Space Weather Geostationary Series (SW GEO) Spacecraft

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) - National Aeronautics and Space Administration – Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA-GSFC) is soliciting information from potential sources for the development and fabrication of a spacecraft, for the Space Weather GEO Series (SW GEO) on behalf of the NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

This RFI is for the spacecraft and potential Mission Operations services. This spacecraft is anticipated to host eight (8) Government furnished payloads, including the following sensors/instruments, Energetic Particle Flux (EPF), Magnetometer (MAG), X-ray Irradiance (XI), PHOtospheric Magnetograph Imager (PHOMI), Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Imager, Solar Extreme Ultraviolet (SUV) Irradiance Sensor, Height Integrated Thermospheric O/N2 Ratio (HITON) and the potential for an Instrument/system Of Opportunity (IOO) as the eighth (8) payload.

The SW GEO Series is anticipated as a series of up to two (2) satellites, operated at the geostationary orbit over the continental United States of America. Two satellites are necessary to meet the observatory instrument data availability objectives. The SW GEO Series will provide essential space weather in situ measurements of the plasma and energetic particle populations in the Earth’s magnetosphere including solar energetic protons (SEPs), in situ measurements of the Earth’s magnetic field, solar EUV imagery, solar EUV irradiance measurements, solar x-ray irradiance measurements, Photospheric magnetograph imagery, and Height-integrated thermospheric O/N2 ratio. NOAA and NASA are exploring an instrument of opportunity. The data produced by SW GEO will help NOAA provide watches and warnings for these space weather events that can disrupt the electrical power grid and communications systems, as well as navigation and timing systems like the Global Positioning System (GPS).

This Request for Information (RFI) includes notional contractor requirements to generate spacecraft concept designs along with helping the government frame out the documentation for the potential future development of the SW GEO spacecraft. The government is also requesting options for contractor provided Mission Operations Center capabilities from launch through commissioning and potentially full observatory life, and with identifying payload hosting opportunities for the instrument references below. This RFI will assist the Government in evaluating novel approaches and obtain feedback on the potential future release of a development contract for up to two (2) SW GEO observatories and related services as well as potential mission operations capabilities for the SW Next series of GEO satellites and with identifying payload hosting opportunities.

Your RFI response should be limited to no more than thirty (30) pages and include the following: 

Section 1 – Company Description/Capabilities/Interest: Description of company capabilities and experience performing spacecraft developments, integration and test, commercial launch experience, launch support, mission operations, data acquisition and routing that are similar to this mission. A statement of interest from potential offerors on meeting with Government representatives to discuss RFI responses will be considered to help the Government determine the path forward and to convey information.

Section 2 – Spacecraft Bus Description/Heritage: High level description and concepts of the design, capabilities, and flight heritage of your recommended spacecraft bus. Identify any mission-unique modifications or developments to the spacecraft that would be necessary for this mission and suggested access to space or launch vehicle options. The description should include heritage accommodating the planned referenced instrument types or instruments of similar complexity.

Section 3 – National Space Weather SW GEO Mission Architecture: Payload accommodation concepts and assessment on the suggested spacecraft bus, instrument interface description and representative diagrams of instrument mounting configuration, approach for simulators and early SC interface verification at instrument developer’s facility, field of view (FOV) accommodations, launch vehicle mounting and envelope, and potential mission operations services. Preferred approaches for supporting/providing Access to Space Launch Operations, Satellite Communications and Data Routing, and Spacecraft Operations over mission lifetime (including storage and test for subsequent builds, and ability to bring out of storage for launch). Provide discussion of a mission architecture including overall SC SWaP that support instruments listed above.

Section 4 –SW GEO Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) Price/Schedule Development: The Government is looking to develop a ROM price estimate by Government fiscal year, funding profile, and schedule for and including the following: the spacecraft (bus) development and testing, satellite integration and environmental testing, shipment to the launch site, launch site operations (including propellent loading), access to space options and on-orbit checkout, and seven years of on-orbit operations support including disposal. To assist the Government, when providing cost and schedule estimate please include the following:

1. The Contractor shall provide a cost and schedule estimate encompassing all the work required for the development, production, spares, testing, ground support, launch site integration and support, access to space options referenced above, post-launch testing, and operations of up to two (2) spacecraft.
2. Each Mission Operations concept and option shall be priced separately.
3. All costs shall be phased by Governmental fiscal year at level 2 of the WBS.
4. The Cost estimate shall be provided at level 3 of the WBS except for Hardware / Software which shall be provided at level 4.
5. Provide additional data to assist the validation of costs estimates. Examples include cost comparisons to analogous items/missions.
6. Suggest a type of contract and determination of award fees payable under the contract.

