BAA VS-07-03 CALL 0020 - IDATS WHITE PAPER .doc

Call For White Papers

BAA VS-07-03 Call 0020

CALL FOR WHITE PAPERS

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT

BAA-VS-07-03

Air Force Research Laboratory/Space Vehicles Directorate

PROPOSAL CALL ANNOUNCEMENT (CALL) 0020

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT TITLE: Space Components Technology Open 5 Year Broad Agency Announcement

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT NUMBER: BAA-VS-07-03

PROPOSAL CALL ANNOUCEMENT (CALL) TITLE: Integrated Design, Analysis, and Testing of Space Structures (IDATS)

PROPOSAL CALL ANNOUNCEMENT (CALL) NUMBER: 0020

TECHNICAL POINT OF CONTACT (TPOC):

TPOC: Brandon Arritt, AFRL/RVSV, Kirtland AFB, NM, Phone 505-853-2611, Fax 505-846-7877, Email: brandon.arritt@kirtland.af.mil

CONTRACTING POINTS OF CONTACT:

Contract Specialist: Peter Nicasio, Det 8 AFRL/RVKV, Kirtland AFB, NM, 505-846-5263, Fax NONE, Email: peter.nicasio@kirtland.af.mil

Contracting Officer: Sally Walton, Det 8 AFRL/RVKV, Kirtland AFB, NM, Phone 505-846-7201, Fax NONE, Email: sally.walton@kirtland.af.mil

GENERAL INFORMATION: The purpose of this announcement is to request white papers/abstracts to the technical areas hence forth.

REQUIREMENT DESCRIPTION:

The overall objective of this effort is to develop state-of the-art, lightweight, high performance space vehicle structural systems, grouped according to the following need areas: (1) Satellite payload structural technologies, (2) Satellite bus structural technologies, (3) Pervasive satellite and structural requirements. These areas are of equal importance and will be evaluated individually against the stated criteria of BAA VS-07-03. Note that white papers may be submitted on one, two, or all three areas. However, offerors must submit separate white papers that clearly delineate each specific area.

Technical Topic Area 1 - Satellite payload structural technologies

The Air Force faces a constant demand to supply an increasing amount of actionable information for our warfighters. The Integrated Structural Systems Team is interested in developing structures for Radio-Frequency (RF) and Electro-Optical (EO) payloads for a variety of Imaging, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Communications, and Space Situational Awareness (SSA) missions.

For all of the missions outlined, the Air Force is interested in technologies that increase aperture size, improve resolution, expand operating frequency range, and reduce system level costs. The development of these technologies will require a number of innovations, including:

a) New modeling techniques:

Many of the envisioned structures will require on-orbit deployment and the utilization of stored mechanical energy (strain energy) as a means to enable the deployment sequence. Additionally, these “precision structures” are often exposed to the harsh space environment (radiation, atomic oxygen, dramatic temperature changes, etc.). Current techniques and technologies are incapable of accurately predicting the on-orbit behavior of these high performance structures.

b) New test processes:

Payload structures are often optimized for the micro-gravity environment. As such, their performance on the ground (in a 1-G environment) can be very different from that on-orbit. Of critical interest are methods to assess the on-orbit aperture wavefront error and deployment sequence via ground testing. Additionally, the current processes for on-ground and on-orbit calibration must be severely truncated to meet warfighter needs in a responsive fashion.

For the purposes of this white paper, RF will refer to radar and communications payloads that operate in the MHz to GHz frequency range. EO refers to imaging and non-imaging missions, typically requiring a telescope, operating at visible through LWIR frequencies.

The specific objectives of this effort are:

· Design, develop, and validate payload architectures and structural components that allow RF and EO payloads to proceed through Assembly, Integration, and Test (AI&T) and on-orbit calibration within a week. This order of magnitude increase in satellite responsiveness will require revolutionary approaches to payload and component design, and assembly and test procedures/processes.

· Design, develop, and validate payload architecture and structural components that allow greater than a 2X improvement in aperture, a 2X reduction in mass, and/or a 2X increase in frequency bandwidth, for RF and EO payloads, while maintaining diffraction limited performance. Increasing aperture leads to an increase in resolution (better information for our warfighter) or an ability to perform the same mission from a higher altitude (reducing satellite vulnerability).

Technical Topic Area 2 - Satellite bus structural technologies

The satellite bus is responsible for providing the services necessary for the payload to conduct its mission. These services include, but are not limited to, providing power, a stable platform, attitude determination and control, propulsion, computing, and thermal management. The Integrated Structural Systems Team is interested in developing structural technologies, that expand the range of payloads and missions that the Air Force is capable of performing in space.

Spacecraft structural designs are typically stiffness-driven. While increasing a bus structure’s stiffness does provide pervasive benefit to a broad-range of space systems, the true intent of this effort is to develop space vehicle structures that are inherently multifunctional. The development of these technologies requires the number of innovations, to include the following:

(1) New modeling techniques:

Current methods for modeling satellite behavior often result in large error bars. What is needed are improved modeling techniques that more accurately predict a satellite’s thermal and dynamic performance, from launch through on-orbit operations. Additionally, dramatic improvements in our ability to perform multi-physics modeling will be required, due to the multi-functional/multi-physics emphasis of these efforts.

(2) New test processes:

As with the payloads, many bus technologies are designed for optimal operations in a micro-gravity environment (e.g. heat pipe performance is heavily influence by the gravity gradient). For many of these systems, current ground-test procedures are insufficient for assessing on-orbit performance. Additionally, many of these processes are prohibitively time-intensive for Responsive Space applications. Alternative tests and processes, that significantly truncate validation/verification timelines, while providing high confidence in system reliability are required.

