NASA/George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Procurement Office, Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812

A -- FUTURE-X PATHFINDER FLIGHT DEMONSTRATORS SOL NRA8-22 DUE 090498 POC Walter S. Melton III, Contracting Officer, Phone (256) 544-0299, Fax (256) 544-4401, Email walt.melton@msfc.nasa.gov -- Mark R. Stiles, Contracting Officer, Phone (256) 544-0381, Fax (256) 544-6062, Email mark.stiles@msfc.nasa.gov WEB: Click here for the latest information about this notice, http://nais.nasa.gov/EPS/MSFC/date.html#NRA8-22. E-MAIL: Walter S. Melton III, walt.melton@msfc.nasa.gov. NASA/MSFC plans to issue a NASA Research Announcement (NRA)to solicit proposals for Future-X Pathfinder Flight Demonstrations as the first in a continuous series of flight demonstrations beyond the current X-33 and X-34 programs. The Government's intent is to enhance U.S. Commercial space launch competitiveness by developing advanced technologies that are applicable to future transportation systems and result in a significant reduction of transportation cost. The focus of Future-X is to develop a robust program with multiple, consecutive flight elements that are responsive to commercial, DOD, and internal NASA customers. Mission areas which may be targeted include earth-orbital systems and exploration beyond earth orbit. Pathfinder X-vehicles and flight experiments will be focused technology demonstrations with short development times (less than 24 -- 30 months), must demonstrate high-payoff technologies which advance state-of-the-art, and must use representative hardware and realistic/relevant conditions to validate technologies in flight test to the fullest extent possible. The NRA will allow for both flight vehicles and flight experiments (with multiple awards anticipated for the later) in Earth-to-Orbit transportation (reuseable) and In-space transportation, and will be open to organizations or teams form industry, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and Government agencies. Government laboratories are available to team with interested industry partenrs to accomplish this development effort within the capabilities and resources of the various installations. A draft NRA for information will be released on or about June 16, 1998, and the NRA which contains a more detailed description will be released on or about July 7, 1998. Comments on the draft NRA should be submitted in writing not later than 2:00 p.m. on June 26, 1998. A briefing for potential offerors is planned to be held at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Building 4200, Conference Room P110, on July 7, 1998, beginning at 9:00a.m. Copies of the NRA will be available only via downloading from the Internet. All responsible sources may submit an offer which shall be considered by the agency. An ombudsman has been appointed, see Note B. The solicitation and any documents related to this procurement will be available over the Internet. These documents will be in Microsoft Office Suite (Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, or PowerPoint 4.0) format and will reside on a World-Wide Web (WWW) server, which may be accessed using a WWW browser application. The WWW address, or URL of the NASA/MSFC Business Opportunities page is http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/MSFC/class.html. See numbered Note 26 for non-commercial item procurement and Note B regarding the ombudsman. Any referenced notes can be viewed at the following URL: http://genesis.gsfc.nasa.gov/nnotes.htm. (0166)

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