Total Solar Irradiance and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor System-2 (TSIS-2)

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS) Project is seeking capability statements from all interested parties, including Small, Small Disadvantaged (SDB), 8(a), Woman-owned (SD-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) for the purposes of determining the appropriate level of competition and/or small business subcontracting goals for the TSIS-2 system procurement. The Government reserves the right to consider a Small 8(a), WOSB, SD-VOSB, or HUBZone Business set-aside based on responses hereto. The NASA GSFC TSIS Project requirements are as follows: Overview A Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) and Spectral Solar Irradiance (SSI) sensor system will be built to fly as a NASA mission of opportunity with payload readiness for integration by January 2020. The NASA mission will be designed to continue the collection of (1) TSI and (2) SSI for the long-term climate record. The Instrument provider's responsibility also includes a unique thermal pointing system(s) to accommodate both instruments individually or together. This mission would extend records of solar irradiance from space to over 40 years by overlapping with TSIS-1. TSIS-1 is a mission that contains the TSIS from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) of the University of Colorado. The TSI sensor (also called Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM)) collects high accuracy, high precision measurements of total solar irradiance to monitor changes in solar irradiance incident at the top of the Earth's atmosphere. The SSI sensor (also called Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SIM)) collects high accuracy, high precision measurements of solar radiation as a function of wavelength. 1.1 Science Objectives The overall science objectives of the mission are to perform continued space measurements of TSI and SSI to determine the Sun's direct and indirect effects on Earth's climate, at current state-of-the-art accuracy and without a temporal gap with the previous TSI and SSI missions in the dataset. It is essential that there be no temporal gap to insure the continuity of this long-term climate data record. 1.1.1 Total Solar Irradiance TSI, together with the Earth's emitted infrared and reflected solar radiation determines the radiative balance of the Earth and its radiative effective temperature. The climate of the Earth is directly affected by the balance between the intensity of the sun and the response of the atmosphere. Changes in solar irradiance and in the composition of the atmosphere can cause global climate change. Variability in solar irradiance is purely a natural phenomenon, while the composition of the atmosphere is strongly influenced by the byproducts of modern industrial societies. The fundamental requirement for the TIM is to report precise and accurate daily measurements of the TSI at the Top of the Atmosphere (TOA) to continue the long-term climate record. 1.1.2 Solar Spectral Irradiance Measurement of SSI measured using the SIM is the key to understanding the response of the climate to solar variability because of the wavelength dependence of various processes in the Earth's atmosphere and surface. These include: direct surface and lower atmosphere heating at near-ultraviolet (UV) and longer wavelengths; indirect processes through absorption of UV in the stratosphere and radiative and dynamical coupling with the troposphere. Although the greatest relative variability occurs in the ultraviolet (indirect), the greatest absolute variability occurs in mid visible (direct). Relative uncertainty in solar forcing since the start of the industrial age (mid-18th century) is very large and must be reduced in order to separate natural from anthropogenic radiative forcing. Knowledge of TOA spectral distribution of solar radiation is crucial in interpreting the highly spectrally dependent radiative processes in the atmosphere and at the surface. 1.2 TSI and SSI Sensor System Requirements The following TSI and SSI Sensor System requirements apply to nominal operations, except where noted. 1.2.1 Basic Requirements 1.2.1.1 The TIM shall be designed to collect TSI data over the entire solar spectrum at the TOA. 1.2.1.2 The SIM shall be design to collect SSI over the solar spectrum from 200nm to 2400nm. 1.2.1.3 During normal operations, the TIM and SIM shall be capable of operating continuously with data collected from the sensors during all portions of the orbit. 