MTN Industry Day Presentation 04-09-26.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA.gov

Mars Telecommunications Network Industry Day 4/9/2026

Greg Hecker, SCaN Deputy Program Manager for Capability Development Rich Burns, MTN Project Manager

Welcome

Logistics

M A R S T E L E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S N E T W O R K

Agenda

Time Topic Presenter Location

8:30 – 8:40 am Welcome Cynthia Simmons, Goddard Space Flight Center Director B3 Auditorium

8:40 – 8:50 am Logistics Kelly Hyde, Project Implementation Manager, MTN B3 Auditorium

8:50 – 9:05 am Challenges & Opportunities

Greg Heckler, Deputy Program Manager for Capability Development B3 Auditorium

9:05 – 10:00 am MTN Project Rich Burns, Project Manager, MTN B3 Auditorium

10:00 – 10:30 am Break

10:30 am – 11:30 am Q&A Procurement B3 Auditorium

MTN Industry Day Objectives and Disclaimer

Objectives:

• Provide a forum to further explain the MTN objectives, requirements, and procurement structure.

• Provide the opportunity for NASA to hear from industry on the dFRP.

• Advance toward a mature, thoroughly considered RFP that sets the stage for MTN success.

Notes:

• All information provided during Industry Day is preliminary.

• In the event of a discrepancy between the information you receive today and the information in the final RFP, the final RFP is the controlling document.

• The final RFP will take precedence over the dRFP or any information you receive today.

Logistics All conversations in this session are public

• No Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) or Proprietary Information should be shared.

No photographs or recording

• Industry day presentation will be posted on sam.gov

Wi-Fi access:

• Instructional sheets are available where you checked in.

Restrooms:

• Exit auditorium, turn left, continue down the hallway, up the small staircase; restrooms located on the right.

Reminder:

• Comments/Responses for the Draft RFP are due 4/13/26 per the Cover Letter

Question & Answer Instructions

If you have a question, please submit it to the QR code.

Procurement will take 30 minutes after the briefing to examine questions and prepare our responses.

After the break, we will reconvene, and address questions submitted.

Questions may not be answered today, but questions and answers will be posted on SAM.gov.

Questions posed in 1:1 sessions are unlikely to receive a response today.

Point of Contact

All communications regarding this dRFP should go through Alisha Mercadante (alisha.m.mercadante@nasa.gov), Carlos

McKenzie (Carlos.R.Mckenzie@nasa.gov), Antwan Reid at (Antwan.G.Reid@nasa.gov), as listed on SAM.gov.

mailto:alisha.m.mercadante@nasa.gov mailto:Carlos.R.Mckenzie@nasa.gov mailto:Antwan.G.Reid@nasa.gov

Challenges & Opportunities

10nasa.gov | NASA Internal Only

Mars Exploration M A R S T E L E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S N E T W O R K

E a r l y R e c o n n a i s s a n c e

F o l l o w t h e W a t e r

1971 1975 1996 2011

S e a r c h f o r L i f e

E x p a n d e d S c i e n c e

Mariner 4 (1964)

Mariner 6 and 7 (1969)

Mariner 9 (1971)

Viking 1 and 2 (1975)

Mars Global Surveyor (1996)

Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner

(1996)

Mars Odyssey* (2001)

Mars Express*

(2003)

Spirit and Opportunity

(2003)

MRO*

(2005)

Phoenix (2007)

* = MRN

MSL

Curiosity (2011)

MAVEN*

(2013)

ExoMars

TGO* (2016)

InSight and MarCO-A/B

(2018)

EMM

Hope (2020)

Mars 2020 Perseverance and Ingenuity

(2020)

S C a N i n i t i a t e d M a r s a n d D e e p S p a c e s t r a t e g i c p l a n n i n g , b u i l d i n g o n i t s s u c c e s s p a r t n e r i n g w i t h i n d u s t r y i n n e a r E a r t h a n d c i s l u n a r s p a c e

E a r t h C i s l u n a r

Adopt commercial solutions to provide global, low-latency, high-throughput services to users

M a r s a n d D e e p S p a c e

Develop a cohesive approach across the agency to identify and close projected gaps

Communications Services Project well underway with seven industry partners for near Earth space relay

Near Space Network is validating new DTE services and partners

3Leverage commercial and international partners to deliver cislunar C&PNT capacity and capability

