Partnership Opportunity Document (POD) for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Turbo-molecular Vacuum Pump System and Low Vacuum Pump Development

1.0 Introduction and Scope NASA/GSFC is seeking partners for spaceflight instrument development for potential proposals to these opportunities. GSFC mission teams will be submitting proposals to the New Frontiers 5 Announcement of Opportunity (AO). This opportunity will be two-step processes, with the first proposal response being primarily focused on the scientific merit and technical feasibility of the proposed mission and its associated scientific investigation. The initial submissions will then be down-selected after formal peer review and the resultant subset of proposals will be funded to perform Phase A mission concept studies. During Phase A, proposals will be expanded and refined to detail the entire end-to-end life cycle concept, with greater attention to engineering implementation, cost, and schedule. Further information on the New Frontiers AO can be found in the Community Announcements on the New Frontiers AO site. (https://newfrontiers.larc.nasa.gov/NF5/). The time frame for the solicitation is intended to be: Release of draft AO: January 2023 (target) Release of final AO: November 2023 (target) Preproposal conference: ~ 3 weeks after final AO release Proposals due: March 2024 (target) Selection for competitive Phase A studies: December 2024 (target) Concept study reports due: January 2026 (target) Down-selection: October 2026 (target) Launch readiness date (LRD): Fall 2031 to Fall 2034 (target) This partnership opportunity is being issued to interested and qualified teaming partners to help prepare the NASA/GSFC concepts for proposal submittal and to provide a flight qualified instrument subsystem should the instrument be selected for flight. The subsystem NASA/GSFC is interested in finding partners for is a turbomolecular vacuum pump suitable for operation with a single rotary stage (hereafter designated as a wide range pump, or WRP). For this partnership opportunity dealing with the preparation of the initial submission, there will be no exchange of funds between the teaming partners. Funding will be available for Phase A and subsequent phases should the investigation be approved to continue through the mission-defined gates for flight. NASA/GSFC reserves the option to not select any teaming partners under this POD offering on the basis of materials received. 2.0 Instrument Overview The high vacuum pump subsystem of interest will enable measurements of chemical and isotopic compositions using mass spectrometry of solid or gas samples acquired. Mass spectrometry requires low pressure (high vacuum conditions) to be maintained within a vacuum vessel for operation. A separate low vacuum pump is also required to evacuate an enclosed sample chamber. Additional information and detailed requirements will be available to Notice of Interest respondents (see 4.0). The controlling electronics for the turbomolecular pump system and low vacuum pump will be provided by GSFC. 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 Instrument proposal in response to the opportunities in the area of the high vacuum turbomolecular pumping system and the low vacuum pump. This will involve meeting with the scientists and the overall instrument engineering team: to help define the end-to-end performance requirements, including interfaces to the various subsystems and the spacecraft; to identify study topics; and to predict performance. This will include cost estimation for all development phases. The period of performance for this interval is the timeframes shown above from POD selection to initial proposal submission. 3.2 Phase A Study and Phase A Proposal Support SOW: If the instruments are selected for Phase A studies, the proposal team will receive funding to conduct a Phase A study and submit a detailed Concept Study Report (CSR) to NASA. The respondent providing the turbomolecular pumping system and low vacuum pump may be allocated a portion of this funding to perform trade studies as identified in the initial proposal. The respondent will also be expected to contribute to designing, documenting, and costing the turbomolecular pumping system design, fabrication, integration and testing for inclusion in the final Concept Study Report. The period of performance for this interval is detailed in the above timelines. 4.0 General Instructions for POD Response Potential respondents are asked to contact the GSFC point of contact (listed below) as soon as possible after release of this document 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 NASA/GSFC team to distribute additional specifications about the WRP and to provide answers to questions from potential partners. All Notice of Interest respondents will receive further details that will facilitate a focused response. Respondents may send questions to the NASA/GSFC 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. For purposes of this partnership opportunity, the POC is Anthony Nicoletti Anthony.Nicoletti-1@nasa.gov Responses to the Partnership Opportunity Document shall: Demonstrate history in providing space qualified hardware of a similar type to hardware described in this document Demonstrate history in supporting space flight proposals Demonstrate testing, modeling, manufacturing, capability for hardware of this type Provide an estimate for expected proposal and Phase A resources allocated Be in a presentation format (.pdf viewgraphs) that shall not exceed 15 pages. The font size for the text shall be no smaller than 12 point. Address all requirements noted in the document provided in response to the Notice of Interest. Provide a very Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimate and timeline for the scope of the design, fabrication, and testing of the pumping systems. This ROM will not be considered a binding commitment, but will serve as a consideration during the partnership evaluation. The respondent is invited to comment on the reasonableness of the placeholder cost Responses will be treated as proprietary information and controlled as such. The respondents shall deliver the requested information in presentation format. Final presentation packages must be received by 1700 EDT, February 17, 2023. Presentations are to be delivered electronically to Anthony Nicoletti at the above listed email address. 5.0 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 3.0 will allow the subject-matter-expert evaluators to determine how well the respondent's turbomolecular pumping system and low vacuum pump are appropriate to this instrument. Selection Criteria Technical Performance (60 points) Experience (and Team skills) including past performance on flight instrument and/or mission developments. Experience developing and implementing similar space flight hardware is a minimum requirement. Demonstrated capability to meet the performance parameters specified in Section 3.0 (via quantitative information) Experience and past performance in proposal phases Cost Reasonableness (40 points) Reasonableness of cost and schedule estimates, including demonstration of past performance on equivalent systems Estimated total cost of WRP and associated I&T Level of resources allocated to the proposal phase Acronyms List AO Announcement of Opportunity CSR Concept Study Report EDT Eastern Daylight Time NASA/GSFC NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center POC Point of Contact POD Partnership Opportunity Document ROM Rough Order of Magnitude SOW Statement Of Work WRP Wide Range Pump