NASA/GSFC Partnership Opportunity Document (POD) for a Star Tracker

1.0 Introduction and Scope This proposal opportunity is for a NASA Second Stand Alone Missions of Opportunity Notice (SALMON-2) for a 2016 Astrophysics Explorer Mission of Opportunity (MoO), under Announcement of Opportunity (AO) NNH12ZDA006O. NASA's GSFC is seeking a partner to provide a flight model Star Tracker to be used with a telescope for a potential proposal. GSFC also intends to either purchase or borrow an engineering test unit of the Star Tracker as part of the proposal. The potential GSFC MoO instrument is designed to meet the science goals of the Explorer Program, as currently understood. The International Space Station Transient Astrophysics Observatory (ISS-TAO) was selected in the first step of a two-step process in July 2017. The following key dates are from the AO: Concept Study Reports Due 24 May 2018 Site Review Fall 2018 Final Selection Late 2018 This partnership opportunity is issued to select a teaming partner for the preparation of the GSFC Explorer candidate MoO instrument concept prior to proposal submittal. One of the major flight system component for which GSFC is interested in finding partners for is a Star Tacker. There will be no exchange of funds between the teaming partners for the portion of this partnership opportunity dealing with the preparation of the initial proposal submission to the Explorer AO. Full funding will be available for subsequent phases should the MoO instrument/mission be competitively selected for those additional phases. Additionally, release of this POD does not commit GSFC to enter into a partnership. 2.0 Mission Overview Desired telescope flight system - GSFC is interested in finding a partner for a Star Tracker for the referenced Astrophysics Explorer MoO. No other subsystems of the instrument are a part of this POD. Detailed information on the mission parameters of potential Explorer missions will be provided to those responding with a Notice of Interest. A Notice of Interest (it is intentionally not called a notice of intent) does not obligate an organization to provide a POD response. 3.0 Pre-selection Support 3.1 Initial Proposal Support SOW: It is expected that the selected respondent will provide support using their own resources to help develop and write the Mission proposal in response to the AO in the area of the Star Tracker design, related subsystems, and mission implementation. This will involve meeting with scientists and the overall mission engineering team to: (a) help define the end-to-end performance and interface requirements; (b) identify study topics; and (c) predict performance. This will include cost estimation for all mission phases. The period of performance for this interval is expected from POD selection to Step 2 proposal submission (~11 months), starting approximately December 2017 3.2 Phase A Study and Phase A Proposal Support POD Response Instructions for Pre-Selection Support The respondent shall: 1) Demonstrate understanding and demonstrated experience in the design, fabrication, integration and testing of the Star Tracker under consideration: ? Identify the means of addressing system requirements your team assumes are likely to exist and tasks the system is intended for, ? Highlight particularly critical or challenging areas for the design, ? Provide a technical summary/description of the proposed hardware including relevant heritage 2) Identify any recommended potential study topics related to the Star Tracker. 3) Indicate the level of resources to be allocated for the proposal phase. ? Discuss skills that will be provided, the appropriate level of conceptual design, and all relevant analyses and trade studies. 4) Identify the pertinent missions for whom they have previously provided support for proposal writing in the area of Star Tracker design, fabrication, integration and testing: ? Provide data on scope of the Star Tracker, the role that they played in the proposal process, and the portions of the proposal they have written or provided assistance in writing. Provide a customer reference POC. ? Describe how this proposal role mapped to their role in the end instrument development. If the scope changed, explain why. 5) The respondent will be expected to contribute to documenting and costing the Star Tracker for inclusion in the final Concept Study Report. 4.0 Development Support SOW: If the mission is selected for development and launch, the respondent will be responsible for the design, development, and test of the Star Tracker and for launch and early orbit check out leading to full scientific operations. The respondent is responsible for identifying the Star Tracker requirements and providing all aspects of the Star Tracker (either directly, or through purchasing or teaming arrangements). The period of performance for this interval is expected to last approximately 36-48 months, starting in early 2019. This date may change depending upon selection timelines and budget allocations. POD Response Instructions for Development Support The respondent shall: 1) Identify available design and modeling capabilities required to support development of the Star Tracker. Describe the level of experience with similar Star Trackers for relevant personnel. 2) Identify fabrication and testing facilities that will be required to support development and test of the Star Tracker. 3) Proposers must have experience of flying Star Trackers on the International Space Station (ISS). Identify previous Star Trackers provided that have flown on ISS missions ? Identify which missions they have successfully supported in this capacity and provide a customer reference POC. ? Provide information on recent similar Star Tracker designed and delivered, and describe how that experience is applicable to this mission. This shall include basic information on scope of work, how well the fielded Star Tracker met the cost and technical requirements, and how well the fielded Star Tracker met the proposed schedules. 