Lunar relay services partner Intuitive Machines progressing in development and deployment

Lunar Exploration Ground Segment commercial services validation underway

Complete remaining DSN antenna builds by 2030

Integrate future mission needs from across the Agency

Engage in market research

Implement “MTO” requirement found in P.L. 119-21

Mars and Deep Space Regimes

Today’s Mars Relay Network (MRN) is operated by the Science Mission Directorate’s Mars Exploration Program

Data is delivered through a network of hybrid science/relay orbiters and ground stations, including the Deep Space Network and ESTRACK

However, as these orbiters age and approach retirement, the system’s capabilities will steadily decline.

The challenge for MRN’s successor:

• Capitalize on the opportunity enabled by P.L. 119-21

• Maintain continuity of MRN services by achieving a

2028 launch

• Deploy dedicated infrastructure and new capabilities to advance the long-term Mars C&PNT architecture

New capability is needed to meet future agency needs

DSN

NASA

ESTRACK

ESA

RKPNI

ROSCOSMOS

Odyssey

NASA

Mars Express

ESA

Mars 2020 Rover (Perseverance)

NASA

Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity)

NASA

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

NASA

ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO)

ESA

Roslind Franklin (ExoMars)

ESA

MTN Project

Budget Opportunity

W o r k i n g F a m i l i e s Ta x C u t A c t ( P. L . 11 9 - 2 1 ) P r o v i d e d $ 7 0 0 M f o r M a r s R e l a y :

• Robust continuous comm for Mars Sample Return (MSR) and future Mars surface, orbital, and human exploration missions

• Supporting autonomous operations, onboard processing, and extended mission duration capabilities

• Selected from among commercial proposers for MSR

• Obligation of funds by end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2026; delivery by end of 2028

F Y 2 6 P r e s i d e n t ’s B u d g e t R e q u e s t ( P B R ) I n c l u d e d Te n s o f M i l l i o n s f o r :

• Improved relay infrastructure between Mars and Earth

• Prioritizing partnerships with commercial partners

M T N i s p r o c e e d i n g a s a s i n g l e p r o j e c t :

• Developing a single Agency approach for all users

• Determining one set of requirements and life cycle cost

NASA Organization Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD)

• Funding organization and primary stakeholder Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN)

• Program Office

Goddard Space Flight Center

• Project Office, Engineering, Safety & Mission Assurance, Procurement

Glenn Research Center

• Engineering, Telecommunications

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

• Engineering, Mars / Mars Relay Network subject matter expertise

16ESDMD Management Directive (ESDMD-MD-006)

Scope

• Initiate procurement of an initial Mars communications relay mission to support enabling capability and risk reduction for future Moon to Mars (M2M) Architecture.

• Given this direction and its timeframe, use a tailored approach to integrate the pre-formulation across Agency teams.

• Primary goal: Address the transition from current Mars science assets to a suitable alternative.

Architecture Needs

• Partially fulfill M2M Architecture use cases UC-C-103 M, UC-C-104 M, UC-C-

105 M, UC-C-202 M

• Provide support to existing operational and planned capabilities for Mars surface science missions through at least the mid-2030s

• Provide support to human-scale EDL demonstration missions

• Provide support to technology demonstrations or assets associated with either of the above

• Identify and implement key features to ensure compatibility with future human mission relay assets

F u n c t i o n s U s e C a s e s

Provide communications and data exchange between assets in deep space and/or Mars vicinity and Earth

FN

-C

-104 M

Communications and data exchange between assets in deep space and/or Mars vicinity and Earth

U C

-C -104 M

Provide communications and data exchange between assets in deep space and/or Mars vicinity

FN

-C

-107 M

Communications and data exchange between assets in deep space and/or Mars vicinity

U C

-C -105 M

Provide communications and data exchange between assets in deep space and/or Mars vicinity and the Martian surface

FN

-C

-103 M

Communications and data exchange between assets in deep space and/or Mars vicinity and the Martian surface

U C

-C -103 M

Provide position, navigation, and timing data on the Martian surface

FN

-C

-201 M

Determination of positioning, navigation, and timing for crew and assets at exploration sites on the Martian surface

