National Aeronautics April 28, 1999

and Space Administration AO 99-OSS-01

Announcement of

Opportunity

Solar Terrestrial Relations

Observatory (STEREO)

Notice of Intent Due: May 28, 1999

Proposals Due: July 28, 1999
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 DESCRIPTION OF THE OPPORTUNITY ................................................................ 1

1.1 Overall Description .......................................................................................... 1

1.2 NASA Resources Available for STEREO ......................................................... 2

1.3 Specific Provisions ........................................................................................... 3

2.0 ANNOUNCEMENT OBJECTIVES ............................................................................ 4

3.0 BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................... 5

3.1 Previous Solar Missions ................................................................................... 5

3.2 Solar-Terrestrial Probes ................................................................................... 6

3.3 Programmatic Recommendations to NASA ...................................................... 7

4.0 PROPOSAL OPPORTUNITY PERIOD ..................................................................... 8

5.0 REQUIREMENTS AND CONSTRAINTS ................................................................. 8

5.1 Description of the STEREO Mission ................................................................ 8

5.1.1 Candidate Instruments for the Model Payload ....................................... 8

5.1.2 Description of the NASA Provided Spacecraft .................................... 10

5.1.3 Instrument Accommodation ................................................................ 13

5.1.4 Mission Operations Support ............................................................... 16

5.1.5 Project Schedule ................................................................................. 16

5.2 International Participation .............................................................................. 17

5.3 Missions of Opportunity ................................................................................. 18

5.4 STEREO Data Policy ..................................................................................... 19

5.5 Education, Outreach, New Technology, Small Disadvantaged Business

Requirements, and Minority Institution Requirements...................................... 20

5.5.1 Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) ............................................... 20

5.5.2 Advanced Technology ......................................................................... 20

5.5.3 Small Disadvantaged Businesses and Minority Institutions ................... 20

6.0 PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INFORMATION .......................................................... 21

6.1 Preproposal Activities and Notice of Intent to Propose.................................... 21

6.2 Format and Content of Proposals ................................................................... 22

6.3 Submission Information and Certifications ...................................................... 22

6.3.1 General ............................................................................................... 22

6.3.2 Proposals with Non-U.S. Participants ................................................. 23

7.0 PROPOSAL EVALUATION, SELECTION, AND IMPLEMENTATION ................ 24

7.1 Evaluation Criteria and Procedures ................................................................. 24

7.2 Selection Procedures ...................................................................................... 25

7.3 Implementation Procedures ............................................................................ 26

8.0 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 27
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APPENDICES

Appendix A: General Instructions and Provisions

Appendix B: Specific Guidelines for Proposal Preparation in Response to this AO

Appendix C: Bibliography of Relevant Reports and Recommendations

Appendix D: Certifications

Appendix E: Education and Public Outreach

Appendix F: Regulations Governing Procurement of Foreign Goods or Services
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ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY

FOR THE

STEREO MISSION

1.0 DESCRIPTION OF THE OPPORTUNITY

1.1 Overall Description

The Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) mission is the third in the line of SolarTerrestrial Probes (STP) and is a strategic element of the Sun-Earth Connection Roadmap (see

Appendix C for access information for this and related documents describing the STEREO

mission). STP is a continuous sequence of flexible, cost-capped missions designed for sustained

study of critical aspects of the Sun-Earth system. It is an outgrowth of the highly successful

International Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) program.

The primary goal of the STEREO mission is to advance the understanding of the threedimensional structure of the Sun's corona, especially regarding the origin of coronal mass

ejections (CME's), their evolution in the interplanetary medium, and the dynamic coupling

between CME's and the Earth environment. CME's are the most energetic eruptions on the Sun,

are the primary cause of major geomagnetic storms, and are believed to be responsible for the

largest solar energetic particle events. They may also be a critical element in the operation of the

solar dynamo because they appear to remove dynamo-generated magnetic flux from the Sun.

STEREO will, therefore, continue the systematic study of the relationship between processes on

the Sun and consequences for the Earth. The ejections of well-defined clouds of plasma from the

corona were discovered in 1973 by instruments on NASA’s Skylab/Apollo Telescope Mount.

Although studies continued with the NASA Solar Maximum Mission and the ESA-NASA Solar

and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) in the ISTP program, these investigations were limited to

vantage points that best showed those CME's that missed the Earth. However, with two

spacecraft sent in opposite directions away from the Sun-Earth line, the STEREO mission will

finally allow unambiguous observations of those CME's that directly impact the Earth. STEREO

will also for the first time provide a stereoscopic view of the three-dimensional corona and the

interplanetary medium and thereby advance the Sun-Earth Connection understanding of the

heliosphere begun by the ISTP program.

This Announcement of Opportunity (AO) solicits proposals for science investigations that address

the objectives of the STEREO mission. The selected proposals are expected to provide scientific

research investigations that include:

• the design, development, and delivery to NASA of flight hardware, in the form of

identical pairs (one for each spacecraft) of either complete instruments or major suites

of these instruments;

• participation in mission operations, data acquisition, and assistance in the assembly of

the data from all instruments into a unified set, which will then be available for analysis

by all participating scientists and the larger science community; and

• the analysis and timely publication of research articles based on the data from

STEREO.
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It is the intent of NASA to launch two spacecraft in approximately June 2004 with identical

complements of instruments (see Section 5.1.5). The STEREO Science Definition Team (SDT),

sponsored by NASA, has suggested an instrument complement to satisfy STEREO objectives

consisting of:

(1) An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and/or X-ray telescope that images the chromosphere

and the inner corona;

(2) a white light coronagraph that images the inner to outer corona;

(3) a radio receiver that studies shocks from outer corona to beyond Earth;

(4) a visible light telescope that images the interplanetary medium and disturbances

therein;

(5) a plasma analyzer that samples both CME and ambient plasmas at 1 AU;

(6) a sensor that detects magnetic fields inside and outside CME's; and

(7) detectors of prompt and delayed electrons and ions from 0.1 to 100 MeV.