4) Provide a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimate and timeline for the scope of the design, fabrication, and testing of the Star Tracker. Neither ROM nor timeline will be considered a binding commitment, but will serve as a consideration during the partnership evaluation. In consideration of the rigid cost cap for Explorer missions, the cost ROM for the Star Tracker will be an important consideration. The respondent is invited to comment on the reasonableness of the ROM cost estimate. 5) Present ideas and methods of keeping costs low and the risk of cost growth low, including how they would utilize existing open market hardware to minimize costs and provide a more robust system. 5.0 Additional Information For pre-selection or development support, the respondent can provide any additional information on any other pertinent missions for which his/her establishment, and any partners/vendors proposed, have provided Star Trackers, and identify the relevant details of similar systems. The respondent may also identify any other ideas and related activities, which your organization is or has been involved with, and the significance of that activity to this mission. 6.0 General Instructions for POD Response Potential respondents are asked to contact the GSFC Explorer team by 5 PM EDT on October 26, 2017 with a Notice Of Interest (intentionally not called a notice of intent). This Notice of Interest does not create an obligation to respond to the POD, but allows the GSFC Explorer team to disseminate additional details on the mission parameters and to provide answers to questions from potential partners. Notice of Interest respondents will receive a document containing additional details on the proposed mission, which can be used to facilitate a focused response to the partnership opportunity. These details are competition sensitive and are not to be shared outside the team necessary to prepare a response. After receipt of the mission document, respondents may send questions to the GSFC Explorer Team at the E-mail address listed below. All questions and answers will be made available to all those who respond to the Notice of Interest. 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. Notice of Interest shall be sent to Keith Walyus (keith.d.walyus@nasa.gov) via email with - Notice of Interest' in the subject line, a simple sentence or two expressing interest and an email address to send further information. For purposes of this partnership opportunity, the GSFC contact is Keith Walyus, keith.d.walyus@nasa.gov, 301-286-0834, and the backup is Joshua Abel, josh.c.abel@nasa.gov, 301-286-8704. Responses to the POD shall: 1) Be in a PowerPoint presentation format or word document format that shall not exceed 25 pages. The font size for the text shall be no smaller than 12 point. 2) Be as specific as possible about the proposed star tracker. 3) Address all requirements noted in sections 3.0 through 7.0 of this document. Responses will be treated as proprietary information and controlled as such. Final presentation packages must be received via email by 5 PM (EDT) on November 2, 2017. Provide the presentation to the GSFC contact listed above. Highly ranked proposers may be asked to participate in an informational telecon with the GSFC instrument team. The telecon would be for clarification of proposal information and may be held prior to award, if deemed necessary by the Government. The telecons would be between the GSFC instrument team and each proposer individually. 7.0 Selection Criteria for Awarding Partnership Opportunity Selection criteria will be consistent with the desire to encourage cost effective partnerships between the Government and Industry. The information requested in Section 7.0 will allow the evaluators to determine how appropriate the respondent's star tracker is to this Explorer mission. Selection Criteria Proposal/Pre-selection Support (25 points) ? Experience, team skills and past performance in proposal phases. ? Resource commitment during proposal phase. ? Identification and description of key critical areas. ? Understanding and addressing general requirements and needs for the proposed star tracker. ? Recommended design studies. Development Support (75 points) ? Cost of the star tracker. ? Reasonableness of cost and schedule estimates with supporting information from similar previous missions ? Experience and past performance in development phases. ? Experience and past performance with respect to similar space flight star trackers. Experience developing and implementing similar space flight star trackers is a minimum requirement. ? Completeness of identification of functions by mission phase. ? Reasonableness of design and modeling capabilities to support the effort. ? Reasonableness of fabrication and testing facilities to support the effort. ? Mass of the star tracker. ? Power and thermal control for the star tracker. ? Ability to survive and operate in the target environment. ? Ability of system to meet or simplify other mission requirements or challenges the respondent identifies. 8.0 Acronyms List EDT Eastern Daylight Savings Time GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center ISS International Space Station ISS-TAO International Space Station Transient Astrophysics Observatory MoO Mission of Opportunity POC Point of Contact POD Partnership Opportunity Document ROM Rough Order of Magnitude SALMON-2 Second Stand Alone Mission Of Opportunity SOW Statement Of Work