(U) CSS RFI_2026_10_30 Final.pdf

UNCLASSIFIED

MEMORANDUM FOR INDUSTRY PARTNERS

SUBJECT: (U) Request for Information (RFI) for a Cislunar Space System (CSS)

1. (U) INTRODUCTION

(U) The Department of the Air Force (DAF) is seeking market research information to inform the potential acquisition strategy for a Cislunar Space System (CSS). The CSS will consist of up to five (5) space vehicles (SVs), each of which will require a spacecraft bus, accommodation of a Government-provided payload, SV integration & test, a Ground Segment, including mission management and telemetry, tracking, control and communications, a solution for space launch, system (space vehicle/ground segment/communications) integration, and operations and maintenance (O&M). The Government is notionally interested in procuring up to five (5) SVs to meet DAF mission needs in late CY29. These vehicles may serve as seed vehicles that will inform the acquisition strategy for a potential future proliferated cislunar constellation. The Government is looking for information on industry's ability to provide a rapid, low-risk (minimal non-recurring engineering (NRE)) solution that can accommodate the Government's technical and programmatic objectives.

(U) The Government intends to award up to five (5) Firm Fixed Price (FFP) preliminary design study contracts upon Government consideration of the market information collected with this RFI and all other sources of information relevant to the effort. Failure to respond to this RFI may result in loss of the ability to participate in a subsequent program acquisition.

(U) This RFI does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), and industry should not construe the RFI as a commitment by the Government. In accordance with Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) provision 15.101, Early Exchanges with Industry, be advised that this is only an RFI and does not obligate the Government to reimburse any cost associated with preparation and/or submission of a RFI response. This RFI does not guarantee that the Government will issue an RFP or award a contract to provide these supplies or services.

2. (U) BACKGROUND

(U) The Government objective is the rapid development and fielding of up to 5 SVs to operate in cislunar space to inform requirements for a potential proliferated constellation acquisition. The Government is seeking input from industry to determine what, if any, capabilities exist that could meet Government technical and programmatic objectives.

3. (U) PURPOSE

(U) The Government is seeking to identify respondents or respondent teams with relevant cislunar domain expertise whose RFI demonstrates the capability to deliver a low-risk approach to meeting the Government's technical and schedule objectives. The Government is also seeking industry feedback to determine the practicability of procuring a commercial or non-developmental solution to meet the objectives. Low risk is defined here as an existing commercial and/or non-developmental solution that has demonstrated capability in the cislunar environment and requires minimal NRE across the system (e.g., flight hardware, flight software, ground segment, network architecture and software, etc.).

(U) The technical approach for the CSS should provide:

A. (U) A System for hosting Government-provided payloads that is proven through rapid fielding demonstrations and subsequently transitioned to production to meet Government mission and delivery requirements.

B. (U) A Space Segment that maximizes the number of SVs per launch by employing techniques such as compact bus designs and innovative stacking and mounting techniques to optimize the limited volume within a launch vehicle fairing.

C. (U) A Ground Segment that provides solutions for tasking, mission planning and scheduling (MPS), and command and control (C2); data processing; on-orbit initialization and calibration; and operations and maintenance (O&M) of the System.

D. (U) A Launch Segment Integration solution that provides launch integration on a government-provided National Security Space Launch (NSSL) booster.

E. (U) A Communication Segment that supports operationally responsive tasking and delivery timelines.

F. (U) Interfaces, including modular spacecraft bus to payload interfaces to accommodate different sized payloads, and external interfaces to external systems for tasking and data dissemination.

4. (U) TECHNICAL/PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES

(U) The CSS should meet the following technical objectives:

1. (U) Design Life (including on-orbit checkout):

a. (U) Threshold: 3 years with 0.6 reliability and adequate expendables/wear-out resources to support five years of mission.

b. (U) Objective: 5 years with 0.6 reliability.

2. (U) Operating Regime: Throughout cislunar space to include Earth-Moon transfers, libration point orbits, resonant orbits, and low energy transfer trajectories to Sun- Earth L1/L2.

3. (U) Operating Modes: Orbital transfers, multiple hosted payload operating modes:

a. (U) Autonomous operation for at least 72 hours.

b. (U) Safe mode capability.

c. (U) Delta-V for orbit maintenance.

d. (U) End of life disposal capability, compliant with Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices.

4. (U) Payload Capacity: Support hosted payloads on each SV with the following parameters:

a. (U) Total Payload Mass (NTE): 2,000 kg.

b. (U) Payload dimensions (NTE):

i. Length: 3m.

ii. Height: 1m.

iii. Width: 1m.