Proposals in response to this solicitation are expected to present broad scientific investigations

that contribute to the total mission and not just to the interpretation of the data from the particular

instrument(s) they propose to provide. They shall describe the instrumentation that they wish to

contribute to the STEREO mission and how it supports the overall mission goals and objectives.

STEREO investigation teams must be led by a single Principal Investigator (PI) who may be from

any category of U.S and non-U.S. organizations, including educational institutions, industry,

nonprofit institutions, NASA Centers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and other

Government agencies. While this AO is directed primarily toward U.S. Principal Investigator-lead

teams with Co-Investigators, proposals for STEREO science investigations will also be

considered under a no-exchange-of-funds basis from non-U.S organizations (see Section 5.2) and

from investigators proposing Missions of Opportunity (see Section 5.3). Non-U.S. investigations

and those on Missions of Opportunity are expected to meet all data policies and program

objectives described in this AO, including infusion and transfer of new technology, and enhancing

education and public outreach.

1.2 NASA Resources Available for STEREO

NASA expects to fund the selected STEREO investigations as the third STP, consistent with the

recommendations of the Sun-Earth Connection Advisory Subcommittee (SECAS) and the Space

Science Advisory Committee (SSAC). Proposing scientists must recognize that the resources

available for participation are cost-capped and propose accordingly. As a guideline, the total

value of all investigations selected from study through launch plus thirty days is approximately

$73M in real-year dollars. Of this amount, a total of approximately $2M is reserved for 3-month,

fixed-price Phase A contracts for concept studies. The mission is expected to be launched in

approximately June 2004. Confirmation of any selections made from the responses to this AO for

final development for flight shall be contingent upon the availability of appropriate NASA

funding.
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1.3 Specific Provisions

This AO solicits scientific investigations from individual Principal Investigators (PI’s), aided by a

number (see Appendix B, Section C.2.d) of Co-Investigators (Co-I’s), for investigations that both

provide as well as utilize the data from the proposed hardware. Proposed investigations may

provide individual (pairs of) instruments, various combined or teamed instruments, or an entire

mission complement of integrated instruments. Multiple (pairs of) instruments proposals must

provide technical and cost information for each instrument type sufficient to allow separate

evaluation. In addition to U.S. investigators, STEREO proposals are open to non-U.S.

investigators, through Memoranda of Understanding, as well as through other Government

agencies. Additionally, proposed participation in Missions of Opportunity may be selected if their

perceived value is high and the proposed NASA cost is within the funding limits of this mission.

Proposals submitted in response to this AO must be for complete research investigations

encompassing all mission phases. For the purposes of this AO, mission phases are defined to be:

Phase A -- concept study; Phase B -- definition and preliminary design; Phase C -- detailed design;

Phase D -- development through launch plus 30 days; and Phase E -- mission operations and data

analysis. Phase E is to include provision of data for public use, analysis and publication of data in

the peer-reviewed scientific literature, and delivery of the data to the appropriate data archive.

“Phase E shall also include the full implementation of an approved plan for Education /Public

Outreach (see Section 5.5.1 and Appendix E for details).” A Phase F may also be invoked by

NASA wherein STEREO would operate in an extended mission mode for collaborative studies

with subsequent STP missions such as the Magnetospheric Multiscale and/or Global

Electrodynamics. However, such a Phase F is not to be addressed in response to this AO, nor will

proposals for only Phase F be considered.

Note that proposals to this AO are expected to be selected through a single-step process in which

the final instrument suite is selected prior to the Phase A study. However, NASA reserves the

right to make tentative selections pending the outcome of competitive studies through Phase A

(see Appendix A, Section II). Confirmations for flight will be made near the end of Phase B

based on the information generated during these Phase A and B study periods as documented in

the reports from those Phases, and assessed at a Nonadvocacy Review. NASA reserves the right

to make partial selections of investigations as described in Section II of Appendix A. The

primary discriminator for selection will be based on how well each instrument contributes to the

overall scientific objectives as constrained by technical and cost considerations.

Proposers must estimate the Total NASA Cost in their proposals and, if selected through this AO,

in much more detail in the Phase A concept study report. The specific cost information required

for the current proposals is contained in Appendix B. Since cost details are not anticipated until

the conclusion of the concept study, cost estimates in the proposal may be generated with models

or cost estimating relationships from analogous investigations. However, during any phase of the

investigation except Phase E, the estimated cost to NASA of the total for all investigations must

not exceed the NASA cost constraint for this mission. Individual investigations may be descoped

to meet cost constraints. Therefore, the proposer shall describe a risk management approach that
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identifies a prioritized plan for removal of science objectives along with the estimated cost savings

at each step.
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The Total NASA Cost is defined as all costs that are necessary to be borne by NASA to complete

the proposed investigation beginning with Phase A through Phase E, including reserves. In

general, proposers must assume all costs and fees must be included unless specifically excluded by

provisions in this AO.

2.0 ANNOUNCEMENT OBJECTIVES

NASA announces the opportunity to propose science investigations to be carried into orbit on

two STEREO spacecraft in heliocentric orbits at 1 AU, with one spacecraft "ahead" of the Earth

and one "behind." The primary objective of this mission is to understand the physical processes

involved in the generation of CME's, their evolution in the interplanetary medium, and their

coupling with the Earth environment. This understanding will be achieved by observing the 3-D

structure and dynamics of CME's; of chromospheric, coronal, and interplanetary plasmas; and of

magnetic fields as revealed in both remote sensing as well as in situ data. In order to characterize

the relationship between disk-center and off-limb CME observations, special emphasis is placed

on observing structures in the corona with a coronagraph whose field of view includes the corona

close to the limb of the Sun.

By “observe” is meant acquisition of those data that allow the physical parameters of solar

atmospheric disturbances and their coupling to the Earth environment to be quantified. Such data

include the timing, size, geometry, mass, speed (as a function of radial distance), and direction of

CME's and the plasma properties of the ambient corona-interplanetary medium with adequate

spatial and temporal resolution to track the evolution of these disturbances through the

interplanetary medium to 1 AU.

