Definitive Contract 80MSFC24CA004

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center awarded a $7.58 million definitive contract to Smithsonian Institution, doing business as Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, on March 26, 2024, for algorithm development and near-real-time product delivery supporting the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) mission, with ultimate completion on March 25, 2029.

The contract is priced cost-plus-fixed-fee with no set-aside. The originating solicitation, posted August 5, 2025 with responses due August 20, 2025, sought continued support for TEMPO near real-time and enhanced data products through the Satellite Needs Working Group program. The work includes developing low-latency retrieval products from TEMPO satellite data to support EPA and NOAA in monitoring air quality and pollution, characterizing pollutant distributions, and supplementing ground-based monitoring networks. Deliverables encompass fast versions of processors for straylight correction, wavelength calibration, trace gas retrievals for nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde, and new products for sulfur dioxide concentration adapted from NASA's Ozone Monitoring Instrument. Critical performance requirement mandates TEMPO NRT products be available to the user community within a 1–3 hour timeframe from satellite observation. Place of performance is Cambridge, Massachusetts. Work is performed under NAICS code 541715 (Research and Development in Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences) and PSC code AR12 (Space R&D Services). NASA indicated intent to procure on a sole-source basis from the current contractor, leveraging their unique qualifications.