Solicitation Number:
18 Sept. 2018: Appendix G Issued on FedBizOps | NASA Announcement
NASA issued the Space Relay Partnership and Services Study solicitation as Appendix G under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP-2) Broad Agency Announcement, to establish public-private partnerships with U.S. commercial entities to support the evolution of its existing network infrastructure into an interoperable, extensible space communications and navigation network. This next generation network architecture will include adding optical communication and enhanced radio frequency space relay capabilities and services to enable new and greater scientific discovery and space exploration, improve communication and navigation services, and reduce development and operations costs for both networks and missions.
The objectives of the study are to assess:
- Commercial service concepts
- Determine the architecture and service concepts for optical and RF space services and develop the service management and operations aspects for user mission.
- Accommodations of the NASA provided optical payload
- Determine the factors to incorporate NASA’s new optical technology onto commercial spacecraft and the associated commercial space services.
- Use of PPPs for providing and receiving communication and navigation services
- Determine costs, business case, risk management approach, and terms for the Government and commercial partner with balanced risk. Assess market expectations, non-Government customer aspects, timeline, transition, and cost factors. Identify Partner and NASA contributions needed for the PPP to succeed.
Learn more about NASA’s NextSTEP public-private partnership model that seeks to stimulate the commercial space industry and help the agency explore deep space for the benefit of all.