By “understand” is meant the interpretation of these data in terms of basic physics, in order to

develop dynamical, quantitative, physical descriptions of CME's and the ambient solar

corona/heliosphere, descriptions of the processes that generate CME's, and physical insight to

space weather with regard to the forecasting of CME's.

Note that the term “instrument” as used in this AO connotes a pair of instruments, one for each of

the STEREO spacecraft. Similarly, “multiinstrument” or “suite” connotes at least two pairs of

different types of instruments.

A more detailed description of the overall STEREO mission objectives is given in The Sun and

Heliosphere in Three Dimensions, Report of the NASA Science Definition Team for the STEREO

Mission, which may be found on the World Wide Web (WWW) at

<http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/STEREO/report.html>. Proposers unable to access the WWW can

request a hard copy of this SDT Report by E-mail to deb.tripp@hq.nasa.gov.
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This study report was produced by a NASA-sponsored group of scientists, and provides

background information that may be useful to prospective proposers. In case of a conflict

between concepts outlined in this AO and those in the Science Definition Team report, the

provisions of this AO take precedence. In particular, to be considered responsive to this

Announcement, proposed investigations must address the objectives described in this section

(Section 2.0).

In addition, the NASA Office of Space Science has developed a comprehensive approach for

making education at all levels (with a particular emphasis on pre-college education) and the

enhancement of public understanding of space science integral parts of all of its missions and

research programs. Appendix E of this AO provides further details about the requirement for

appropriate Education/Public Outreach proposals to this AO.

3.0 BACKGROUND

NASA’s Sun-Earth Connection program is designed to better understand the origins of solar

variability, how that variability transforms the interplanetary medium, how it impacts the Earth’s

space environment, and how it might affect life and climate on Earth.

3.1 Previous Solar Missions

For many years space scientists have recognized that the Sun possesses an extended atmosphere

within which the Earth, planets, and other bodies reside. This “solar wind” or outflow of plasma,

energetic particles, and magnetic fields represents the extension of the Sun’s lower atmosphere,

the corona, into interplanetary space. The quiescent coronal features are marked by dynamic

transient events, called coronal mass ejections (CME's), starting low in the corona and

propagating outward to affect the entire heliosphere. However, the direct connection between

short-lived activity near the Sun as observed remotely and the in situ observations of solar wind

characteristics and disturbances of the Earth’s magnetic field, as measured directly, has remained

a difficult problem to reconcile.

During the past decade a new outline in the Sun-Earth Connection framework has begun to be

revealed. The importance of the transient ejection of material and magnetic fields from the Sun’s

atmosphere has been recognized as the dominant cause of the most severe geomagnetic storms.

These CME's have also been associated with the generation of energetic particles that can pose a

threat to technology both in orbit and on the ground and also to human spaceflight. CME's have

now been observed for several decades by ground-based and space-based platforms, but the

limitation of these observations, which are restricted to the Sun-Earth line, has made the reliable

detection and characterization of solar events directed toward the Earth a difficult to impossible

task. Moreover, the necessary physical conditions leading to the generation of a CME and the

ejection of significant amounts of plasma and magnetic field from the gravitational potential of the

Sun remain a mystery.
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Direct observation of the ejection of these huge structures at the Sun has been accomplished

remotely by coronagraphs on the ground (Mauna Loa Solar Observatory) and on space-based

platforms (Orbiting Solar Observatory, Skylab, Solar Maximum Mission, Solwind, Spartan, and

SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory) that imaged the Thomson-scattered photospheric radiation

from electrons in the corona from about 1.5 to as far as 30 Rs from Sun center (where Rs is the

radius of the Sun). However, coronagraphs can only produce images of coronal features and

CME's against the plane of the sky. Hence, from observations acquired by coronagraphs in low

Earth orbit or at the L1 Lagrangian Point, it is impossible to determine:

(1) if a CME will impact the Earth,

-- dependent on the 3-D directionality of the CME and,

-- dependent on the 3-D structure of the CME, or

(2) when a CME will strike the Earth,

-- dependent on the transit speed of the CME.

If complementary observations from the chromosphere or inner corona are available, then

occasionally a rough guess about the direction of the CME with respect to the Earth can be made,

for example, for so-called "halo" events. But the remaining questions above cannot be resolved

by additional observations from low Earth orbit or from L1 alone. Finally, observations of radio

signals produced by particle acceleration in coronal and interplanetary magnetohydrodynamic

shocks have been associated with CME's. But these observations also have not yet proven

reliable as a means to track the passage of these structures through interplanetary space. Thus,

there is only one way to determine reliably the occurrence and the characteristics of Earthwarddirected CME's, namely, through observations of these events obtained from multiple vantage

points located sufficiently far from the Sun-Earth line. This is the observational approach of the

STEREO mission. Planning for the STEREO mission has focused on the development of a

payload consisting of a complement of instruments capable of returning these observations.

3.2 Solar-Terrestrial Probes

NASA’s Sun-Earth Connection program intends to improve humankind’s understanding of the

origins of solar variability, how that variability transforms the interplanetary medium, how

eruptive events on the Sun impact geospace, and how they might affect life and climate.

STEREO is the third of five Solar-Terrestrial Probes called for in NASA’s Space Science

Enterprise Strategic Plan to accomplish the goals of the Sun-Earth Connection program. The first

of these missions, the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics mission

(TIMED), is scheduled for launch in 2000. The other future missions are:

• Solar-B, sponsored by Japan with the participation of NASA, which will obtain highresolution detail of the solar magnetic field to determine how it emerges and evolves at

the solar surface and couples with the processes occurring in the corona;
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• Magnetospheric Multiscale, which uses a set of up to six small satellites to investigate

the magnetospheric response to solar mass ejections, fundamental boundary processes

driving macroscales, and processes of energetic particle acceleration and magnetic

reconnection; and

• Global Electrodynamics, which uses a set of approximately four small satellites to

probe the electromagnetic coupling between the Sun, magnetosphere, and upper

atmosphere.

