So the due date on bids was 29 May, yesterday - any word on how many bids and from whom?
Quote from: Joffan on 05/30/2018 05:20 pmSo the due date on bids was 29 May, yesterday - any word on how many bids and from whom?I don't think that's right. That may have just been for comments on the draft RFP? Or a placeholder date? But yeah, it was a draft RFP, and the real RFP isn't going to be released until July, with proposals due currently slated for August 20 (the official date will be in the real RFP).
NASA anticipates that the Final Request for Proposal (RFP) will be released in mid-July 2018 with proposals being due 30 calendar days later.
Thanks; reading through the "Final_CLP_Cover_Letter" I found:QuoteNASA anticipates that the Final Request for Proposal (RFP) will be released in mid-July 2018 with proposals being due 30 calendar days later. which aligns well enough with your diagram.
You might see a precursor for a human-rated system in 2026. Cryogenic Fluid Management is going to be a key part of that. Once the landed mass goes above a certain amount, several thousand kilograms, it becomes much more beneficial to use cryogenics rather than hypergolics. And Marshall plays a role in that. We have a fairly active Cryogenic Fluid Management program, and a lot of that technology development work is going on in support of those future lander activities.To the right there, you're seeing a lunar sample return. Marshall is leading the development of a Mars Ascent Vehicle, which is part of a Mars sample return. So this is also an area that we're contributing in, and technology will flow back and forth.
Lunar Pallet lander would be good fit with ULA ACES. ACES can deliver pallet to few 1000ft from surface then separate, no need for addidtional propulsion module. Lander only needs to worry about finally landing stage. ACES would provide all comms, navigation and power up till separation. Given Vulcan performance should be good for few tons.
* The Astrobiotics Peregrine Lander was cited to use, and the Pallet Lander was cited to potentially use, the Deep Space Engine, which looks to be a new name for ISE-100 (though I'm not positive). There's a presentation PDF on ISE-100 in this post (the attachment you want is 16-Alexander):
Judging from the picture of the Deep Space Engine, it appears to be made by Frontier Aerospace and not Aerojet Rocketdyne: http://www.frontier.us/projects.html
April 2017:AR has been unable to close the fault tree from the anomalies discovered during hot fire. AR’s solution was to redesign the thruster and go back into “workhorse” testing. There was never any dollars in the project to go through a redesign. The subsequent estimate to go back into “workhorse” testing and then into qual to estimates to complete were well above the amount that GCD provided.Once we received an updated estimate from AR we informed GCD of the problems and attempted to negotiate with AR. Subsequent conversations with AR to reduce their estimate have been unsuccessful.Mitigation Steps:Coordinate financial partnering between HEOMD and STMD in order to award a contract using an MDA Phase III SBIR
Frontier Aerospace completed risk reduction testing of the 100-lbf thrust Deep Space Engine (DSE-100) under a Phase III SBIR contract.
Request For Information: Potential Lunar PayloadsNASA REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON THE AVAILABILITY OF POTENTIAL LUNAR PAYLOADSNASA’s Science Mission Directorate has released a Request for Information (RFI) to assess availability of potential lunar payloads. NASA has recently released a draft RFP for Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) to provide end-to-end services for payloads to the lunar surface; this RFI is seeking information about potential payloads for these landers. Responses to this RFI are sought broadly from U.S. industry, universities, non-profit organizations, NASA centers, and other U.S. government agencies, and will be used by NASA to further inform planning and acquisition strategy development.To be ready for launches as early as 2019, NASA is requesting information as to the availability of existing hardware that can be used for flight with little to no payload development necessary. Existing hardware that respondents should consider in responding to this RFI include, but are not limited to: engineering models, flight spares, modified off-the-shelf instruments, etc.Given the scope and the technical goals of the proposed activity, NASA is considering a much more risk tolerant approach to flight hardware development and integration than is normally adopted by other segments of NASA’s planetary exploration program (e.g., Discovery, New Frontiers), and is willing to accept risk consistent with Class D or Small-Sat payloads. As such, offerors are requested to provide information for those class of payloads and to briefly describe the risks associated with delivering and integrating this hardware.This information will be used to help formulate a strategy for payload acquisition. NASA anticipates releasing a Program Element Appendix (PEA) to the Stand Alone Missions of Opportunity Notice (SALMON) Announcement of Opportunity (AO) later this summer for lunar payloads. Additionally, responses to this RFI from NASA Centers will be used to assess the availability of potential payloads within NASA and NASA may choose to move forward with these payloads directly.Responses to this RFI are due via NSPIRES by June 27, 2018. Full text of the RFI, including instructions for submitting a response, can be accessed by following this link or by searching on NNH18ZDA012L at http://solicitation.nasaprs.com/open.Questions regarding this RFI may be addressed to Dr. Sarah Noble, [email protected]Posted by: Soderman/SSERVI StaffSource: NASA
I find the part I've highlighted in red interesting: NASA is considering a much more risk tolerant approach to flight hardware development and integration than is normally adopted{snip}