U C

-C -202 M

Scope & Architecture Needs https://moon2mars.ndc.nasa.gov/heo-sei/cmw/app/main.aspx/Directives/30__ESDMD-MD-006 https://moon2mars.ndc.nasa.gov/heo-sei/cmw/app/main.aspx/Directives/30__ESDMD-MD-006 https://moon2mars.ndc.nasa.gov/heo-sei/cmw/app/main.aspx/Directives/30__ESDMD-MD-006 https://moon2mars.ndc.nasa.gov/heo-sei/cmw/app/main.aspx/Directives/30__ESDMD-MD-006 https://moon2mars.ndc.nasa.gov/heo-sei/cmw/app/main.aspx/Directives/30__ESDMD-MD-006

MTN Objectives

Strategic Objectives for the Mars Relay have been derived in accordance with the August 2025 ESDMD/SAO memorandum and updated as a result of the Mission Concept Study and MTN project analysis and stakeholder feedback:

# Objective:

1 Provide communication and data exchange between assets in the Mars vicinity, the Mars surface, and Earth anticipated to operate at Mars through 2035.

2 Provide Doppler, range, and time transfer to support positioning, navigation, and timing for assets anticipated to operate at Mars through 2035.

3 Provide communication services to existing operational missions.

4 Provide communications, Doppler, range, and time transfer services to the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) demonstration missions anticipated to operate at Mars through 2035.

5* Provide spacecraft bus integration, accommodation, and communication services to a science payload provided by NASA.

*included in pending update to dRFP

Schedule Drivers

MTN is a schedule-driven project

• P.L. 119-21 requires obligation of funding by

September 30, 2026

• Drives procurement schedule

• P.L. 119-21 requires delivery to the Administration by December 31, 2028

• Statutory necessity

• Lack of Mars Relay Network robustness

• Drives operational readiness on fastest implementable timeline

• MTN-REQ-013 – MTN shall achieve full operational readiness no later than end of calendar year 2030

Procurement and development schedules are paramount.

MTN Lifecycle

MTN Lifecycle

• MTN provides NASA standard practices / review points of 7120.5 and associated milestones for reference

• Each offeror identifies their own milestones/deliverables aligned with corporate practices

• NASA evaluates the proposed milestones and associated payment schedule for reasonableness and effectiveness:

o Schedule realism o Technical depth and content maturity (hardware / results-oriented preferred to reviews/reporting) o Payments weighted toward operational readiness demonstrate partner commitment o Partner-defined incentives:

Readiness to ship

Mars Relay commissioning

Annual ops requirements met

MTN milestones (to be proposed)

Nominal Procurement Schedule

• Multi-step process described in FAR 15.101(e)

• Potential offerors highly encouraged to submit nonbinding information addressing their statutory eligibility

• The Government will evaluate each potential offerors' submission against the criteria identified OBBBA and provide the following in response to potential offerors:

• Potential offerors considered:

o likely to be viable competitors will be encouraged to participate in the resultant acquisition.

o unlikely to be viable competitors will be advised accordingly with the general basis for that opinion.

• Potential offerors, regardless of the advisory result, may still choose to participate in the resultant acquisition.

Life Cycle Alignment with CLINs

Design/Implementation Phases Preliminary Design Detailed Design Fabrication, Build, Assembly &Test

Launch Vehicle Integration

Launch & Post- Launch Operations

NLT End of

CY 2028

PSR

NLT End of

CY 2030

Commissioning Fixed Milestones (May Be Vendor

Equivalent)

CLIN 1 – delivery of MTN system CLIN 9 – science payload accommodation

CLIN 2 – Special Studies

CLIN 3 – Transport to Launch site through Commissioning in Relay Orbit

CLIN 4 - 8

Contract Line Item

Number (CLIN) *annual requirements met

• P.L. 119-21 mandates firm, fixed-price contract.

• CLINs separate work packages into logically coherent work units that can be funded independently.

• Offerors are responsible (CLIN 3) for the procurement of the Launch Vehicle, integration, and range coordination.

Orbital Science Users, Advanced Landers, EDL demos, and Commercial Users

Legacy Surface Science Users

MTN Spacecraft System*

X-Band DWE Forward Link [≥0.1 Mbps]

Advanced Proximity Forward Links [≥25.0 Mbps]

Ka-Band DWE Return Link [≥ 3.0 Mbps]

UHF Proximity Forward Links (MRN Compatible) [≥2.0 Mbps]

Deep Space Network

(DSN)

*MTN Spacecraft System may consist of any number of orbital assets depending on contractor architecture

MTN-REQ-006, 019,

022, 024, 025, 026, 041

MTN-REQ-

003,004, 014, 015 033

MTN-REQ-002.

