SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Input to the Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) Science and Technology Definition Team (STDT) Request for Information (RFI)
- Notice Date
- 10/17/2017
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 54171
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life SciencesT
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Headquarters Acquisition Branch, Code 210.H, Greenbelt, Maryland, 20771, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20771
- Solicitation Number
- NNH18ZDA002L
- Point of Contact
- Jared Leisner,
- E-Mail Address
-
jared.s.leisner@nasa.gov
(jared.s.leisner@nasa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- 1. Summary Consistent with the 2013 Heliophysics Decadal Survey ("the Decadal Survey"), Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society, NASA intends to form a Science and Technology Definition Team (STDT) to conduct a study of mission options, including new science and technology options, for its next major Living With a Star mission, Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC). This study will include an assessment and update of the science rationale for the mission and the provision of science parameters, investigation approaches, key mission parameters, and any other needed scientific studies. In order to inform the STDT process, NASA seeks information from the broader scientific community. The requested information includes, but is not necessarily limited to, the GDC science goals, potential mission architectures, potential scientific instrumentation and/or measurements, and how GDC will fit into the larger Heliophysics System Observatory and can relate to missions flown by non-NASA organizations. NASA particularly encourages the submission of responses on relevant scientific and technological discoveries, innovations, and advances that have been made since the Decadal Survey's publication. 2. Background As recommended by the Decadal Survey, GDC is a mission with the primary objective to "characterize and understand how the ionosphere-thermosphere behaves as a system, responding to, and regulating, solar wind/magnetosphere energy input". The mission's primary science questions are (see pages 106-107 of the Decadal Survey): 1.How does solar wind/magnetospheric energy energize the ionosphere and thermosphere? 2.How does the ionosphere-thermosphere system respond and ultimately modify how the magnetosphere transmits solar wind energy to Earth? 3.How is solar wind energy partitioned into dynamical and chemical effects in the ionosphere-thermosphere system, and what temporal and spatial scales of interaction determine this partitioning? 4.How are these effects modified by the dynamical and energetic variability of the ionosphere-upper atmosphere introduced by atmospheric wave forcing from below? Due to the significant challenges in studying global dynamics with a single satellite, the Decadal Survey presented a nominal plan for GDC that consisted of six identical satellites in circular orbits at 300-450 km altitude and spread individually into equally spaced orbital planes separated by 30° longitude. The satellites would nominally have an inclination of 80°, in order to use precession to help separate the local time planes, while maintaining adequate coverage of the high-latitude region (illustrated in Figure 4.10 of the Decadal Survey). In order to enable answering of the primary science questions, the Decadal Survey recommended that GDC measure the following key parameters (modified from Table 4.6 of the Decadal Survey): Neutrals: Velocity, temperature, density, broad composition Ions: Velocity, temperature, density, broad composition Electrons: Three-dimensional energy distribution (0.05 eV to 20 keV) Fields: Vector magnetic field 3. Requested Response Topics As part of the mission formulation process, NASA intends to convene an STDT in late 2017 to study the GDC concept. While the STDT will build on the recommendations given in the Decadal Survey, it will consider a broader set of options. It will be charged with conducting a mission concept study (or studies) and defining a design reference mission (or missions) for GDC. This charge will include an assessment and update of the science rationale for the mission and the provision of science parameters, investigation approaches, key mission parameters, and any other needed scientific studies. The STDT's assessment and update will consider a variety instrumentation and techniques, new technologies, and alternative mission architectures. Responses to this RFI should address relevant areas of scientific, technical, and management interest. These include, but are not limited to: •Appropriateness and completeness of the mission's primary science questions in order to fully address the mission science objective •Adequacy of the Decadal Survey-recommended key parameters to fully answer the primary science questions and to meet the GDC mission objective, including but not limited to: oadequacy of the recommended in situ observations onecessity of or value added by additional key parameters measured in situ onecessity of or value added by remote-sensing observations •Adequacy and necessity of, deficiencies in, and/or alternatives to the Decadal Survey-recommended mission architecture to answer the primary science questions and to meet the GDC mission objective, including but not limited to: othe number of satellites othe types of satellites (e.g., size, heterogeneity) othe recommended spacecraft orbits (e.g., individual vs. shared, altitude, inclination, longitudinal separation) othe measurements to be made by each spacecraft (e.g., homogeneous vs. heterogeneous, specific physical parameters) •Scientific and technological developments and innovations since publication of the Decadal Survey that would enable, enhance, or reduce the cost of the GDC mission, including but not limited to: onew and/or advanced instrumentation ominiaturized instrumentation onew and/or advanced spacecraft technologies onew and/or innovative spacecraft architectures omodifications to the recommended launch strategy (e.g., alternate launch vehicles, rideshares, commercial hosting, non-simultaneous launches) •Potential trades within the mission architecture, scientific payload, and instrument operations (e.g., between instrument completeness and the number of measurement points) •Potential ability of NASA to leverage GDC to meet, in part or in whole, other Decadal-recommended mission objectives not otherwise to be met before the end of the period covered by the Decadal Survey •Potential synergy between GDC and other NASA and non-NASA (e.g., NOAA, ESA) spaceflight missions, including those currently in operations, in