While these missions individually will doubtless produce exciting discoveries about the complex

Sun–Earth system, together they are a formidable fleet that will greatly improve the ability to

predict weather in space, enhance knowledge of solar influences on climate change, and give fresh

insight into the origins and future of life on Earth. Although the Sun is much quieter today than in

the distant past--it was once a rapidly rotating, strongly magnetic, violently active star with a

massive stellar wind--it is still capable of violent explosions and substantial variations in radiative

output. Understanding presentday solar activity will help humankind understand the history of the

Sun’s climate and its possible influence on Earth’s evolution and the development of life in the

Solar System.

3.3 Programmatic Recommendations to NASA

The ability of NASA space missions to study the launch of solar disturbances and their impact on

geospace is a recent development. However, the physical processes leading to these eruptive

phenomenon have been of great importance to the U.S. solar space program ever since their

discovery in 1973 by instruments on NASA’s Skylab/Apollo Telescope Mount. The report of the

National Space Weather Program Strategic Plan (FCM-P30-1995) explicitly recommended flight

of a suite of instruments at different vantage points to provide necessary observations that will

allow the understanding and prediction of the space environment. Subsequently, the Space

Science Enterprise Strategic Plan (1997) (see: <http://spacescience.nasa.gov/strategy/1997/>)

advocated the STEREO mission for breakthrough science and progress toward reliable space

weather forecasts.

In particular, two spacecraft at 1 AU, one drifting well ahead of Earth and one well behind, will

serve the objectives of NASA’s Sun-Earth Connection theme by (1) enabling fundamental

research on the three-dimensional structure and dynamical processes of CME's, (2) providing

comprehensive measurements of the interplanetary environment in support of follow-on SolarTerrestrial Probes, and (3) providing the science base for greatly improved forecasts of Sundriven disturbances at Earth. The two viewing angles will largely remove the current uncertainty

that exists in predicting Earth-directed CME's. Given this background, the NASA STEREO

mission was specifically endorsed by the Sun-Earth Connection Advisory Subcommittee in April

1997 and the Space Science Advisory Committee (see Appendix C) in May 1997.
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4.0 PROPOSAL OPPORTUNITY PERIOD

The schedule of events associated with this Announcement of Opportunity is as follows:

Release AO and Model Phase A Contract April 28, 1999

Notice of Intent due (see Section 6.1) May 28, 1999

Proposal submittal due by 4:30 pm EDT July 28, 1999

Non-U.S. Letter(s) of endorsement due August 27, 1999

Selection of investigations for Phase A Study (goal) October 28, 1999

Award of Phase A Study Contracts (goal) November 29, 1999

5.0 REQUIREMENTS AND CONSTRAINTS

5.1 Description of the STEREO Mission

5.1.1 Candidate Instruments for the Model Payload

In order to give prospective proposers the fullest possible understanding of the STEREO mission,

NASA provides the following description of a candidate payload (identical on each spacecraft)

based on the SDT report. The instrument descriptions here are not intended in any way to restrict

the possible approaches, nor is the list intended to preclude consideration of other instruments or

combinations of instruments. The list is simply a description of a sample instrument complement

that can meet the mission science objectives. At the time of the writing of this AO, the interfaces

and performance envelopes indicated here are preliminary. Any significant variations on these

specifications will be posted directly following this AO on the NASA Research Opportunities

WWW page at <http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oss/research.htm>. Any amended interface and

performance specifications provided at the above WWW site will be the ones against which

proposals will be judged for evaluation purposes. If an interface or resource is not addressed in

that WWW site, then the specifications in this AO will be used for evaluation purposes.

Furthermore, proposers must be aware that, if they are selected, they may be asked to revise their

proposed hardware as needed to meet slightly different spacecraft and mission requirements and

specifications. Distinct from information provided in this AO and on the above NASA

Headquarters WWW site, nonofficial discussions of the spacecraft and mission architecture may

be viewed at the WWW page at < http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/STEREO/>.

Chromosphere and Inner Corona Imager

This telescope should be able to obtain full-Sun images in at least one coronal and one

chromospheric emission line. The images should show solar prominences and coronal loops and

other coronal structures from the base of the corona to 1.5 Rs (radii from Sun center). It is

desirable for the Chromosphere and Inner Corona Imager (CICI) to include fast time cadence

capability and spectral scanning capability so that Doppler shifts can be measured. The nominal

spacecraft resource allocations for the CICI are given in Table 5-1 (see Section 5.1.3 below).
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Coronagraph

The white light coronagraph should be capable of observing the white light corona with high

sensitivity, spatial resolution, and time resolution from ~1.1 Rs to ~ 5 Rs in order to provide a

reasonable region of overlap of the coronal structures observed in the chromosphere and inner

coronal imager. A substantially larger field of view is also important for studying the 3-D

structure of streamers, the evolution and acceleration of streamer blowoffs, and the accelerationof

inhomogeneities in the solar wind. Aspects of the coronagraph design peculiar to the specific

objectives and mission architecture of STEREO must be carefully considered. For example, two

coronagraphs will be working together at different ecliptic longitudes with dissimilar F-corona

backgrounds and at different distances from the Sun. Also, a region of interest on the Sun will

likely have dissimilar foreshortening due to the separation angle of the two spacecraft. The

nominal spacecraft resource allocations for the coronagraph are given in Table 5-1 (see Section

5.1.3 below). Spacecraft pointing and stability is discussed in Section 5.1.2.

Radio Burst Tracker

STEREO spacecraft are expected to carry a radio receiver so that triangulation of solar transient

events can allow routine tracking of radio disturbances accurately (to within ±1 deg) from about

1–2 Rs to 215 Rs, with a corresponding radio frequency range of ~15 MHz to ~30 kHz. A time

resolution of a few seconds is desirable. The deployment mechanism for the antenna(e) shall be

provided by the proposer. Resource allocations for this instrument are provided in Table 5-1 (see

Section 5.1.3 below).

Heliosphere Imager

The heliosphere imager should have spatial resolution of ~1 deg on the plane of the sky and a

cadence of about one image per hour from each STEREO spacecraft. The imager should have

high signal to noise and should be designed with a wavelength band and field of view allowing

mapping of the solar wind and CME's at heliospheric distances between about 30 Rs and 215 Rs.