029, 031

MTN-REQ-032, 034, 035, 036,

037, 038, 039 X-Band DWE Return Link [≥0.5 Mbps]

Advanced Proximity Return Links [≥25.0 Mbps]

UHF Proximity Return Links (MRN Compatible) [≥2.0 Mbps]

MTN Threshold Configuration

MTN Threshold Configuration

Orbital Science Users, Advanced Landers, EDL demos, and Commercial Users

Legacy Surface Science Users

MTN Spacecraft System*

X-Band DWE Forward Link (≥1.0 Mbps)

Advanced Proximity Forward Links (≥100.0 Mbps)

Ka-Band DWE Forward Link (≥ 2.0 Mbps)

UHF Proximity Forward Links (MRN Compatible) [≥8.0 Mbps]

Deep Space Network

(DSN)

*MTN Spacecraft System may consist of any number of orbital assets depending on contractor architecture

MTN-REQ-002.

029, 031

MTN-REQ-032, 034, 035, 036,

037, 038, 039 X-Band DWE Return Link (≥1.0 Mbps)

Advanced Proximity Return Links (≥100.0 Mbps)

UHF Proximity Return Links (MRN Compatible) [≥8.0 Mbps]

MTN Goal Configuration

Ka-Band DWE Return Link (≥ 5.0 Mbps)

MTN-REQ-006, 019,

022, 024, 025, 026, 041

MTN-REQ-

003,004, 014, 015 033

MTN Goal Configuration

25nasa.gov

C o l l a b o r a t i ve E n vi r o n m e n t :

NASA is committed to establishing and fostering a collaborative environment. Mission success is a mutual objective.

B a l a n c i n g r i s k a n d h a vi n g t h e i n s i g h t n e c e s s a r y t o m a k e r i s k i n f o r m e d d e c i s i o n s :

NASA requires deep technical insight to understand and accept risks as appropriate.

Tr a n s p a r e n t a n d T i m e l y C o m m u n i c a t i o n :

NASA is committed to embedding Government quality assurance with the vendor and building and maintaining trust.

L e ve r a g i n g c o m m e r c i a l s t a n d a r d s a n d p r o c e s s :

NASA technical standards and processes are one means of assuring mission success and represent years of lessons learned and best practices. NASA also acknowledges that industry has developed and implemented standards that also assure mission success.

T h e M T N d r a f t R F P w a s f o r m u l a t e d w i t h t h e S t a r l i n e r f a i l u r e r e p o r t i n m i n d Many of the organizational and technical factors are relevant to a Government-owned, Contractor-operated procurement, although the MTN project is neither human-rated nor service-based. Applicable findings have been incorporated into this draft RFP:

Insight and Oversight Approach M A R S T E L E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S N E T W O R K

The MTN Project intends to collaborate and gather information and data throughout the project life cycle via technical insight as the vendor is performing design, development, testing, and integration activities. NASA understands that some risks are worth taking and balancing risk is a pillar of technical excellence at NASA.

Data Requirements Deliverables (DRDs)

• NASA has defined 54 DRDs

• Intent is that these constitute formal deliveries of information and products that need to produce regardless of their identification as DRDs

• Many (e.g., Risk Management Plan, Configuration Management Plan) may be satisfied by equivalent corporate policy documents

• DRDs are viewed as key deliverables for NASA to maintain appropriate insight

Type Description

NASA reserves a time-limited right to disapprove in writing any versions and interim changes to those versions. The data shall be delivered to NASA for review not less than 20 working days prior to its release for use or implementation. The Contractor shall clearly identify the release target date in the “submitted for review” transmittal. If the Contractor has not been notified of any disapproval prior to the release target date, the data shall be considered approved. To be an acceptable delivery, disapproved data shall be revised to remove causes for the disapproval before its release.