Section 5 – Suggested RFI Content: To assist the Government in developing a notional approach, please provide a description of key technical, schedule, price and risk drivers. Identify options for mitigating drivers including technical trades, risk reduction and tailoring suggestions for the SW GEO Spacecraft Statement of Work, Satellite and Mission Operations Requirements Document (SMORD), Contract Deliverable Requirement List (CDRL) including standard SC production deliverables (provide contractor recommended level of over-sight and in-sight to the government for consideration), Mission Assurance Approach, and standards that will be utilized to develop SW GEO documentation. SW GEO documentation and mission design should be used for reference for the SW GEO series.

Section 6 –SW GEO Series Topics of Interest

The following mission elements are of special interest to the Government, please address them to assist in scoping requirements, managing, and mitigating risk, cost and understanding of the state of technology.

1. Opportunities and Risks/Mitigation/Cost Reduction
   • Suggested selective redundancy for a Class C, 7-year mission and the plan (analysis, test, and inspections) to meet the lifetime requirement
   • Discuss payload hosting opportunities
   • Discuss communications link approach for X-band science telemetry and propose communication compatible with current NOAA ground (S, X, Ka)
   • Describe approach for meeting data availability requirement limitations/opportunities in context of orbits, spacecraft, space networks, and ground element. Data availability objectives, space weather observational data >93% of the time on an annual basis of nominal operations
   • Describe approach for the sun pointing instruments
   • Radiation required qualification of all hardware (to operationally perform through S4 and X50 Class solar storm environments)
     • Plan to deal with cumulative dose in GEO
     • Plan to deal with SEE faults/error for each of the S-Scale flux levels (including higher energies)
     • Discuss options for low cost Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Command and Data Handling (C&DH) capable of nominal operations in extreme space weather environments.
   • FPGA Qualification and Testing (including radiation testing)
     • ProASIC, et el.
     • Full Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR)
     • Suggested improvements in FPGA redundancy design and ability for autonomous reset and return to nominal mission.
     • Other opportunities
   • Mitigation of space charging on spacecraft surfaces
   • Contamination Control Cleanliness assuming optical payload accommodations.
   • Accommodations of data handling interfaces for instruments with RS422, SpW, LVDS.
   • Discuss spacecraft vs. instrument specific thermal management and related risks and opportunities.
   • On board Navigation options to simplify mission
   • Momentum Management options
   • Describe SC Autonomy capabilities, thus reducing observatory manual (person in the loop) operations.
   • Describe any shared resources such as test equipment racks and facilities with other projects that would reduce integration and test cost.
   • Mission Operations options including a supporting role at the NOAA/NASA Command and Control Facility or a leading role at the contractor MOC
   • Launch Vehicle Options (Access to Space) and Mission Unique Considerations
     • Discussion of benefits, risks and challenges of non-government provided Launch Vehicle Options (Access to Space) and a “delivery on orbit” approach.
     • Clear definition of mission unique accommodations
     • Typical post encapsulation fairing access, example T-0 purge, Magnetic sensitivity, and cleanliness at the launch site on the vehicle, Lightning Suppression
     • Benefits of early Mission Integration (Early CLA, Thermal analysis, Mission Design, Launch site integration details, etc.) to mitigate cost and risk
     • Launch Site Ground Processing
     • Launch Site operations including power on at launch

No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on SAM.gov. Interested firms are responsible for monitoring this website for the release of any solicitation or synopsis.

All responses (no more than 30 pages as mentioned above) shall be submitted electronically via email to Tammy Seidel Tammy.E.Seidel@nasa.gov and Eugene.D.Guerrero-martin@nasa.gov no later than March 28, 2025 at 4:00 pm ET. Please reference SW GEO Spacecraft RFI in the response. 

Note: This RFI is for informational purposes only; it is not a request for proposal or a solicitation for a contract or grant award and it does not obligate the Government in any way. The Government will not reimburse respondents for any costs associated with responding to this request. Please note that the Government anticipates entertaining Face-to-Face meetings if requested to discuss responses, additional details, status and plans forward.