Nominal spacecraft resource allocations for the heliospheric imager are given in Table 5-1 (see

Section 5.1.3 below).

Solar Wind Plasma Analyzer

The solar wind plasma analyzer should measure the distribution functions of ions and electrons

over the energy ranges of 300–8000 eV for positive ions and 1–1000 eV for electrons to provide

density, velocity, temperature, and anisotropy. The required time resolution is a few minutes.

Nominal spacecraft resource allocations for the solar wind plasma analyzer are given in Table 5-1

(see Section 5.1.3 below).
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Magnetometer

STEREO in situ magnetic field measurements should achieve a dynamic range of at least ± 50,000

nT with a resolution of 0.2 nT in one channel, and ± 500 nT with a resolution of 0.002 nT in a

second channel. A few vector field measurements per second should be sufficient for the

STEREO mission. The magnetometer will be mounted on a project-supplied boom that must not

interfere with optical instrument fields of view. Nominal spacecraft resource allocations for the

magnetometer are given in Table 5-1 (see Section 5.1.3 below).

Solar Energetic Particle Detector

Only rather modest instrumentation based on proven approaches is required to address the

mission objectives for energetic particle detection, that is, understanding the mechanism for the

production of CME shock-accelerated particles. The solar energetic particle detector (SEPD)

should be able to distinguish impulsive from gradual events, where gradual events are

characterized by being enriched in He3, electrons, and heavy ions, and by having a faster than

normal rise and decay. The SEPD should perform in situ sampling with one minute time

resolution. It should be able to measure the absolute intensity and energy spectra of energetic

electrons from about 0.1 to 3 MeV, of protons from about 0.1 to 100 MeV, of helium ions from

about 1 to 100 MeV/nuc, and of heavy ions (6<Z<28) from about 2 to 30 MeV/nuc. It should be

able to identify the presence of He3. Nominal spacecraft resource allocations for the SEPD are

given in Table 5-1 (see Section 5.1.3 below).

5.1.2 Description of the NASA-Provided Spacecraft

The baseline STEREO mission will consist of two identically-instrumented, 3-axis stabilized, Sunpointed spacecraft placed in slowly drifting heliocentric orbits. One spacecraft will be placed in a

trajectory leading the Earth and the other in a trajectory lagging the Earth. The first spacecraft

will drift away from the Earth at 15 deg per year and the second spacecraft at 30 deg per year.

Although the spacecraft may be launched together, current plans are to launch them separately

within a two-month interval. The launch vehicle has not yet been selected.

The underlying philosophy of the spacecraft design is to decouple the instrument and spacecraft

functions as much as possible in order to achieve efficiencies in development and integration.

Therefore, the spacecraft bus-to-instrument interfaces are kept as simple as possible. The

spacecraft has no role in instrument commands, telemetry, or operations. Communication

services are expected to consist of a “bent-pipe” relay of commands and telemetry to and from the

instruments, with no data processing provided by the spacecraft bus or by the mission operations

center. The spacecraft will provide a common set of interfaces to each of the instruments. Any

proposed additional interfaces will require careful and full justification during Phases A and B.

Since reliability is important for this mission, proposers should pay careful attention to robust

design which should include consideration of redundancy for key elements of the hardware. A

safety program appropriate for a payload on an expendable launch vehicle will be required. For

pricing purposes, the proposers should assume a flexible Grade 2 or Class B parts program (per

MIL-STD 975). Detailed plans for the assurance and reliability program will be developed during

Phases A and B.
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Spacecraft/Instrument Interfaces

The standard interfaces between the spacecraft and the instruments consist of the following:

• Main power (22-35 volts) to the instruments

• Survival heater power (22-35 volts) to the instruments

• MIL-STD 1553B data bus (bidirectional)

• Pointing error signal (2 axes) back to the spacecraft

• RS-422 data link back to the spacecraft

• Temperature monitors (2) back to the spacecraft

Other than the signals listed above, no individual discrete or analog interfaces connect the

spacecraft and the instruments. The only reset to the instrument electronics occurs via a "poweron" command. Note that the spacecraft will accept pointing errors from only one instrument,

which is the Chromosphere and Inner Corona Imager. Likewise, only a single RS-422 interface is

available. All data communication between the spacecraft and the instruments occurs via the

MIL-STD 1553B data bus and the RS-422 link. However, instruments with existing data

interfaces that are incompatible with the MIL-STD 1553 may be proposed but must include costs

to convert the instrument to these standards. The spacecraft can provide an Instrument Data

Processing Unit (IDPU) to be shared by a limited number of instruments. Note that the cost of

the IDPU will be deducted from the funding resources available for the instruments. Future

references to the spacecraft/instrument bus interface will assume the presence of a 1553 interface,

either via the instrument itself, or via the IDPU. Any revised information concerning interfaces

will be available at the WWW location where this AO is posted.

Electrical Interfaces

The spacecraft will supply each instrument with unregulated +28 volt DC power from two

separate spacecraft power busses: the main power bus and the survival heater power bus. The

spacecraft will maintain the voltage on each bus between 22 and 35 volts DC.

The spacecraft will control the main bus power relays for each instrument, and each of these

circuits will be individually fused in the spacecraft. The instruments will use this power for all

their internal electronics, including any operational heaters. Power from the survival power bus

will be available continuously throughout the mission, to be used solely by survival heaters

controlled by passive thermostats with fixed set points. Instrument teams will be able to specify

placement of heaters and thermostats as well as select set points for thermostats. The total

aggregate power available to the instrument complement is 61.8 watts, which includes a 20%

margin.
13

Bus Architecture

A MIL-STD 1553B data bus is the primary method for command and telemetry transfers between

the spacecraft and the instruments. However, if a high data rate requirement prevents it from

transmitting telemetry via the 1553, one instrument may transmit high rate data to the spacecraft

via a dedicated RS-422 link.