NextSTEP-2 Appendix E: Flexible Lunar Explorer (FLEx) LandersNASA intends to release a solicitation under the second Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP-2) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) in the near future to seek proposals from industry in support of design analysis, technology maturation, system development and integration, and space flight demonstrations for Flexible Lunar Explorer (FLEX) Landers. The primary objective of this Appendix to the NextSTEP-2 BAA is to enable rapid development and flight demonstrations of medium- to large-scale lunar landers by supporting critical technology advancement and leveraging component- or system-level industry investments. Each flight demonstration will validate lander evolutions of increasing capability and design extensibility to ensure a viable path toward reusable, human-class lunar landers. An important part of NASA's strategy is to stimulate the U.S. space industry while leveraging those same commercial capabilities through partnerships and future contracts to deliver mission capabilities. A key component of the NextSTEP-2 partnership model is that it provides an opportunity for NASA and industry to partner in the development of capabilities that meet NASA human space exploration objectives while also supporting industry commercialization plans for expanding the frontiers of future economic opportunities in space.This BAA Appendix addresses the development of medium- to large-scale lunar lander capabilities that have extensibility to reusable, human-class landers to a wide range of destinations on the lunar surface. NASA is planning two demonstration missions; one in 2022 and a second in 2024. The objective of these missions is to demonstrate progressive and evolutionary steps toward a reusable, human-class lander, with future missions informed by the outcomes of these initial missions. The first mission will serve as a National Lander Demonstration Mission with NASA serving as the overall system architect and integrator with significant industry participation from multiple sources.This NextSTEP-2 Appendix E, targeted for release in the early July 2018 timeframe, will include a NASA reference lander configuration to serve as the basis of the Lander for a first flight demonstration by the end of calendar year (CY) 2022. NASA will support critical technology advancement by leveraging industry investments in the design and development of this first medium-size Lander. Contracts awarded under Appendix E will have multiple phases. The first will be for brief studies to refine the reference design lander; these are anticipated to be brief with succinct products to assist in the development of the lander mission for flight in 2022. Appendix E will also seek identification of enabling, currently available (or nearly available), critical technologies (such as precision landing) to be integrated into the reference lander design. Following any awards under the initial study phase, NASA anticipates exercising options that will include mission risk reduction, technology maturation activities, system integration and test, and culminating in launch and landing operations.This NextSTEP Appendix will also include studies to identify technologies that could enable future larger scale landers and for the analysis of future mission design options to be considered for the 2024 and beyond missions. NASA will use the information gained through these initial studies to inform the performance requirements for the 2024 lander and will work with industry to continue to mature the approach for these future missions. Opportunities for industry to further support technology advancement for the 2024 demonstration landing, to include evolvable propulsion systems and other advanced capabilities, will be identified in a future NextSTEP-2 BAA appendix.
From the FBO site, more detail on the ACSC mid-to-large lander project, now called FLEx and organized under NextSTEP-2.Takeaways emphasized.QuoteThe first mission will serve as a National Lander Demonstration Mission with NASA serving as the overall system architect and integrator with significant industry participation from multiple sources.
The first mission will serve as a National Lander Demonstration Mission with NASA serving as the overall system architect and integrator with significant industry participation from multiple sources.
This is alarming and disappointing, it looks like NASA is determined to throw away the public private partnership model that makes COTS so successful and is going back to its cost-plus model for mid/large lunar lander.
Quote from: theinternetftw on 06/27/2018 08:29 pmFrom the FBO site, more detail on the ACSC mid-to-large lander project, now called FLEx and organized under NextSTEP-2.Takeaways emphasized.QuoteThe first mission will serve as a National Lander Demonstration Mission with NASA serving as the overall system architect and integrator with significant industry participation from multiple sources.This is alarming and disappointing, it looks like NASA is determined to throw away the public private partnership model that makes COTS so successful and is going back to its cost-plus model for mid/large lunar lander. I wonder if this is why Bezos is courting foreign space agencies and making announcements on IAC 18, he may have realized NASA has no interest in letting industry designing the lander.
NASA should restrict itself to just setting high-level requirements and then let industry come up with a lander designed to fulfill those high-level requirements.
Quote from: woods170 on 06/28/2018 07:25 amNASA should restrict itself to just setting high-level requirements and then let industry come up with a lander designed to fulfill those high-level requirements.Well, you could see 'em doing that for cargo delivery. The oversight would be minimal - don't crash into the base - but T-shirts and tang delivered by partners, great stuff.Crew? Well, the astronauts have to be wrapped in cotton wool. See CCDev.