NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 216, Greenbelt, MD 20771

A -- SOURCES SOUGHT VENUS 2000 PHASE A SOL RFP5-00000 POC Gordon Chin, Principle Investigator, Phone 301-286-8649. A--VENUS 2000 PHASE A--The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is conducting a Phase A Study to determine the feasibility; and conceptual design to propose a new Discovery class mission to study Venus' atmosphere to be called VENUS 2000. The primary instrument will be a heterodyne spectrometer operating at submillimeter wavelengths, a Submillimeter Limb Sounder (SLS). The instrument will measure the vertical profile of the temperature and gas composition of Venus' atmosphere above the clouds at (1 scale height resolution using limb sounding. VENUS 2000 plans to extend coverage below the clouds with a second instrument known as the Deep Atmosphere Spectral Camera (DASC). This will observe thermal emission from between 1.0 and 2.5 microns, Global coverage will be obtained over the course of a multi-year mission. A Request for Information (RFI) package will be sent to interested parties within 10 days after publication of this synopsis. The purpose of this RFI will be to solicit industry, university, or other government agency partners (hereinafter referred to as ''company'') who may be interested in participating in this study and potentially entering into a teaming relationship leading to the development of this mission. It is anticipated that at the successful completion of the Phase A spacecraft study, a VENUS 2000 mission proposal will be submitted to the Discovery Announcement of Opportunity. These conceptual mission study activities will be conducted on a no-exchange-of-funds basis. The duration of the spacecraft study will be approximately three months. Those interested in receiving the RFI can respond by mail to the attention of: Dr. Gordon Chin, Code 693, Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics, NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20071, by Facsimile on (301)286-0212 or by e-mail to gordon.chin@gsfc.nasa.gov upon publication of the synopsis. Electronic versions of the documents will be provided on the World Wide Web at http://genesis.gsfc.nasa.gov/procure.htm, and by anonymous ftp to genesis.gsfc.nasa.gov/public/solicita. (0068)

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