The specific objectives of this effort are:

· Design, develop, and validate bus structural architectures and components that allow a satellite to proceed through AI&T, launch vehicle integration, and on-orbit check-out with a week. This dramatic increase in space system responsiveness requires revolutionary approaches and technologies for the satellite bus structure, thermal management system, and spacecraft validation/flight qualification testing (notably dynamic and thermal-vacuum).

· Design, develop, and validate bus structural architectures and components that enable next generation strategic space systems. Of particular interest are efforts to develop technologies that enable stable platforms for missions with high pointing accuracy requirements, thermal management for high heat and/or high heat flux applications, and deployable solar arrays for high power applications.

Technical Topic Area 3 - Cross-cutting satellite structural requirements

A number of technologies are inherently cross-cutting; they are applicable to almost every satellite mission, or they enhance the development of high performance payloads and satellite buses. While this title may apply to many technologies, the Integrated Structural Systems Team is interested in the following efforts:

a.) Composite modeling, fabrication, non destructive evaluation, and testing

Composites are frequently used in the development of satellite structures, due to their high stiffness. However, current practices in the fabrication, inspection, and modeling of composite materials result in a non-optimal utilization of these exotic materials. The Air Force is interested in enhancing fabrication processes to produce higher quality composite components, improved non-destructive evaluation techniques for flaw detection, novel testing methods, and improved modeling capabilities.

Objective:

· Develop technologies and techniques that improve the design, fabrication, modeling, inspection, and testing of composite structures for space applications. These advances will likely be utilized for the development of composite payload, bus, and payload accommodation structures, also being produced under this solicitation. As such, specific emphasis should be placed on publishing results and successes for broader utilization by the aerospace community.

b.) Payload accommodation

Technologies that expand/optimize the capabilities of current and projected launch systems to carry a broader range of potential space vehicles. Past efforts have developed new fairing designs and multiple payload adaptors to enhance the capabilities of current launch vehicles. Future efforts will technologies and techniques that allow more seemless integration onto a launch vehicle.

Objective:

· Design, develop, and test technologies that truncate and/or simplify the satellite to launch vehicle integration process. Current launch vehicles of interest include Minotaur I, Minotaur IV, EELV (both variants), Pegasus, and Falcon 1E.

ANTICIPATED FUNDING: Anticipated funding for this CALL is: $10M (not per contract or award but to cover all three topic areas in the requirements description)

FY10: $2M

FY11: $2M

FY12: $2M

FY13: $2M

FY14: $2M

This funding profile is an estimate only and will not be a contractual obligation for funding. All funding is subject to change due to government discretion and availability.

FORMAT: See White Paper Preparation and Submission Instructions, BAA VS-07-03, Modification 5.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: An anticipated period of performance should be included as well as a schedule.

ROUGH-ORDER-OF-MAGNITUDE (ROM) COST: The ROM cost is a best guess of the anticipated cost of the effort. The ROM should be consistent with the level of work being proposed. The white paper/abstract does not include a cost proposal or any of the material which accompanies a cost proposal.

PROCESS: White papers should be submitted as specified in the BAA. The process includes a two step process. First, the evaluation team will evaluate the white paper/abstract against the evaluation criteria stated in the BAA. Second, the offerors whose white papers/abstracts are of interest may be invited to submit a formal proposal. Offerors whose white papers/abstracts are determined to not be of interest are not precluded from submitting a proposal and may request proposal instructions if they so desire. All offerors submitting white papers/abstracts will be contacted by the Government; either with a letter informing them that the effort proposed is not of interest to the Government, or with a request for a formal cost and technical proposal by a specified date. The full proposal will be evaluated against the criteria stated in the BAA.

DUE DATE AND TIME: The due date for papers submitted in response to this CALL is no later than 1200 p.m. MDT on 10 December 2009. Papers for any other technology area identified in the baseline BAA will not be accepted at this time. Papers received after the due dates and times shall be governed by the provisions of FAR 52.215-1(c)(3). Full Proposals due date and time will be provided in the formal request.

CALL AMENDMENTS: Offerors should monitor FedBizOps/EPS http://www.fbo.gov for any additional notices to this CALL that may permit extensions to the paper submission date or otherwise modify this announcement.

INTENT TO PROPOSE: Potential offerors are requested to advise the contracting point of contact if they intend to submit a white paper in response to this CALL. Such notification is merely a courtesy and is not a commitment by the offeror to submit a proposal.

DELIVERABLES ITEMS: The intent of this project is described in the requirement description above. Offerors should mention any data, hardware, and/or software deliverables consistent with tracking progress, verifying performance, and otherwise establishing the objectives of the project.

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION:

1. Program security classification for this CALL is UNCLASSIFIED

2. ITAR/Export Control: Research areas may involve technology that is subject to U.S. Export Control Laws. It is anticipated that award(s) will be unclassified with limited access. Therefore, only offerors who are certified by the Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS) may submit proposals. For questions, contact DLIS on-line at http://www.dlis.dla.mil/jcp or at DLIS, US/Canada Joint Certification Center, Federal Center, 74 North Washington, Battle Creek MI 49017-4312, (800) 352-3572.

3. The Aerospace Corporation is prohibited from submitting a white paper under this call.

APPLICABILITY OF BASELINE BAA: All requirements of BAA-VS-07-03 apply unless specifically amended and addressed in this CALL. For complete information regarding BAA-VS-07-03, refer to the initial open BAA with calls. It contains information applicable to all CALLS issued under the BAA and provides information on the overall program, proposal preparation and submission requirements, proposal review and evaluation criteria, award administration, agency contacts, etc. Direct questions to the points of contact identified above.

Call For White Papers

BAA VS-07-03 Call 0020