The spacecraft computer controls all spacecraft operations. With respect to the spacecraft-toinstrument interfaces, the spacecraft computer provides instrument commands, collects, and

stores telemetry and distributes time. On the 1553 communication bus, the spacecraft computer

always acts as bus controller, while the instrument computer interface(s) are the remote terminals.

Cold-Gas Propulsion System

The spacecraft will have a cold-gas propulsion system for momentum management; thruster

firings are nominally planned once every four days. Instruments needing contamination protection

from this system must provide their own protective mechanisms. Thruster firings may cause

pointing perturbations on the order of 0.25 degrees. The spacecraft will provide a warning to all

instruments via the 1553 bus prior to firings.

Pointing Knowledge and Pointing Control

There are three reaction wheels, one for each axis, with an option of a fourth one for axis

redundancy. In order to achieve the tight pointing requirements for imaging, the coronagraph will

need to provide the spacecraft control system with pointing error signals in two independent axes.

It may provide the pointing error signal to the spacecraft as high resolution analog signals or as a

MIL-STD 1553B bus data packet. Emphasis should be placed on minimizing latency in the

pointing error signal; therefore, the preferred signal type is analog.

For planning purposes, the pointing error signal has been assumed to be accurate to 0.1 arcsec (3

sigma) and supplied at 10 Hz. The coronagraph will set the control and knowledge requirements

for the entire spacecraft. These requirements are estimated to be:

Knowledge Roll 60 arcsec

Pitch 0.1 arcsec

Yaw 0.1 arcsec

Control Roll 0.1 degree

Pitch 20 arcsec

Yaw 20 arcsec

Pointing control of other instruments will be essentially the same as for the coronagraph, except

for low frequency jitter which may be controlled by internal optics, if required. Knowledge for

the other instruments will differ from the coronagraph mainly by misalignment errors as

hardmounted to the spacecraft.
14

Alignment

Co-alignment of instruments to the coronagraph should be assumed to be 0.1 deg, knowledge and

stability, in all three axes. Instruments requiring prelaunch alignment must provide an optical cube

mounted to the outside of the instrument that is mapped to instrument coordinates. Instruments

that need better alignment must provide their own methods of adjustment or correction through

physical vernier adjustment or data calibration (i.e., observations and/or software).

Jitter

The jitter requirement is driven by the CICI performance. The total observatory jitter

specification is:

Roll 30 arcsec RMS

Pitch/Yaw (3 sigma) 1.5 arcsec (0.1 to 1 Hz)

To meet the jitter requirement, the control bandwidth (BW) of the system must be as high as

possible consistent with the baseline design of the spacecraft and instruments and nominal

pointing requirements. The goal for BW will be 0.1 Hz; however, for proposal purposes, the BW

should be assumed to be in the 0.03 to 0.1 Hz range.

Because it will extremely difficult for the spacecraft bus to accommodate the entire jitter budget,

CICI proposers should assume that an image compensation system of some kind will be required

internal to their instrument. This issue will be studied in detail during Phases A and B.

Instrument booms/antennae must have as much inherent damping of bending modes as possible.

If the booms have bending frequencies less than the BW, the spacecraft control system should be

able to control, or at least limit them. Frequencies higher than the BW will contribute to jitter for

all instruments, if excited at that frequency. In general, stiff booms are mandatory because of the

response rolloff with frequency.

5.1.3 Instrument Accommodation

The shared 1553 data bus provides data interfaces between the spacecraft and instruments. The

spacecraft acts as the bus controller and each instrument is a remote terminal. Data transfers may

be packetized or unpacketized. Packetized transfers are formatted using the Consultative

Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) packet protocol, whereas unpacketized transfers

have variable lengths and formats.

The spacecraft will support uplink rates at 125 bits/sec (normal) and 7 bits/sec (emergency). In

normal operations, the spacecraft accepts commands at the normal rate concurrent with telemetry

downlink. Due to this relatively low command uplink rate, teams must design their instruments to

require only a small number of commands per day.
15

The spacecraft will send command packets to the instruments without processing. It is the

responsibility of each instrument team to define the formats of the data portions of its command

packets. The spacecraft will not generate instrument commands autonomously.

The spacecraft will support storage of command packets for distribution to instruments at a later

time. The aggregate size of memory available to all instruments for stored commands is

approximately 200 kilobytes. Stored command packets may be individually time tagged with one

second precision, or may be part of a macro sequence.

An unpacketized broadcast message to all instruments will be distributed once per second. This

message will contain:

• Time

• Warning flags for

– Sun keep-in violation

– Thruster firing

– Instrument power-off

– Indication that next housekeeping data set will be downlinked or recorded

• Spacecraft housekeeping data required for instrument science

The spacecraft will collect data from the instruments via the 1553 (and science packets from RS422 high speed link, if required) according to a fixed schedule. Data can be stored on an onboard 8 gigabit recorder. The instruments must generate each science packet according to the full

CCSDS telemetry packet format, including primary and secondary headers, checksum, etc. The

maximum aggregate data collection rate for science packets from all instruments will be 408 kbps.

The spacecraft will not process instrument data before recording or downlink. Any processing or

data compression is the responsibility of the instrument. The instruments will have no direct

access to the onboard recorder and will not be able to retrieve data on-board.

Housekeeping data will be collected every second. The spacecraft will perform very rudimentary

monitoring of this data strictly for fault protection. For example, one bit in the packet will be

designated as a request by the instrument for the spacecraft to turn off its power. Other than this

monitoring, the instruments must not depend on the spacecraft to perform processing of

housekeeping data. Each instrument must include housekeeping data in its own science packets if

needed for science evaluation.

A small amount of unpacketized “space weather” data from each instrument will also be collected

every second to support a space weather broadcast mode similar to that employed by the

Advanced Composition Explorer mission.
16

Thermal Interfaces

It is highly desirable for each instrument to be thermally isolated from the spacecraft. It is,

however, recognized that for passive cooling of detectors, it may be appropriate for the spacecraft

to provide the necessary radiators. Thermal analysis/modeling for an instrument must be provided

by the PI team. Any need for thermal coupling to the spacecraft must be fully described in the

proposal.

