Request for Information (RFI) for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Hosted Payload Opportunities and Accommodations for the Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA)

NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder Program Office (ESSPPO) is hereby soliciting information about potential sources for LEO Hosted Payload Opportunities and accommodations for the Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA). As part of the Earth Venture Program, NASA's Earth Science Division (ESD) is developing Earth Science Instruments to be flown as hosted payloads on Hosted Payload Opportunities (HPO's). The development of the instruments as well as the HPO's will be conducted independently of each other with the goal of matching a specific instrument with a specific HPO by the instrument Preliminary Design Review (PDR) timeframe (mid to late 2017). One of the latest selections of the Earth Venture Program is MAIA, an Earth Venture Instrument-3 (EVI-3) selection, cost capped at $101M. MAIA is currently planned to be delivered in mid-2019 and operate for a three-year mission duration. The objective of the MAIA investigation is to assess linkages between different particulate matter (PM) types and adverse birth outcomes, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and premature deaths. Concentrations of fine, coarse, sulfate, nitrate, organic carbon, black carbon, and mineral dust particles will be retrieved in major urban areas on a 1-km grid. The MAIA instrument requires modest spacecraft accommodation requirements, which allow flexibility in choice of host platform and orbit altitude. Two identical pushbroom cameras incorporating an accurate spectropolarimetric detection system are mounted on a 2-axis gimbal to provide frequent, multi-angle imaging of major cities around the world. As a gimbaled pointed instrument, MAIA will exert a torque on the spacecraft when gimbaling its camera from one target to the next. Gimbal disturbance torques are estimated to be below 0.05 N-m. The Government is interested in identifying hosted payload opportunities, and their associated accommodations, for the MAIA mission in order to develop a future solicitation to acquire the host opportunity for MAIA. The purpose of this RFI is to: 1) Identify the HPO's for the period from 2019-2023; 2) Obtain an estimated cost and funding profile for the opportunity MAIA consists of two boresighted pushbroom cameras (Fig. 1) which measure the intensity of reflected sunlight in 12 spectral bands. Camera pointing is achieved using a 2-axis gimbal (Fig. 2). An instrument block diagram is shown in Fig. 3. Additional MAIA Hosted Payload Opportunity Requested Information: Please identify your organization's HPO's for the period of 2019-2023 with their associated mission parameters including but not limited to: - Mission Name - Launch Date - Host Provider / Partnership - Payload Environment o Temperature Range o Quasi-static loads o Minimum resonant frequency o Random vibration and acoustic loads o Shock environment o Disturbance torque o RF Field EMI/EMC/In-Space Charging - Launch Vehicle - Contract closure date relative to Launch Date - Instrument delivery date required relative to Launch Date - Rough Order of Magnitude Price Estimate to fly and operate the instrument. In addition to the total price, please estimate the following components: o Integration, Test, and Launch o Operations - Any concerns with FAR Part 12 terms and conditions - Logistical considerations and constraints for operating the instrument - Additional terms and conditions regarding payload liability, indemnification, and payload structure. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is seeking capability statements from all interested parties, including Small, Small Disadvantaged (SDB), 8(a), Woman-owned (WOSB), Veteran Owned (VOSB), Service Disabled Veteran Owned (SD-VOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) businesses, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)/Minority Institutions (MI) for the purposes of determining the appropriate level of competition and/or small business subcontracting goals. The Government reserves the right to consider a Small, 8(a), Woman-owned (WOSB), Service Disabled Veteran (SD-VOSB), or HUBZone business set-aside based on responses hereto. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released it will be synopsized in FedBizOpps and on the NASA Acquisition Internet Service. It is the potential offeror's responsibility to monitor these sites for the release of any solicitation or synopsis. This synopsis is for information and planning purposes and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government nor will the Government pay for information solicited. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation. Respondents deemed fully qualified will be considered in any resultant solicitation for the requirement. Responses to this synopsis will be reviewed/evaluated by both civil servants and support service contractors. Technical questions should be directed to Diane Hope at . All other questions should be directed to Brad Gardner at . All responses shall be submitted to Brad Gardner at no later than May 20, 2016. Respondents may e-mail files up to 10MB in size to Brad Gardner; respondents shall submit larger files on optical storage media (CD/DVD) via postal mail to the following address: Brad Gardner Office of Procurement Building 2101, MS 12 NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA 23681 Please reference SS_MAIA_HOST in any response.