58--REQUEST FOR INFORMATION CONCERNING LASER AND OR ADAPTIVE OPTICS SYSTEMS

This Request for Information is solely for planning purposes.NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is hereby soliciting information about potentialpartners to respond to the NASA BAA NNM11ZDA001K, TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATION MISSIONS(TDM) PROGRAM OFFICE OF THE CHIEF TECHNOLOGIST (OCT). We are interested in knowing ifvendors have the capability to address the elements specified herein and in receivingcomments on the specifications and estimated costs of such a result.This document is for information and planning purposes ONLY and to allow industry theopportunity to provide costs and feasibility of providing the requirement with NASA GRCas a partner. This request is for one or more partners to help demonstrate the concept of beamingenergy from one craft to another in space. Interested partners are requested to supply acost estimate for a laser and/or adaptive optics systems which will be located on theInternational Space Station (ISS). The ISS will supply 3kW of electrical energy at120vDC and has limited thermal cooling capability. The laser will be used to provide energy to a free-flyer spacecraft located up to 60 kmaway. Therefore, adaptive optics will be required to locate and track the receiver. The receiver will have a set of photovoltaic cells tuned to the frequency of the laser toreduce energy losses. The equipment must obviously be qualified to perform in the low Earth orbitingenvironment and meet the rigors of launch. The dates of qualification, exteriordimensions and mass numbers are requested. COTS hardware is acceptable after passing theneeded qualification tests. Cost estimates may be general in nature and will be solely used for budget planning andother general informational purposes. Partner contribution to the demonstration is encouraged in any method including thelaser, the adaptive optics, systems integration expertise and qualification costs.Such information shall include electronic file in either Microsoft Word and Excel or aPDF. As part of your information package, please include company Technical Point(s) ofContact including address, telephone number and e-mail address.Prospective offerors are invited to submit written comments or questions via e-mail to NASA GRC Pat George (contact@example.gov). Do not provide questions orcomments to the NASA Contracting Officer posting this notice.Responses are due by May 13, 2011, 4:30 p.m. DST. Please reference NNC11ZMC012L in thee-mail subject line or mailing address of any responses or submissions.Responses are to be sent to:NASA-Glenn Research Center Space Exploration Branch (CHA)Attn: Glen M. Williams, MS 60-121000 Brookpark RoadCleveland, OH 44135 Please use subject line identifier: NNC11ZMC012LVendors having the capabilities necessary to meet or exceed the stated requirements areinvited to submit appropriate documentation, literature brochures, and references,Because this information is sought for future planning purposes, potential offerors arerequested to provide price estimates, if possible. These estimates may be general innature. Please advise if the items that are being considered are commercial or commercial-typeproduct, as defined in FAR 2.101.52.215-3 Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes (Oct 1997) (a) The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this solicitationor to otherwise pay for the information solicited except as an allowable cost under othercontracts as provided in subsection 31.205-18, Bid and proposal costs, of the FederalAcquisition Regulation. (b) Although "proposal" and "offeror" are used in this Request for Information, yourresponse will be treated as information only. It shall not be used as a proposal. (c) This solicitation is issued for the purpose of: gathering information concerningcapabilities and technology currently available. (End of provision) The solicitation and any documents related to this procurement will be available over theInternet. These documents will reside on a World Wide Web (WWW) server, which may beaccessed using a WWW browser application. The Internet site, or URL, for the NASA/GRCBusiness Opportunities home page related to this RFI ishttp://prod.nais.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eps/bizops.cgi?gr=D&pin=22NO solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of a solicitation. If asolicitation is released related to this matter, it would be synopsized in FedBizOpps andon the NASA Acquisition Internet Services. It is the potential offerors responsibility tomonitor these sites for the release of any solicitation or synopsis.