Summary

Although the spacecraft design is still preliminary, the total resources that are estimated to be

available for each of the scientific instruments are summarized in Table 5-1. Updated information

will be made available if needed at the same WWW location where this AO is posted. Proposers

unable to access the WWW can request a hard copy of these reports by E-mail request to

deb.tripp@hq.nasa.gov.

Table 5-1. Nominal Instrument Resource Allocations per Spacecraft

Component Number

Mass

Total

(kgs)

Size

(cm)

Power

Total

(watts)

Data Rate

Available

(bps)

Solar Energetic Particle

Detector

1 3 25 x 18 x 12 2.0 200

Heliospheric Imager 1 6.8 20 x 20 x 12 20.0 7 x 103

Magnetometer 2.0 200

 Sensor 1 0.3 5 x 5 x 10

 Electronic Box 1 1.7 20 x 15 x 8

Radio Burst Tracker 4.0 200

 Antenna 3 1 1000 length x 1.27 dia.

 Deployment Mechanism 3 3.3 14 x 9 x 26

 Electronics 1 4 20 x 10 x 3

Chromosphere and Inner

Corona Imager

1 15 5 x 10 x 150 10 350 x 103

Coronagraph 1 15 6 x 6 x 150 10 50 x 103

Solar Wind Plasma Analyzer 4 7 3.5 200

Totals 57.1 51.5

The power allocation for each instrument includes the total available power for operational

heaters of each individual instrument. The mass and power allocations listed in Table 5-1 do not

include margins. For the purposes of this AO, a 20% margin on the total instrument allotment is

held at the Project level. Margin allocations to individual instruments will be made after

instrument selection. However, proposers must include additional instrument-level reserve within

their proposal. The definitions of margin and reserve are given in Appendix B (Section C),

together with examples.
17

5.1.4 Mission Operations Support

STEREO mission operations are designed to support the spacecraft integration and testing,

launch preparation, early orbit checkout, and the entire mission life. The mission operations

center has responsibility for the control, commanding, telemetry download distribution, and health

and safety checkout of the STEREO spacecraft. The science operations center will provide

scientific observations planning, generate instrument command timelines, and perform science

data analysis. The science operation center is solely responsible for the health and safety of the

STEREO instruments. Proposers are reminded to include the cost of instrument health and safety

oversight during the mission phase. Details of the STEREO science operations will be defined by

the selected science teams.

The baseline plan is to have one daily 8-hour Deep Space Network (DSN) contact per spacecraft.

During this time, the spacecraft playback high rate data will be downloaded, as well as real time

and housekeeping data. Instrument commands will be received by the mission operations center,

which will manage the spacecraft and instrument uplink loads for transmission to the spacecraft. A

one-hour period within the daily pass will be allocated for commanding. The mission is being

designed to implement autonomous operations, such as unattended spacecraft contacts and the

use of automated paging to achieve better management of spacecraft anomalies. The mission

operations center shall be capable of scheduling and supporting emergency DSN contacts to

mitigate spacecraft or space weather emergencies.

5.1.5 Project Schedule

The STEREO mission of NASA-provided spacecraft will be launched approximately June 2004.

In order to satisfy this schedule, the instruments will be required by March 2003 for integration

and testing. Proposals must clearly identify sufficient reserves (both schedule and financial) to

ensure on-time delivery of the instruments. The baseline STEREO mission duration is two years.

After this period, a Phase F may be invoked wherein the STEREO spacecraft are utilized to

provide service for STP missions that follow STEREO. Proposals to this AO should ignore the

possibility of a Phase F. The Project Schedule, as currently established, is summarized in Table 5-

2.
18

Table 5-2. Schedule for Two-Spacecraft STEREO Launch in 2004

Phase A October 1999

Phase B January-November 2000

Preliminary Design Review/

 Nonadvocacy Review

July 2000

Investigators confirmed for flight August 2000

Phase C/D October 2000-July 2004

Critical Design Review March 2001

Flight Model delivery March 2003

Launch Approximately June 2004

Phase E July 2004-June 2006

Phase F (Not covered by this AO) June 2006-May 2009

5.2 International Participation

Recognizing the potential scientific, technical, and financial benefits offered to all partners by

international cooperation, participation by non-U.S. organizations in STEREO investigations is

welcomed. Such participation may include, but is not limited to, the contribution of the

investigation and requisite scientific instruments, the spacecraft (or a portion thereof), and the

subsequent sharing of the data from the mission, all on a no-exchange-of-funds basis. Such

contributions are not accounted against the mission cap. Carriers, launch vehicles and launch

services, and space operations may also be contributed by international partners and should be

included in all calculations and discussions of the total cost of the investigation which is the sum

of the cost to NASA and the cost of the contributions (see section 7.1 and Appendix B, Section

F).

The direct purchase of goods and/or services from non-U.S. sources is permitted except that

NASA is precluded from purchasing non-U.S. launch vehicles, nor may funds provided to a

mission team be used to purchase a launch vehicle from a non-U.S. source. The provision of

launch services as a contribution to the STEREO mission by a non-U.S. partner is acceptable only

on a no-exchange-of-funds basis (i.e., at no cost to NASA). Only those non-U.S. launch vehicles

with demonstrated reliabilities may be proposed for the STEREO mission.

Participation by non-U.S. institutions in STEREO investigations must be endorsed by the

governments involved, if government support is required. The letter of endorsement must

provide evidence that the non-U.S. institution and/or government officials are aware and

supportive of the proposed investigation and will pursue funding for the investigation if selected

by NASA. Such endorsements must be submitted as per the schedule in Section 4.0.
19

5.3 Missions of Opportunity

For Missions of Opportunity, the U.S. proposer offers to participate in a mission not sponsored

By the NASA Office of Space Science (non-NASA OSS mission) that is planned or that has been

approved by its sponsoring organization. NASA would fund provision of an investigation on a

non-NASA OSS spacecraft if that instrument could be regarded as part of the STEREO mission

or could otherwise significantly augment the STEREO mission. The proposed investigation must

address the science objectives summarized in Section 2.0. The participation in the non-NASA

OSS mission could take many forms, such as providing a complete science investigation,

hardware components of a science instrument, or expertise in critical areas of the mission. NASA

will evaluate the proposed investigation, not the sponsor’s entire mission. While the investigator

is not required to document the entire mission of the sponsor, the U.S. investigator must fully

document their complete investigation in the proposal. Sufficient information about the Mission

of Opportunity must be provided to enable NASA to assess the performance, schedule, and cost

risk associated with the non-NASA OSS mission.