5. (U) Payload Power requirements:

a. (U) Threshold: 1 kW.

b. (U) Objective: 3 kW.

6. (U) Data Handling and Storage: Support standard space data interfaces and provide onboard data storage for payload mission data.

7. (U) Guidance, Navigation, and Control:

a. Three-axis stabilization.

b. 6-DOF thruster control.

c. Propulsive maneuverability to support cislunar orbit transfer, orbit insertions, and orbit station keeping.

8. (U) Communications: Robust and reliable narrowband (TT&C) and wideband (mission) communication capabilities. System may leverage existing government or commercial capabilities.

9. (U) Cybersecurity: Implementation of NSA Type-I encryption/decryption.

5. (U) SCHEDULE OBJECTIVE

1. (U) Initial Launch Capability: Late CY29.

2. (U) Operational Initial On-orbit Capability: CY31.

6. (U) RFI SUBMITTAL INSTRUCTIONS

(U) Interested respondents or respondent teams should submit a response of no more than fifteen

(15) pages that includes the following information:

A. (U) System

1. (U) A cover page with:

a. (U) Company name.

b. (U) A primary and secondary Point of Contact (POC) for the company, to include name, telephone number, and email address to coordinate any additional communication.

c. (U) Submittal date for the CSS RFI response.

2. (U) Description of recent (within the past three (3) years) relevant respondent, or respondent team, cislunar domain expertise. Description of relevant respondent, or respondent team experience with managing the development of classified space systems for the Government. Relevant capabilities include:

a. (U) Program Management - Project planning and scheduling, risk management frameworks, cost estimation and control, supply chain and vendor management.

b. (U) Mission and Systems Engineering - Requirements management, interface control, design review processes, verification/validation, and documentation.

c. (U) Information Systems - Product lifecycle management software, requirements management tools, secure data handling for classified information.

3. (U) The proposed approach for the CSS that will meet the Government specified objectives. Provide details on the planned fielding plan, such as number of integrated SVs per launch, and the production ramp rate. Identify risks to meeting these requirements and describe strategies for addressing the risks.

4. (U) A credible, high-level schedule that supports the Government schedule objectives as outlined above. Assume Authority to Proceed (ATP) for preliminary design work will be in 2QFY27.

5. (U) A Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimate for the System that includes:

a. (U) Description of scope that is included.

b. (U) Ability to execute the scope as a FFP contract.

c. (U) High-level price breakout of NRE/RE by Government Fiscal Year (FY), to include a breakout by Space Segment, Ground Segment, communication solution, launch segment integration, and on-orbit initialization.

d. (U) Assume ATP for preliminary design will be provided in 2QFY27 and ATP for the critical design and production will be provided after completion of PDR.

e. (U) List of anticipated Government Furnished items (GFx), if any, including a statement confirming that the owning Government organization is willing to provide the specified GFx.

f. (U) Complete list of assumptions. The assumptions should include use of the respondent or respondent team command media/commercial standards.

B. (U) Space Segment

6. (U) Description of respondent or respondent team existing production facilities, infrastructure, and personnel that demonstrates a credible capability to design, manufacture, integrate, and test the Space Segment. Include a description of on-going and/or planned capital investments. Relevant capabilities include:

a. (U) Engineering Expertise - Core disciplines (mechanical, electrical, systems, thermal and software engineering), specialized knowledge (specialty analysis, design standards knowledge, launch vehicle integration requirements), and specialized subsystem capabilities (separation/deployment systems, electrical integration).

b. (U) Workforce Capabilities - Qualified personnel (certified technicians, engineers with space vehicle heritage, quality inspectors, test engineers, safety officers).

c. (U) Technical Infrastructure - Manufacturing facilities (clean manufacturing areas, integration halls with adequate floor space, secure areas for sensitive hardware), manufacturing infrastructure (metalworking capabilities, advanced manufacturing, surface treatment, materials management), tools/equipment (contamination control systems, ESD-protection, specialized tooling), and support spaces (material storage, engineering offices).

d. (U) Testing and Verification - Structural testing, environmental testing, functional testing, relationships with testing service providers (if needed).

7. (U) Description of the bus to be used to include the planned bus provider and approach to accomplish the production rate required to meet schedule objectives.

Note that the proposed bus design must be based on an existing cislunar qualified bus design that is available for procurement and that the respondent or respondent team has integrated and has either flown within the past three (3) years or has been/will be through System-Level Assembly, Integration and Test (AI&T) within the next twenty-four (24) months. Provide details on the expected bus performance relative to the Government technical objectives.

