AFFTC/PKAE Directorate of Contracting, 30 N. Wolfe Ave, Edwards AFB, CA 93524-6351

A -- IDENTIFICATION OF ONGOING OR PLANNED DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS FOR PROPULSION SYSTEMS FOR SMALL SATELLITES IN THE 100 -- 200 KG CLASS DUE 032100 POC Teresa Weber, Contract Negotiator, (661)277-3344; or Liliana Richwine, Contracting Officer, (661) 277-3531 WEB: On-line Acquisition Solicitation Information System, http://bsx.org/edwards/bus_ops. E-MAIL: Click the email link to contact the POC, Teresa.Weber@edwards.af.mil. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. The Government does not intend to award a contract or any other type of agreement on the basis of this synopsis or to otherwise pay for the information solicited under this synopsis. This is NOT a request for a proposal or an invitation for bid, merely a request for information only. The Government is interested in obtaining information from industry to identify existing systems, or ongoing or planned development efforts for propulsion systems for small satellites in the 100-200 kg class. For each system identified, please provide a brief description of the following information: 1) system-level technical description, 2) performance (thrust, Isp, etc.), 3) interface description (dry mass, volume, power, telemetry/command requirements, etc.), 4) technology maturity status (off-the-shelf, qualification unit, breadboard, etc.) and 5) a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) of costs. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: AFRL/PR-West plans to provide a propulsion system under $5 million to support the TechSat 21 flight program being executed by AFRL/VS (Kirtland AFB, NM). TechSat 21 is an on-orbit demonstration of key technologies to validate formation flying and space-based dispersed aperture imaging planned for launch in 2003. Additional information on TechSat 21 can be found at http://quark.plk.af.mil/vsd/techsat21 (the propulsion system identified in these web pages was originally proposed as a candidate system and does not necessarily reflect the flight system that will be flown). The propulsion requirements are derived from the need to initialize a cluster of three satellites, change the formation of that cluster several times during the mission, and maintain the attitude and orientation of the cluster during operations. The propulsion system may also be used to boost the orbit from a lower insertion altitude (~400 km) to the operational orbit (~650 km). It is envisioned that the propulsion system will consist of a main propulsion unit, coupled with a secondary, lower impulse bit thruster. The main propulsion system will primarily be responsible for the cluster initialization (including the orbit transfer if required), the maneuvers, and the primary stationkeeping firings. The secondary system will be used for attitude control and more precise stationkeeping operations. For a spacecraft mass of 125 kg, these requirements translate to ∆V requirements of 30 m/sec for the cluster initialization (~125-200 m/sec for the orbit raising, if required [depending on thrust levels and drag assumptions]), 34 m/sec for the maneuvering and primary stationkeeping, and 6 m/sec for the precise attitude requirements for the smaller thruster. The total number of maneuver/stationkeeping firings is approximately 10,000 (this is the number of times a propulsive event occurs, and does not necessarily imply individual thruster actuations), with each firing requiring a ∆V between 1-10 x 10-3 m/sec. The maximum I-bit allowable to maintain a 5-meter position tolerance requirement is 2 mN sec. Totalavailable power is limited to 100-150 W, and total available mass is on the order of 10 kg. All propulsion systems (i.e. chemical, electric, etc.) will be considered. THREE copies of each response must be submitted to Daron Bromaghim, AFRL/PRRS, 1 Ara Road, Edwards AFB CA 93524-7013. Faxed or electronic responses are acceptable. Any company proprietary information contained in the response shall be separately marked. Responses may address both systems, either system separately, or a single "dual-mode" system that can be used for all functions. The responses shall be limited to ten pages and are due 21 days from the publication date of this notice. The information provided through the responses will be used to aid in requirements definition for future acquisitions. POINT OF CONTACT: Daron Bromaghim, AFRL/PR-West, Edwards AFB, CA (805) 275-5473, FAX (805) 275-5203. Posted 02/29/00 (W-SN429758). (0060)

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