation, and falls. Apathy, fatigue, and impairment in cognitive performance have also been observed in volunteers living in slowly rotating rooms (Guedry et al. 1964; Graybiel et al. 1965). These studies, performed In the late 1960s, recommended that to maintain human performance the rotation rate of a slowly rotating room should be less than 6 revolutions per minute (RPM) and Coriolis acceleration should be kept to less than 25% of the artificial gravity level (Stone et al. 1970). However, very little experimental data were actually collected during these studies, and the limits that were recommended as a result of these studies were mostly based on theoretical models. Recent ground-based data have shown a rapid adaptation to the vestibular conflict generated by Coriolis and cross-coupled angular accelerations (Young 2003, Lackner & DiZio 2003). Therefore, more research aimed at determining both the requirements and constraints of continuous rotation of humans is warranted before making decisions for implementing artificial gravity during a Mars mission. 3. Requested Information NASA is requesting information from the community on facilities that are available for providing continuous slow rotation of humans to support ground-based studies on artificial gravity. These slowly rotating room facilities might include the following features: 1. Minimum room diameter: 18 feet 2. Minimum room height: 7 feet, 6 inches 3. Constant velocity from 0.5-20 RPM (± 0.5%) in increments of 0.5 RPM 4. Acceleration rate from 2-10 deg/s/s 5. Noise level less than 50 dBA 6. Capable of rotating continuously for periods of several days 7. Monitoring of onboard experiments 8. Transmission of science data and operational parameters 9. Potential accommodation of model organisms, and rodent and plant habitats Responses to this RFI will be in the form of a PDF document that is uploaded through the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES, see Instructions below). The response must be limited to 10 single-sided pages, in 12-point font, Times New Roman and one-inch margins. Respondents are asked to provide information about existing facilities which could meet the requirements described above. Each response to the RFI should address the following topics, in this order: a. A description of the existing facility and how this facility would meet all of the desired requirements. b. An estimated cost of operating this facility for carrying out experiments on human subjects with any key details driving the cost. c. An estimated schedule and period for when this facility might be used for the research described above. This RFI is open to responses from all parties including commercial entities, international organizations, academia, NASA Centers, and other government agencies. 4. Additional Information NASA intends to use the results of this RFI for informational purposes only. This RFI does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), and it is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to enter into a contract, nor will the Government pay for the information submitted in response to this request. At NASA's discretion, we may contact respondents to further discuss their RFI input. Responses should include the following information: Company name, address, point of contact, phone number, E-mail, and website (if applicable), description of the type of business, number of years in business, and affiliate information, including parent company and/or joint venture partners if applicable. All proprietary information received in response to this RFI should be marked "proprietary" by the submitter and it will be handled and protected accordingly by NASA. To the extent necessary, NASA may provide proprietary information to its support service contractors who are under an obligation to keep third-party proprietary information in confidence. By submitting a response to this RFI, the responder is deemed to have consented to the use of proprietary information for internal NASA purposes and release of any such proprietary information to such NASA support service contractors. Responses to the RFI will not be returned. All responses submitted in response to this RFI must be submitted in electronic form via NSPIRES, the NASA online announcement data management system, located at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/. For this RFI, a response submission will take the form of a Notice of Intent (NOI) within the NSPIRES online announcement data management system. The RFI response itself will be a PDF-formatted document that is attached (uploaded) to the NSPIRES system. 5. References Guedry FE, Kennedy RS, Harris DS et al. (1964) Human performance during two weeks in a room rotating at three rpm. Aerospace Med 35: 1071-1082 Graybiel A, Kennedy RS, Knoblock EC et al. (1965) The effects of exposure to a rotating environment (10 rpm) on four aviators for a period of 12 days. Aerospace Med 38: 733-754 Lackner JR, DiZio PA (2003) Adaptation to rotating artificial gravity environments. J Vestib Res 13: 321-330 Paloski WH, Charles JB et al. (2014) International Workshop on Research and Operational Considerations for Artificial Gravity Countermeasures. NASA/TM-2014-217394. http://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/TRS/listfiles.cgi?DOC=TM-2014-217394 Stone RW, Piland WM, Letko W (1970) Certain aspects of onboard centrifuges and artificial gravity. In: Graybiel A (ed) Fourth Symposium on the Role of the Vestibular Organs in Space Exploration. NASA: Washington DC, pp 331-346 Young LR (2003) Adaptation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex, subjective tilt, and motion sickness to head movements during short-radius centrifugation. J Vestib Res 13: 65-77 6. Point of Contact Questions concerning this Request for Information should be addressed to: Anna Carter Contracting Officer Projects Procurement Office Anna.Carter-1@nasa.gov or Vance Benton Contract Specialist Projects Procurement Office Vance.Benton@nasa.gov
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