8. Description of planned approach for cislunar Pointing, Navigation, and Timing (PNT), including a discussion of respondent or respondent team experience using that approach.

9. (U) Details of the bus's recent (within the past 3 years) flight heritage that support the demonstrated full functionality of the bus over its projected design life. Describe heritage relative to an existing commercial/non-developmental bus design to demonstrate maximum reuse with minimal modifications.

10. (U) Description of the planned approach for SV AI&T, calibration, and on-orbit initialization consistent with the Government schedule objectives. Provide proven timelines from relevant SV integration efforts that demonstrate a credible capability to scale production to meet the Government notional FOC schedule objective.

Include a description of respondent or respondent team recent (within the past three

(3) years) experience with designing, building and initializing multiple space vehicles on a short timeline.

11. (U) Discuss respondent or respondent team experience with using Super Intelligence (SI) to manage autonomous SV operations over extended durations. Include a discussion of the on-board compute and storage requirements needed to implement an SI managed autonomous operations capability.

C. (U) Ground Segment

12. (U) Description of respondent or respondent team existing facilities, infrastructure, and personnel that demonstrate a credible capability to design, integrate, and test the Ground Segment. Include a description of on-going or planned capital investments.

Relevant capabilities include:

a. (U) Engineering Expertise - System architecture and design (end-to-end design, network topology, redundancy planning), communication systems (antenna integration, spectrum management), data processing (data pipelines, storage/archive, cloud integration), cybersecurity, and software development (integration, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), automation, DevOps).

b. (U) Technical Infrastructure - Any existing Ground infrastructure, such as processing and control locations and contractor ground entry points, which could be leveraged for the multi-SV CSS.

c. (U) Testing & Commissioning - End-to-end testing, performance validation, and operational readiness.

d. (U) Operations Support - Training, documentation, maintenance, and lifecycle sustainment.

13. (U) Description of the planned ground segment approach for C2 and MPS of a multi- SV system. Include a description of any cloud hosting requirements and/or mission unique ground hardware. Include a description of respondent or respondent team relevant experience with C2 and MPS of multi-SV systems.

14. (U) Description of planned approach for data processing. Include a description of respondent or respondent team relevant experience with developing and fielding processing solutions for multi-SV systems.

15. (U) Description of the planned approach for O&M of the System. Include a description of respondent or respondent team experience with O&M of multi-SV systems.

D. (U) Communication Segment

16. (U) Description of the planned communications approach for meeting operationally responsive tasking and delivery timelines. Include a description of respondent or respondent team relevant experience with developing/acquiring and operating or interfacing with a communications system to meet operationally responsive cislunar timelines.

E. (U) Launch Segment Integration

17. (U) Description of respondent or respondent team existing facilities, infrastructure, and personnel that demonstrates a credible capability for meeting Government schedule objectives. Include a description of on-going or planned capital investments. Relevant capabilities include:

a. (U) Engineering Expertise - Launch vehicle specific adapter design, orbit injection and separation dynamics.

b. (U) Workforce Capabilities -Transportation and logistics for spacecraft shipping and ground support equipment management; working within range-specific rules and flight termination requirements; and executing the precise sequence of encapsulation, mating, fueling, and countdown operations.

c. (U) Technical Infrastructure - Any existing facilities and infrastructure for storage and launch integration, which could be leveraged for the CSS.

d. (U) Testing and Verification - Launch environment qualification for ascent, acoustics, vibration, shock and rapid pressure/thermal transients.

18. (U) Description of the planned approach for integration of the space vehicles on a government-provided National Security Space Launch (NSSL) booster, including:

a. (U) Any caveats or restrictions precluding open competition of NSSL launches dedicated to the identified approach.

b. (U) If multiple vehicles are planned per launch, provide a description of a launch adapter compatible with at least one NSSL provider.

19. (U) Concept drawings that illustrate the bus form factor and fairing packing efficiency, i.e., how the payload could be mounted to the space vehicle and how multiple integrated space vehicles could be arranged for launch.

F. (U) Interfaces

20. (U) Description of potential approaches for achieving a modular payload-to-bus interface.

G. (U) General Instructions

(U) The Government expects that interested respondents will select one (1) approach per company, or set of merging/associate companies, that best demonstrates the capability to meet Government technical and schedule objectives. Each submission must define a complete system, describe an approach for providing that system, and address all items listed above in order to be considered responsive to this RFI.

(U) Interested respondents shall appropriately classify RFI responses. Interested respondents shall limit responses to no more than fifteen (15) pages, including supporting appendices, cover page, indices, etc. Security classification, portion marking, and company sensitive marks are required. Type size shall be 12-point proportional font. Briefings and/or briefing charts in lieu of written responses are not permitted.

