More Detailed information

* New way of doing business - industry-led team encompassing small disadvantaged businesses and universities with government support, small management structure, fast-paced program

* This program will demonstrate a revolution in the design process for small spacecraft that employs concurrent engineering to infuse cutting edge technologies into the design, and uses hardware and software testbeds to reduce the time required for spacecraft development. Specific goals include development of design concepts that enable 70% payload mass fraction, 10x reduction in mass, high reuse of software (80% vs. 20 -30%) and low cost ground operations (4-6 people) with ability for limited spacecraft automonous operations.

* Two spacecraft will demonstrate how space science, planetary science and Earth observing missions can benefit from this new design approach and instrumentation

* Pave the way for new and improved commercial applications, spacecraft innovations will stimulate our competitive position in existing commercial markets such as remote sensing and communications, and will also pave the way for new commercial Earth applications and new business opportunties.

Specific points:

1. Procurement reform:

- Minimum performance-based specifications for the procurement, short statement of work , and maximum page requirement for the contractor proposals

- Performance-based fee structure - 1 year on-orbit to earn performance fee

- Small management team: 3-4 people at NASA HQ

- Fast-paced procurement, 70 days from release of RFP solicitation to contract signature

- Complete package includes spacecraft development, launch and operation for one year

- Whereever possible, use commercial specs rather than traditional government specs

- Minimize reporting requirements

2. Small Disadvantaged Business: - Procurement set aggressive goals for both small business and small disadvantaged business which have been exceeded - High-tech, high value contributions

- SDB goals : 12% CTA: 12.04% TRW: 12.4%

- SB goals : 15% CTA: 33.15% TRW: 23.6%

3. Industry leadership:

- Integrated product development teams led by industry, capitalize on new approaches to customer-focused, concurrent engineering project management

- Include broad spectrum of universities, small businesses

- Ensures rapid tech transfer by developing technology where it will be applied

- Uses best talents inside and outside government, government labs used where they have technology and capability to contribute to the teams (should cite examples of involvement)

- Different approach than Clementine where government undertook the spacecraft integration rather than industry

4. Benefit to science community

- Suite of exciting new instrument capabilities

- Direct benefit to Earth observing programs with high resolution spectrometers (potential comment on Landsat)

- Demonstrate role small spacecraft can play in EOS

- New instrumentation for space physics

- Technology can be directly applied to planetary exploration spacecraft

5. Commercial industry competitiveness:

- Applies to range of existing and new commercial applications for space, contribution to commercial applications was factor in contractor selection

- Opens new promising opportunities for fledgling Earth applications markets, potential for 10X expansion in remote sensing and related markets over next two decades

- Sam has a companion program to work with the "user community" to explore and demonstrate new applications of higher resolution, faster and more frequent data availability, and data processing to provide user friendly information (not just raw images, but processed info)

- Data from the spacecraft will be available to community during the year

- New design approach and technologies will benefit the existing communications satellite industry 6. Cutting-edge technologies:

- Most important contribution is new approach to spacecraft design, fast track, customer oriented

- New design process shows how new, cutting edge technologies can be quickly integrated into small spacecraft, includes new design and test approaches to both hardware and software

- Program goal is to reduce the cost of developing and operating spacecraft

- Two year program schedule (from contract initiation to launch) translates into reduced cost

- Instrument technologies, high resolution spatial and spectral

- Spacecraft technologies lead to doubling the payload mass fraction that can be carried for Earth orbiting spacecraft

- Capitalizes on technology investments made over past several years by the DOD and NASA

- Use of testbeds to simulate spacecraft design concepts and integrate all subsystems and payloads incuding integration and test and ground operations

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