1.2.1.4 The TIM and SIM shall be absolute radiometers with a system to reduce 1/f noise 1.2.1.5 The TIM and SIM measurements must be traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards, as well as to the SORCE TIM, SORCE SIM instruments, and the TSIS-1 TIM and SIM on the International Space Station (ISS). 1.2.2 TSI Accuracy and Stability 1.2.2.1 The TIM shall measure TSI to an accuracy of 100 parts per million (ppm) (1?) with noise less than or equal to 10 ppm (1?), where 1 ppm equals 0.0001%. 1.2.2.2 The TIM shall have long-term stability better than or equal to 10 ppm (1?) per year after data corrections in post-processing. 1.2.3 SSI Resolution, Accuracy and Stability 1.2.3.1 The SIM shall measure SSI from 200 nm to 2400 nm with a spectral resolution of 2 nm at wavelengths less than 280 nm; 5 nm at wavelengths greater than 280 nm but less than 400 nm; and 45 nm at wavelengths greater than 400 nm. 1.2.3.2 The SIM shall measure SSI from 200 nm to 2400 nm with an accuracy of 0.2% with noise less than 100 ppm (1?). 1.2.3.3 The SIM shall have long-term stability better than 0.05% (1?) per year for wavelengths less than 400 nm; and 0.01% per year for wavelengths greater than 400 nm. 1.2.4 TSI and SSI sensors system 1.2.4.1 The TIM and SIM system(s) shall include a real-time command and telemetry capability to accommodate anomaly resolution through the spacecraft. 1.2.4.2 The TIM and SIM system software shall have the capability to disable or override automatically triggered functions that change the configuration or operational state of the instrument. 1.2.4.3 Thermal Pointing System(s) (TPS) may be required to accommodate both instruments with a mission(s) of opportunity. Exact requirements to be determined when mission of opportunity(s) is(are) selected. 1.2.5 Reliability 1.2.5.1 The TSI and SSI sensors system shall be designed to operate for a period of 5 years and have a reliability of greater than .70 Ps. (Includes TPS). 1.2.6 Mechanical Characteristics 1.2.6.1 The total TIM and SIM system mass, including all subsystems, but not TPS(s) shall not exceed 10.3kg for TIM and 19.2kg for SIM (TPS(s) not included)). 1.2.6.2 Microprocessor Unit (MU) and two Fine Sun Sensors (FSS) total mass shall not exceed 7.0kg 1.2.7 Electrical Characteristics 1.2.7.1 The total power consumed by the TIM and SIM system in any mode shall not exceed 22 W for TIM and 29 W for SIM (TPS(s) not included). 1.2.7.2 MU and two (FSS) total power shall not exceed 16.5W 1.2.8 Maintainability 1.2.8.1 The TIM and SIM system shall have the ability to receive and process software uploads from the ground segment while on-orbit. 1.2.8.2 The TIM and SIM system shall monitor internal health parameters and major external faults and autonomously configure to a safe state upon encountering such a fault. Information Requested Interested vendors/potential offerors having the required specialized technical capabilities to meet the above requirements should submit a capability statement of 10 pages or less indicating the ability to perform all aspects of the effort described herein. The response should include experience and past performance in the area of total solar irradiance and spectral solar irradiance systems. Responses must include the following: 1. Business name and address 2. Size of business, average annual revenue for past 3 years and number of employees, ownership, whether they are large, or any category of small business, number of years in business, affiliate information, parent company, joint venture partners, potential teaming partners, prime contract (if potential sub) or subcontractor (if potential prime) 3. Past performance information covering the past five years (highlight relevant work performed) Provide a brief description of the topic/effort; the value of the action; if your company was the prime contractor or the subcontractor; and the point of contact (name of the company/Agency, customer's name, phone number, & email address). This Request for Information (RFI) 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 requirements. No solicitation exists, therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized in FedBizOpps. It is the potential offeror's responsibility to monitor the site for the release of any solicitation or synopsis. RFI responses and procurement related questions should be directed to NASA GSFC, Attn: Ann Kearney, Code 210.Y, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, Email: Ann.L.Kearney@nasa.gov. Responses are requested within 15 days after issuance of the RFI.