development, and being planning All information within a response to this RFI may be delivered to the STDT in part or in whole, unless clearly and explicitly marked as "Confidential" or "Proprietary". Note that NASA reserves the right to use any response to aid in programmatic decisions. It is emphasized that this RFI is NOT a Request for Proposal, nor is it an Invitation for Bid. This RFI is being used to obtain information for planning purposes only, and the Government does not intend to award a contract at this time. As stipulated in FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not considered offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Pursuant to FAR 52.215-3, entitled Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes, this information is being made available for market research, information, and planning purposes and to allow industry the opportunity to verify reasonableness and feasibility of the requirement, as well as promote competition. This RFI is subject to review or cancellation at any time and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to enter into a contract. The Government will not pay for the information submitted in response to this request. Please do not request a copy of the solicitation, as no solicitation exists at this time. If a firm requirement is developed and a solicitation is issued, the solicitation will be made available on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website (www.fbo.gov) and the NASA Acquisition Internet Service (NAIS) (http://procure.arc.nasa.gov ). It is the responsibility of offerors and interested parties to monitor the Internet sites for the release of the solicitation and amendments, if any, and they will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the documents. NASA Clause 1852.215-84, Ombudsman, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/pub/pub_library/Omb.html. This Request for Information is not a Call for Letters of Application for membership on the GDC STDT. 4. Requestor Information The response should contain the following information: 1.Name of responder and contact information (institutional affiliation(s), email address, phone number) 2.Any information that the responder considers useful to NASA in assessing the response as input to the STDT. This information might include, but is not limited to, the following: a.Relationship of the response to NASA science objectives and/or to science and mission objectives in the 2013 Heliophysics Decadal Survey b.Description implementation approaches that would be required to enable or that would enhance GDC's ability to address its science questions c.Any preliminary studies that could be undertaken as part of, or in parallel with, the GDC STDT that might not be clearly within the scope of the STDT process d.Description of any potential mission partnerships or synergies with non- NASA institutions, including U.S. commercial or academic organizations or international organizations 5. Response Instructions All responses must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on November 16, 2017. All responses 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. All responses must adhere to the following formatting requirements: Length: 10 pages, maximum Page size: 8.5" x 11.0" paper size Paragraph: Single-spaced, single-column text Margins: One-inch margins on all four sides with no content in the margins Font: Font size 12, sans serif font recommended Inserts: Figures, tables, and other inserts are permitted provided that they fit within the other formatting requirements; no inserts larger than a page (e.g. fold- outs) are permitted Inserts, text: Text and other content within inserts must be easily legible without magnification Inserts, captions: Captions for inserts must follow the same font requirements as the main text and may not include any crucial information not also included within the main text You must be registered with NSPIRES to submit a RFI response. See registration instructions at http://nspires.nasaprs.com (select "Getting an account"). Neither institution registration nor an institution affiliation is required to respond to this RFI. 1.Log into your account at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/. 2.Select "Proposals/NOIs" from your account page. 3.Select "Create NOI" from your proposals page. 4.Click "Continue" on the next page. 5.Select "Request for Information: NNH18ZDA002L from the bulleted list of announcements. 6.Click "Continue." 7.Enter RFI response title ("NOI title" field will be shown). 8.Select "do not link at this time" for submitting organization page. 9.Click "Save" on next page. 10.It is not necessary to complete any of the "NOI Details"; all requested information should be included in the attached PDF document. Information which is entered into "NOI Details" but not included in the attached PDF document will not be considered. 11.Prepare your RFI response offline and save as a PDF document (note NSPIRES instructions on PDF formats). The response document must include the respondent's name, institution, and E-mail address so the file is self-contained. File names format should be "Respondent Last Name - First Name - Number - RFI". "Number" will be used to distinguish multiple responses from the same PI. Each response should not exceed ten pages in length. 12.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"; and f.Your RFI document has been uploaded to NSPIRES. 13.Click "Submit NOI" button. NOTE that this does not complete the submission process. 14.Ignore any warnings about incomplete NOI elements. Ensure that your NOI document is attached and click "Continue." 15.Click "Submit." This will take you to the NOI submission confirmation page, which provides you with the NOI/RFI number for your records. This completes the submission process. Please note: Form fields and uploaded documents may be deleted and replaced any time before the submission deadline, but once the RFI response is submitted, it cannot be deleted. 6. Point of Contact Questions concerning this Request for Information should be addressed to Jared Leisner Heliophysics Division Science Mission Directorate National Aeronautics and Space Administration Washington, DC 20546 jared.s.leisner@nasa.gov Any questions submitted concerning this RFI will be answered in a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document available on the RFI webpage in NSPIRES. Questions must be submitted by November 1, 2017 to be considered by NASA for a response.
- Web Link
-
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- Record
- SN04715972-W 20171019/171017231418-197c41ef11981110a5715eb83ef4f033 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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