NASA reserves a time-limited right to disapprove in writing any versions and interim changes to those versions. The data shall be delivered to NASA for review not less than 10 working days prior to its release for use or implementation. The Contractor shall clearly identify the release target date in the “submitted for review” transmittal. If the Contractor has not been notified of any disapproval prior to the release target date, the data shall be considered approved. To be an acceptable delivery, disapproved data shall be revised to remove causes for the disapproval before its release.

These data shall be delivered by the Contractor as required by the contract and do not require NASA approval. NASA may submit comments or questions on these documents for clarification or assistance with understanding of the DRD for the Contractor to consider. However, to be a satisfactory delivery, the data shall satisfy all applicable contractual requirements.

Evaluation Factors Factors:

• Most advantageous to the Government

• Technical Proposal and Past Performance are significantly more important than Price

• Technical Proposal is significantly more important than Price, and Price is less important than Past Performance

Rationale:

• Schedule is a key component of technical performance

• Combination of schedule and system performance will govern our ability to achieve mission success

• Past performance in relevant work provides strong confidence indicator, particularly on the tight schedule

• Price must fit within available resources

Evaluation Criteria Written Proposal:

• PWS will be evaluated for feasibility, effectiveness, reasonableness, completeness, and efficiency in meeting the government's objectives.

• Inclusion of all government-defined mandatory work statements from Enclosure 1.

Oral Technical Proposal:

• System's capability to satisfy threshold requirements

• System capabilities exceeding the threshold requirements and approaching or exceeding goal requirements

• Realism of the proposed project schedule

• Management and technical communications

• System interoperability

• System extensibility

• Payments schedule:

• Milestones will be evaluated for the technical depth and maturity of the content

• Hardware and results orientated milestones preferred to reporting and reviews

Past Performance

Typical work elements for spaceflight project

• High-level decomposition of tasks

Relevance:

• Seeks to identify elements of past performance most relevant to MTN

• Table populated by CORs associated with identified contracts

Science Payload* Interface & Not to Exceed Envelope

• NASA will choose a science payload.

• MTN-REQ-049 was included in the updated draft RFP, as noted in the cover letter.

• The payload envelope and high-level interface are detailed in the table.

• There is consideration for deploying free-flying CubeSat payloads in Mars orbit.

• A mass simulator will be provided to mitigate schedule risks.

• Schedule: proposals should specify required delivery dates for:

• science payload interface specification

• mass simulator

• payload hardware and related ground support equipment

• ground system interface specifications and testing.

*This change is forthcoming in an update to the draft RFP

New Goal: Autonomous Navigation

• P.L. 119-21 language explicitly calls for “autonomous operations, onboard processing, and extended mission duration capabilities.”

• Mars operational environment would benefit tremendously by reducing reliance on Earth-based capabilities

• Reduced loading from Mars on DSN would relieve strain

• Expect future MTN use cases for Mars to drive improved and more frequent navigation updates

• We expect to add a performance goal to augment the functional goal

We Want Your Feeback

• The MTN project highly encourages critical feedback

• To meet the challenging schedule, we are looking for ways to streamline:

• make processes and documentation serve us rather than being burdens

• focus on system hardware, software, test -> high-confidence performance / success

• We are committed to maintaining a fair and competitive environment while remaining consistent with P.L. 119-21.

• NASA needs MTN’s capability; help us move fast and deliver on-time success.

Break & Question Submittal

Question & Answer Instructions

If you have a question, please submit it to the QR code.

Procurement will take 30 minutes after the briefing to examine questions and prepare our responses.

After the break, we will reconvene, and address questions submitted.

Questions may not be answered today, but questions and answers will be posted on SAM.gov.

Questions posed in 1:1 sessions are unlikely to receive a response today.

Backup

Cybersecurity Questionnaire (CASQ)

• Seeks to proactively assess industry standard treatment of critical cybersecurity controls for mission operations environments

• Clarify expectations regarding cybersecurity implementations from the beginning of contract

• Leverage standard commercial practices as applied to mission operations environments

Requirements Legend

I D T i t l e T h r e s h o l d R e q u i r e m e n t R a t i o n a l e G o a l T y p e V M ( s )

Requirement

ID

Requirement Title

Threshold capability requirement language

Requirement Rationale

Goal capability requirement language

Requirement Type:

• Functional (F)

• Performance

(P)

Anticipated Verification Method (VM):

• Analysis (A)

• Inspection (I)

• Demonstration (D)

• Test (T)