80GRC025RFI0001 Cryogenics Testing Area.pdf

RFI- DEVELOPMENT FOR TEST FACILITY IN ADVANCING HYDROGEN TECHNOLOGY

DEVELOPMENT FOR AERONAUTIC APPLICATIONS

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

NO PROPOSALS ARE TO BE SUBMITTED IN RESPONSE TO THIS NOTICE

This notice is issued by the NASA/Glenn Research Center (GRC) to post a Request for Information (RFI) on understanding the development needs for a test facility to efficiently and safely advance hydrogen technology development for aeronautic applications. This RFI solicits responses from interested parties. This document is for information and planning purposes only while allowing industry the opportunity to comment on the reasonableness and feasibility of such a test facility And whether or not there may be an interest to collaborate on such a facility.

The Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program (TACP) solicits and encourages revolutionary concepts, creates the environment for researchers to experiment with new ideas, performs ground and small-scale flight tests, allows failures and learns from them, and drives rapid turnover into potential future concepts to enable aviation transformation. Within this program, the Convergent Aeronautics Solutions (CAS) project focuses on system-level challenges that often require utilizing NASA expertise in non-traditional ways or with non-traditional partners to achieve game-changing, disruptive, high-value impact. This approach considers barriers not only to technical feasibility, but also to socially complex stakeholder needs and paths to economic viability.

NASA has over 70 years of experience handling both gaseous and liquid hydrogen. As hydrogen comes back into the public sphere as a possible energy carrier (for both terrestrial and aeronautics applications), NASA can contribute in multiple ways to help US industry lead the way into these new ventures. Based on the results from workshops and discussions with US industry, academia, and other government agencies, one way for NASA to infuse their experience is through facilitating testing endeavors. Testing with hydrogen, especially liquid and other forms of cryogenic hydrogen, is an expensive endeavor requiring a specially trained workforce and significant infrastructure investments beyond the capability of many small- and medium-sized businesses. A multi-center NASA team is exploring the needs and requirements that might play into the development of a Cryogenic Hydrogen Test Facility as a national capability supporting the implementation of new materials, components, and technologies for aeronautical applications. Such a test capability could allow the development of operational procedures for airport operations and also support the needs for the development of technologies for other hydrogen transportation applications. These needs may include testing at a range of scales, from material development and component characterization to full sized aircraft.

NASA’s multi-center team is only gathering information to inform future plans; it offers no promise of future funding, nor a request for proposal for either execution or implementation of such a test facility.

However, the gathering of this information can be used to help NASA and others within the US Government understand how this might be best executed and the level of interest across the country for its implementation.

NASA is releasing this RFI to determine the needs, advocacy, and possible requirements that span the design, development, and possible use of a cryogenic hydrogen test facility to support the development and infusion of materials and technology for cryogenic hydrogen based aircraft, airports, and other transportation applications.

Testing:

1. What are your organization's current cryogenic hydrogen testing capabilities and procedures?

2. What hydrogen testing and procedures, including for cryogenic hydrogen, are needed for future hydrogen operations and use?

3. What types of testing should be implemented to demonstrate cryogenic system integrity onboard an aircraft or for ground operations?

4. How do you gain confidence on the standardized testing protocols?

5. What are the primary design, engineering, and environmental limitations of SOA for cryogenic hydrogen-related applications, including structural, storage, energy conversion, and transport?

6. What systems and components do you think will be needed in the foreseeable future but have not yet been addressed?

Materials:

7. What are the material and material property shortfalls that limit your organization's exploration of cryogenic hydrogen aviation?

Facilities:

8. What test site infrastructure and features would facilitate demonstrating your technology? (e.g.

rail access, high voltage power, large exclusion zones, etc.)

9. What scale of size and duration of testing/demonstration /occupation of facility need to be accounted for? How can this be increased in phases?

10. What new standards need to be developed for safe operations of this and other large-scale liquid or cryogenic compressed gas hydrogen facilities? Can existing ones be combined for more effectiveness? Does the development of these standards require certain testing?

11. What developments (to fill technical gaps) are needed to make testing and demonstrations with liquid and cryogenic compressed gas hydrogen more cost effective?

12. What specialized training would your use of the test facility require to achieve your demonstration objectives? How do you see the test facility influencing staff training and operational procedure development? Would partnering with educational institutions be able to provide that specialized training?

13. Given the response to the above questions you provided, do you know of any existing facilities or locations that could be considered for the Cryogenic Hydrogen Testing Facility?

Collaboration:

14. What would you hope to learn, collect, produce, share from a NASA organized industry workshop on H2 storage and testing?

15. How would your organization be able to contribute? 1) Workforce? 2) Expertise? 3) Funding? 4) Facilities and equipment? 5) Development of codes and standards? 6) Safety? 7) Performance testing? 8) Infrastructure, production, distribution demonstrations? 9) Scale-up? 10) Information sharing and dissemination? 11) Other?

16. Please share any existing hydrogen consortia, forums and discussion platforms that you currently find useful and provide any specific examples of how they have been beneficial. [REFERENCE:

Hydrogen Interagency Taskforce, Interagency Advanced Power Group, Congressional Subcommittees, State Committees, Ad hoc technical conferences]

No additional forms, kits, or other materials are needed.

NASA appreciates responses from all sources including, but not limited to, academic institutions, public and private large and small businesses. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice.

NASA will not consider material that is marked classified. Any proprietary information must be clearly marked.

NASA reserves the right to use responses to share with other Federal agencies or develop future solicitations and other types of public correspondence. NASA may request to cite or release individual responses, please identify any responses that should be held confidential. Submissions must be formatted as a PDF document and limited to no more than 10 pages. Respondents are permitted to provide external links to more detailed information where appropriate.

This RFI is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government, nor will the Government pay for the information submitted in response. The Government may not respond to questions/concerns submitted.

The Government will use the information to finalize the RFP as necessary, if any.

NASA may contact respondents to this RFI to seek clarifications or additional information. Responses to this RFI do not bind NASA to any further actions related to this topic. Any future steps taken to potentially award Broad Agency Announcements, Request for Proposals, Space Act Agreements, or Announcements of Opportunities will be contingent upon availability of funds. This announcement contains all information required to submit a response.

All comments or questions shall be submitted electronically via email to the Contracting Officer, Ian Park at ian.park@nasa.gov , no later than February 21, 2025 3:00PM EST. When responding reference

80GRC025RFI0001.

NASA Clause 1852.215-84, Ombudsman, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement- Ombuds-Comp-Advocate- Listing.pdf.

If a solicitation is released, then it and any additional documents will be available on www.Sam.gov. It is the responder's responsibility to monitor this website for the release of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Potential responders will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and amendments, if any.

[End of RFI]