ALSTAR Lidar RFI_FY25 - Copy v4.pdf

NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) is hereby soliciting information from potential partners to participate in a proposal development activity that addresses the technical objectives, development, and demonstration of the Accurate Lunar Surveyor and Terrain-mapping Autonomous Rover (ALSTAR) Lidar in response to an Early Career Initiative (ECI) sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) and released on November 13, 2024. The deadline for partnering responses is January 31, 2025.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) LaRC is seeking participation with this partnering synopsis from all interested U.S. and non-U.S. organizations, including educational institutions, industry, not-for-profit institutions, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as well as NASA Centers and other U.S. Government Agencies.

Participation by non-U.S. organizations is welcome but subject to NASA’s policy of no exchange of funds, in which each government supports its own national participants and associated costs.

The ECI is an internal NASA call for space technology development and demonstration proposals that fosters the next step in the professional development of early career NASA technologists by providing cutting-edge hands-on space technology hardware development opportunities. This initiative promotes creative partnering within a highly collaborative work environment between early career NASA innovators all while teaming with world-class industry, academia, and other government organizations.

Proposing teams will include a core team, including NASA and external partner members. and at least half of the core team must consist of NASA early career employees. A NASA early career employee must lead the project (Project Lead) and shall engage an experienced NASA mentor and a STMD mentor who will be identified after selection of the project. Other roles (e.g., Project Manager, Project Scientist) can be filled by team members from NASA or an external partner. The general management approach will employ agile systems engineering methods emphasizing working products, collaboration, iterative, hands-on testing, and responsiveness to change rather than formal process and documentation. with milestone-based assessments, including a continuation review at the development site and a final presentation to NASA Headquarters. If a proposing team wishes to involve a foreign organization in the technology development, they must obtain prior confirmation.

Teams must propose innovative space hardware-focused projects lasting no more than 2 years with total costs up to $1.0M per year including procurement and labor costs.

NASA LaRC is seeking partners to participate in developing proposals for and collaborating on potential ECI projects. LaRC is pursuing several topic areas that align with NASA’s space technology priorities and involve a variety of technical areas that could benefit from partnering.

Potential partners may respond to all or part of the technical challenges provided below:

• 2D detector Array and ROIC: A 2D detector array and Readout Integrated Circuit (ROIC) capable of measuring Time-of-Flight of photons for each pixel at 20 Hz or higher is required. The partner shall develop a 2D array to measure range to ground with resolution of 2.5 cm or better in each frame. The detector shall have contrast of 10 dB or larger. Dynamic range of 20 dB and larger is preferred. A rectangular aspect ratio (e.g. 64×256) is preferred to a square aspect ratio. A square aspect ratio shall be at least 128×128 pixels. An external bandpass filter will be used to block unwanted light. Please describe any sensitivity or concerns with sunlight. A wide operating temperature is desired to extend the operating time in a variety of environmental conditions. Potential partners should clearly state thermal interface and heat removal requirements.

Partner shall deliver a space qualifiable packaged camera (detector, ROIC, and associated control electronics) with a trigger output and an electrical or optical input for time reference. Since this detector will be used on a rover it is important that partners focus on reducing the size as much as possible. An external chassis is not required since the camera will be combined with other components of the ALSTAR lidar.

The target delivery timeframe is 12 months or less.

Alternative approaches and implementations may be considered. Please provide rationale for your chosen design and why it is suitable for the extended operation in the harsh lunar environment.

Ideal industry partner candidates shall also have experience in space-flight instrument development. Interest in and capabilities to mature low TRL technology to the TRL5+ range would be of benefit.

The partner must provide expertise in at least one of the fields described above and must have the personnel and facilities required to perform any necessary software or hardware testing. The ideal partner may also contribute some, but not all, work or resources to the project in-kind, which should be described within the partner’s proposal submission.

This partnering opportunity does not guarantee selection for award of any contracts or other agreements, nor is it to be construed as a commitment by NASA to pay for the information solicited. It is expected that the partner(s) selected would provide (at no cost to NASA) technical requirements, conceptual designs, technical data, proposal input, project schedules, and cost estimates. If the proposal is subsequently selected, NASA LaRC anticipates issuing contracts or other agreements to the selected partner(s) for the performance of the proposed tasks.

Partner selections will be made by LaRC based on the listed criteria:

(1) Technical Qualifications of the External Partner (55 points): This criterion evaluates the technical expertise/capabilities; and innovativeness of the external partner in leading and/or executing activities related to the topics above; and the resources (skills and time) that would be allocated to the potential proposal development phase.

(2) Management Approach (25 points): This criterion evaluates how the management approach is different from standard NASA practices, evaluates whether it represents a successful approach from another industry or organization and shows understanding of the alternative approach. The criterion will also explain how the management approach applies to your project and the degree to which it increases the probability of successfully executing the work plan. Assessment of the practicality and efficiency of the project schedule and requested resources.

(3) Teaming and Workforce Approach (10 points): This criterion evaluates the integration of capabilities across the core team members relative to the work plan.

(4) Agile Approaches Used in the Past (10 points): This criterion evaluates the external partner’s past experience in developing and utilizing agile development principles: using development methods that emphasize working products; collaboration; iterative, hands-on testing; and responsiveness to change rather than formal processes and documentation.

No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on SAM.gov. Interested firms are responsible for monitoring this website for the release of any solicitation or synopsis.

Interested firms having the required capabilities necessary to meet the above requirement described herein should submit a capability statement of no more than 5 pages indicating the ability to perform all aspects of the effort. The responses should use 12-point font for each technical area of interest (i.e. offerors responding to one or more of the mission elements may submit up to 5 pages). Responses shall also address each of the evaluation criteria listed above.

Resumes of key personnel and a cover page that clearly identifies the topic area addressed by the response do not count against the total allocated page count. Please advise if the requirement is considered to be a commercial or commercial-type product. A commercial item is defined in

FAR 2.101.

All responses shall be submitted electronically via e-mail to Octavia Hicks at octavia.l.hicks@nasa.gov and to Aram Gragossian at aram.gagossian@nasa.gov no later than mailto:octavia.l.hicks@nasa.gov mailto:aram.gagossian@nasa.gov

4:30 pm Eastern Daylight Time January 31, 2025, All procurement questions should be directed to Octavia Hicks.

This synopsis is for information and planning purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government nor will the Government pay for information solicited.

Respondents will be notified of the results of the evaluation. Respondents deemed fully qualified will be considered in any resultant partnering selections for the requirement.