(U) Respondents should also complete and submit the attached Summary Response Template.

The Summary Response Template does not count against the fifteen (15) page limit.

(U) Responses shall be sent electronically to the following POCs no later than 1200 noon EDT 13 November 2026.

a. Mr. Shelby Sommer (Shelby.Sommer@us.af.mil)

b. Lt Col Joseph DeRienzo (Joseph.DeRienzo@us.af.mil)

(U) Responses to this notice shall include Respondent's Company Name, Address and Contact Information. Responses should be prepared in Microsoft Word 2016 (or compatible version) or PDF format (compatible with Adobe Reader XI). When submitting a response, please use the subject "DAF Cislunar Space System - [Respondent Name]". Any responses submitted through different channels or to different email addresses will not be considered. The Government is not obligated to review responses to this RFI received after the 13 November 2026 deadline.

(U) If a respondent would like to include classified information that cannot be submitted on NIPR or would like to submit their response via another network (e.g., JWICS, SIC or CORE), please contact the POCs listed above for submission instructions. Please indicate the classification level desired.

7. (U) CONSENT TO DISCLOSURE AND COMPANY-TO-COMPANY NON-

DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT (NDAS)

(U) Pursuant to RFO 9.505-4(b), Obtaining Access to Proprietary Information, a contractor that gains access to proprietary information of other companies in performing A&AS for the Government must agree with the other companies to protect their information from unauthorized use or disclosure for as long as it remains proprietary and refrain from using the information for any purpose other than that for which it was furnished. The Contracting Officer (CO) shall obtain copies of these agreements and ensure that they are properly executed.

(U) To the maximum extent possible, please submit non-proprietary information. If proprietary information is submitted, it must be appropriately and specifically marked. It is the submitter's responsibility to clearly define to the Government what is considered proprietary data. Any proprietary information should be clearly labeled as "Proprietary." The Government will not publicly disclose proprietary information obtained as a result of the RFI. To the full extent that it is protected pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act and other laws and regulations, information properly identified by a respondent as "Proprietary" will be appropriately controlled.

(U) Respondents are hereby notified that the Government intends to utilize non-Government consultants, e.g., Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) contractors and Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) personnel, to review RFI responses and provide technical advice. All personnel assigned to provide technical advice have signed non-disclosure agreements and conflict of interest statements and will be made aware that RFI responses may not be duplicated, used, or disclosed in whole or in part for any purpose other than evaluation of the responses.

8. (U) GOVERNMENT REVIEW OF RESPONSES

(U) The Government intends to review each RFI response with a focus on the following risk areas to determine the ability of the marketplace to meet the Government's need for a low-risk approach to meeting System technical and schedule objectives:

a. (U) Technical risk associated with each respondent or respondent team's technical approach and Concept of Operations (CONOPS) for meeting the Government technical objectives; this will include the risk associated with operating multiple SVs in the cislunar environment.

b. (U) Schedule risk associated with each respondent or respondent team's ability to meet the Government's notional schedule objectives outlined above.

c. (U) Production risk associated with each respondent or respondent team's approach. This will include an assessment of existing production facilities, current and/or planned funded capital investments, prior domain expertise in delivering cislunar-qualified SVs, and the respondent or respondent team 's approach for SV AI&T, launch, on-orbit initialization and calibration.

d. (U) Respondent or respondent team's overall ability to execute the program.

(U) Responses to this RFI will not be returned. Intellectual or other privileged or proprietary information contained in responses to this RFI will not be distributed outside of the Department of War or to other Government employees from other Government agencies. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt.

(U) The Government does not intend to provide feedback to RFI respondents; however, responses may lead to an invitation by the Government for further discussion. Failure to respond to this RFI may result in loss of the ability to participate in a subsequent program acquisition upon Government consideration of all sources of information relevant to this effort.

(U) The Government reserves the right to potentially issue multiple contracts/agreements based on our findings. Further, the Government may solicit multiple rounds of contracts to reduce risk and mature technologies.

9. (U) QUESTIONS AND POINTS OF CONTRACT

(U) Respondents may submit questions concerning this RFI NL T 1200 noon EDT 06 November 2026 via NIPR to the following POCs:

a. Mr. Shelby Sommer (Shelby.Sommer@us.af.mil)

b. Lt Col Joseph DeRienzo (Joseph.DeRienzo@us.af.mil)

(U) The Government may answer questions at its discretion on a case-by-case basis.

(U) The Government would like to thank all prospective respondents in advance for expending time and resources in support of this RFI.

Atch: Summary Response Template