1 Introduction and Scope NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) has selected an GSFC Earth Science Explorer (ESE) concept for a competitive phase A study. The original proposal was submitted in response to the ESE Announcement of Opportunity (AO) that was released on May 2, 2023. In partnership with the Principal Investigator (PI)-led team, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is maturing the mission concept to address the Earth Science decadal survey Ozone and Trace Gases Targeted Observable with limb viewing instruments. The partnership opportunity is being issued to select a teaming partner to provide the Instrument Main Electronic Box (MEB). GSFC intends to maintain an essential degree of insight into the development of this item and will exercise essential oversight to ensure that the implementation is responsive to NASA requirements and constraints as defined in the upcoming AO. NOTE: Upon selection, GSFC may discuss, and further tailor the roles proposed by respondents in the best interests of the proposal. The proposed mission is currently in Phase A. The following mission schedule should be used as a basis for responses to this opportunity: Phase A Design Freeze September 27, 2024 Concept Study Report (CSR) due March 20, 2024 Selection for implementation – two ESE concepts will be selected September 2025 (target) Launch Readiness Date January 2030 or two year later Total cost and cost fidelity are important issues for the proposal. The cost cap for this AO is $310 M (FY24$), excluding launch vehicle. Proposed cost shall include the instrument, spacecraft, instrument to spacecraft integration support, environmental testing, launch site operations, and mission and science operations for 3 years. Reserves will be held at the Project level and not with the partner. There will be no exchange of funds between the teaming partners for the portion of this partnership opportunity dealing with the preparation of the Concept Study Report. Teaming partners are expected to support mission concept development using internal funding. This will include considerable interaction between partners throughout this Phase-A effort. Full funding will be available for Phase B onward should the candidate mission concept be competitively selected for those additional phases. 2 ESE Instrument Main Electronic Box Requirements The Instrument MEB switches and distributes 28 V unregulated power to instrument components, provides the processor for the GSFC provided application software, communicates with instrument components to deliver commands and acquire telemetry, controls and monitors the instrument thermal system, distributes 1 Pulse Per Second (PPS) timing signals, and multiplexes and transfers CCSDS packet telemetry. Precision thermal control and monitoring includes reading PRT and Cernox temperature sensors. Instrument interfaces include analog inputs, RS-422 and/or LVDS lines, UART interfaces, and a Spacewire interface (<50 Mbps). The Instrument MEB interfaces with the spacecraft for 28 V unregulated power input Science, ancillary, and housekeeping data (Spacewire, <55 Mbps) Housekeeping telemetry and command (RS-422 UART) 1 PPS Input (RS-422) Reset input (RS-422) More detailed information on the Instrument MEB will be provided to those responding with a Notice of Interest (NOI). A Notice of Interest (it is intentionally not called a notice of intent) does not obligate an organization to provide a POD response to any mission. 3 Pre-Selection Support This concept has already been downselected to Phase A. 4 Phase A Support It is expected that the selected POD respondent will provide support using their own resources to help develop the required Instrument MEB information during phase A: Provide information needed for the CSR The selected POD respondent works with the instrument team to provide the Instrument MEB design, modifying as needed to meet the requirements. This may involve performing trade studies to optimize the overall instrument design. The selected respondent shall actively participate in concept development to determine a credible design-to-cost solution. The selected respondent shall produce the Instrument MEB report that includes requirements, block diagram, components, performance, technical budgets (mass, power, data, , etc.), fault tolerance, verification approach, technology, risks, cost estimate, if the design is not Technology Readiness Level 6, a plan and a backup plan to achieve TRL 6 prior to the mission Preliminary Design Review in November 2026. The selected respondent shall identify heritage of the Instrument MEB in support of the CSR development. The mission design efforts will culminate in an internal design review in approximately September 2024 followed by cost estimation. The partner is expected to aid the proposal team in the development of the required proposal content. The partner is expected to support the site visit in the summer of 2025 if there are any question related to the Instrument MEB from the review panels. 5 POD Response Guidance Potential respondents are asked to contact the GSFC Point of Contact as soon as possible after release of this document with a Notice of Interest . This contact does not create an obligation to respond to the POD but allows GSFC to disseminate more details on the payload interfaces and concept of operations and to provide answers to questions from potential partners. All Notice of Interest respondents will receive a Data Package with further details that will facilitate a focused response. These details are competition sensitive and not to be shared outside the teams necessary to prepare a full response. All questions and answers will be sent to those who responded to the Notice of Interest, while the source of the questions shall be held confidential. Questions and answers that contain information unique to a respondent’s proprietary approach will not be shared if they are identified as such. Questions can be sent to the contact listed below via email. For purposes of this partnership opportunity, the primary contact is: POC: Steve Tompkins,
[email protected] Responses to this POD shall: Be in a presentation format (viewgraphs) that shall not exceed 30 pages. The font size for the text shall be no smaller than 12 point. File format should be PDF. The presentation should include, at a minimum: Demonstrate understanding and flight experience in the design, fabrication, integration and testing of space qualified hardware Identify any pertinent missions for which the respondent has provided support for proposal writing in the areas of hardware design Provide a technical summary/description of the proposed Instrument MEB including relevant heritage. Provide Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimate and schedule Indicate what level of resources would be allocated to the proposal phase of support. Discuss skills that will be provided and ideas on what level of conceptual design would be provided. Address all requirements noted in sections 2 - 4 of this document and all instructions/requirements in the Data Package. Responses will be treated as proprietary information and controlled as such. Final presentation packages must be received by 1600 EDT, July 19, 2024. Presentations are to be delivered electronically to Steve Tompkins at the above listed email address. Following receipt of responses, NASA/GSFC will set up teleconferences with each respondent for questions and answers. The timeline of these teleconferences is expected to be the 1 week after the response deadline date. Partnership selection(s) is expected to be made shortly after final presentations. NASA GSFC reserves the option to NOT select any teaming partners for this POD offering based on materials received. All respondents to this POD will be offered a debrief after final selection. 6 Evaluation Factors and Criteria Selection criteria will be consistent with the desire to encourage cost effective partnerships between the Government and Industry. The information requested in Sections 2-4 will allow the evaluators to determine how well the respondents’ systems match and enable the mission. The evaluation team will use the following factors in selection and award: Technical Approach (40%): Respondents will be evaluated on their ability to meet the technical requirements given in this document and Data Package. This includes demonstrated understanding of the requirements and proposed approach to meet those requirements. Relevant Experience and Past Performance (35%): Special emphasis will be given to demonstrated experience with similar avionics Cost/Schedule (25%): Respondents will be evaluated on their overall cost, resources allocated during the proposal phase, and on the reasonableness of cost and schedule estimates. 7 Acronyms AO Announcement of Opportunity CCSDS Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems CSR Concept Study Report EDT Eastern Standard Time ESE Earth Science Explorer FY Fiscal Year GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center LVDS Low Voltage Differential Signaling Mbps Million bits per second MEB Main Electronics Box NOI Notice of Interest PDF Portable Document Format PI Principal Investigator POC Point of Contact POD Partnership Opportunity Document PPS Pulse Per Second PRT Platinum Resistance Thermometer ROM Rough Order of Magnitude SMD Science Mission Directorate TRL Technology Readiness Level UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter