NASA, on behalf of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), has awarded a delivery order under the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV (Rapid-IV) contract to Southwest Research Institute of San Antonio for the QuickSounder spacecraft.
The firm-fixed-price delivery order covers all phases of QuickSounder’s operations to include spacecraft development, integration of NOAA’s Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder Engineering Development Unit, spacecraft shipment, supporting launch operations, three years of mission operations, and eventual spacecraft decommissioning.
The total value of the order is $54,973,400 with the period of performance beginning Wednesday, Oct. 25, and scheduled to run until May 2029.
QuickSounder is the first project in NOAA’s Near Earth Orbit Network. As a pathfinder mission, QuickSounder will support NOAA’s next generation satellite architecture for its future low Earth orbit program, which will provide mission-critical data to support NOAA’s National Weather Service and the nation’s weather industry.
The Near Earth Orbit Network is a collaborative mission between NASA and NOAA. NASA will manage the development and launch of the satellites for NOAA, which will operate them and deliver data to users worldwide. NOAA, as the mission lead, provides funding, technical requirements, and post-launch operations. NASA and NOAA will work with commercial partners to design and build the network’s spacecraft and instruments.
The Rapid IV Request for Proposals (RFP) were updated.
The spacecraft industry, driven by the new LEO communications constellations, is producing more of the same spacecraft than in the past. The manufacturing, test and verification methods have evolved using the trend data from actual performance on-orbit. At Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), we recognize these developments and that most past requirements are intended to create an environment for the best chance of success for one-off spacecraft builds. Consequently, GSFC’s Inherited policy has been created to take advantage of the on-orbit successes of commercial spacecraft.
The Rapid Spacecraft Development Office (RSDO) held an Inherited Items briefing via Microsoft Teams on October 27, 2022, from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM Eastern Time. We recorded the briefing which can be found here.
This briefing is designed to assist Rapid IV Spacecraft Vendors with how to utilize the Goddard Procedural Requirement (GPR) 8730.5A Safety and Mission Assurance Acceptance of Inherited and Build-to-Print Products and how to benefit from the policy writing offers. This approach enables GSFC projects to take credit for inherited or Build-to-Print items having pertinent performance, qualification, operational, manufacturing, and/or reliability history applicable to their mission requirements. Additionally, it provides a means to tailor and/or provide relief to the application of specific Mission Assurance Requirements (MAR) and level of oversight or insight that do not sufficiently contribute to achieving mission success commensurate with their cost baseline and risk posture.
At RSDO we are working hard to provider services aligned with the interests of our stakeholders by allowing the use of commercial processes while customers benefit from reduced costs. After watching the video and looking at the slide package feel free to ask questions or comment.
Questions? Contact RSDO
NASA Official : M. Bruce Milam
Web Curator : Jennifer Brill