NOAA Space Debris Avoidance software

**Amendment #1 was issued June 10, 2024.  The purpose of this amendment is to notify interested parties the deadline for submitting questions pertaining to this acquisition is 3:00pm EST, June 14, 2024.**

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) mission is “to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans and coasts; to share that knowledge and information with others; and, to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources as the Nation’s authoritative environmental intelligence agency.” The National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) office supports NOAA’s mission by providing timely access to global environmental data from satellite missions and other sources thereby positioning the agency as the leading, trusted source of environmental data for users around the world. The data and information products and services that NESDIS/OSPO provides are used by the National Weather Service (NWS), the commercial sector, international community, and private citizens for a wide range of applications, including weather forecasting, environmental modeling, and securing life, property, and economic prosperity.

The NESDIS Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO) operates a constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geostationary (GEO) satellites from the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility (NSOF) Satellite Operations Control Center (SOCC) located at Suitland, Maryland, and is also responsible for management of the Environmental Satellite Processing Center (ESPC); moreover, NOAA operates a deep space satellite from Lagrange Point 1. Protection of these active on-orbit satellite assets are vital to ensure continuity of observations; therefore, services such as object ephemeris used for collision avoidance (CA), or for determining proximity of an object that may interfere with effective operations of NOAA’s satellites are necessary for satellite health and safety purposes.

SCOPE OF WORK

The service scope covers a requirement for high definition ephemeris data and safety of flight information that may impact NOAA’s satellites operating in geostationary orbit or result in impinging upon the effective operations. This scope covers actively managed NOAA geostationary satellites and future geostationary satellites that are scheduled to replace on-orbit assets from the current time to the end of the period of performance. “Space situational awareness” (SSA) information is required to reduce the risk of NOAA assets colliding with other spacecraft or orbital debris.

Space situational awareness is accomplished by accurately determining and predicting the locations of all of the NOAA assets in space and working with other institutions and agencies to compare these predictions with the locations of other nearby objects. A comprehensive, extensive object catalog is required, including objects that are augmented by additional private owned and operated sensors in order to decrease uncertainty of object tracks that may intersect with active NOAA satellites. When a close approach is identified and confirmed, appropriate action must be taken by one of the two objects in conflict in order to avoid a collision and/or satellite or payload failure which could result in profoundly negative impacts on domestic and international commerce, lives and property from gaps in critical meteorological data and products.

As a government agency, OSPO takes advantage of its free use of the services of the Air Force Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC). The JSpOC service is comprehensive in its inclusion of orbital information of both spacecraft and space debris. However, the JSpOC determination of orbital information through real-time tracking has limitations in terms of its accuracy—it can misidentify satellites—and in providing the future orbit information needed for analysis and planning of spacecraft position maintenance needed for collision avoidance. Augmented object catalogs that extend beyond what JSpOC provides are crucial to ensure satellite flight safety is maximized.

In several years of using commercial conjunction services for the geostationary fleet, OSPO has experienced several situations requiring close attention or active intervention that would NOT have been identified by the JSpOC service alone. The Government incurs costs each time the engineering and operations teams need to assemble (day or night) for collision-avoidance maneuvers. Often, last-minute orbit predictions show that a maneuver is not required. Improving collision prediction will save the Government time and cost by avoiding staging for maneuvers needlessly.