A Mission of Opportunity may be sponsored by a non-U.S. government organization or by a U.S.

agency or non-NASA OSS. Mission of Opportunity investigations on a military satellite are

allowed as long as the satellite is not planned for weapons testing.

Note that selection by NASA through this AO does not constitute selection of the investigation as

part of the mission, which necessarily is a decision made by the sponsor of the mission. Instead,

selection is a commitment by NASA to fund the U.S. portion of the investigation as part of the

STEREO program (and thus within the STEREO cost cap), although funding beyond basic

studies does not begin until detailed design of the mission itself is underway. If an investigation is

selected both by NASA and by the mission sponsor, the PI is responsible to NASA for the

scientific integrity and the management of the PI’s contribution to the mission.

A Confirmation Review will be held prior to the start of Phase C/D. Assuming a positive

outcome, NASA will confirm the investigation to proceed to development. Mission of

Opportunity investigation teams will have data analysis responsibilities defined by the policies of

the mission sponsor; nevertheless, as a condition for confirmation, NASA expects that the mission

sponsor will enter into an agreement with NASA to assure that data returned from at least those

aspects of the mission in which NASA support is involved, if not the entire mission, will be made

available to the U.S. scientific community in conformance with the STEREO data policies.

Missions of Opportunity are conducted on a no-exchange-of-funds basis between NASA OSS or

other parts of NASA and the mission sponsor. A Mission of Opportunity investigation that is

submitted under this AO will be subject to the same selection and review process and will require

commitment by the PI for the same cost, schedule (subject to negotiations), and scientific

performance as an investigation selected under the NASA-provided spacecraft option. In addition,

in keeping with OSS policy, proposals for a Mission of Opportunity to this AO must also include

an Education/Public Outreach proposal (see Section 5.5.1 and Appendix E for details).
20

It is incumbent on the proposing investigator to provide evidence in their proposal that the

sponsoring organization intends to fund the mission and state when the endorsement of NASA for

U.S. participation is required. The launch date or date(s) must be no later than the end of FY

2004. The operational phase of a Mission of Opportunity must include a reasonable overlap with

the planned STEREO baseline mission operation phase.

Like other investigations proposed to this AO, the NASA funding is subject to cancellation if

there is a cost overrun charged to NASA for any reason, including a launch delay caused by the

non-NASA OSS partner. The PI assumes all risk for delays in the mission and must propose

appropriate reserves. The specific cost information required for proposals is contained in

Appendix B.

5.4 STEREO Data Policy

The STEREO science goal is that the totality of the anticipated data be brought to bear on the

phenomena observed in a coordinated way in order that significant progress can be achieved. The

data will be treated as a public resource and will be made available for public access as soon as is

practical. With that in mind, the following principles will guide the development of the final data

policy:

(1) In accordance with solar physics open data and software tradition, after the initial

check out and calibration period (approximately 3 months), the STEREO database and

requisite basic analysis software will be made available to the international community

through a NASA data center. From that time, data shall be made public with no more

than a two-month delay. Once the calibrated STEREO data are deposited in an

accessible data bank, it is the intention of NASA to provide support for extended data

analysis through a Guest Investigator (GI) Program

(2) In general, encouragement will be given to STEREO mission data being treated as a

whole so that scientific topics may be studied to the maximum extent allowed by the

totality of the available observations.

(3) The participation of investigation teams is expected to continue for some time post

launch to expedite data analysis. Investigators are expected to provide training

materials for the flight operations team and any specialized software required for basic

analysis of data by the community.

(4) The investigators will determine scheduling of instrument operating sequences, which

is expected to be required daily. Proposers must identify how they plan to satisfy this

requirement from the standpoint of hardware, software, and personnel.
21

(5) The location of the data analysis center(s) will be determined by the PI teams and

NASA during the study phases.

(6) A small amount of unpacketized “space weather” data from each instrument will 

be collected every second, in support of a space weather broadcast mode similar to 

that employed by the ACE mission.

5.5 Education, Outreach, New Technology, Small Disadvantaged Business Requirements,

and Minority Institution Requirements

5.5.1 Education and Public Outreach (E/PO)

Proposers to this AO are required to include an E/PO plan as part of the overall proposal.

See Appendix E for a detailed discussion of the E/PO program and the evaluation criteria for

E/PO proposals. Appendix E also provides information on NASA-funded assistance available to

develop E/PO proposals.

5.5.2 Advanced Technology

NASA seeks to infuse new technologies that enhance performance and reduce costs into its

programs and to strengthen the mechanisms by which it transfers such technologies to the private

sector, including the nonaerospace sector. The means by which NASA’s Office of Space Science

plans to implement new technology is described in the Office of Space Science Integrated

Technology Strategy, which is available via the internet at

<http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oss/policy_pub.htm>. Investigations dependent on new

technology will not be penalized for risk provided that adequate plans are described to provide a

reasonable back-up approach that will assure the success of the investigation.

5.5.3 Small Disadvantaged Businesses and Minority Institutions

The PI and team members shall agree to use their best efforts to assist NASA in achieving its goal

for the participation of small disadvantaged businesses, women-owned small businesses,

Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and other Minority Educational Institutions in

NASA procurements. Investment in these organizations reflects NASA’s commitment to increase

the participation of minority concerns in the aerospace community, and is to be viewed as an

investment in our future. Offerors, other than small business concerns, are also advised that

contracts resulting from this AO will be required to contain a subcontracting plan that includes

goals for subcontracting with small, small disadvantaged, and women-owned small business

concerns. (See Appendix A, Section XI.)
22

6.0 PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INFORMATION

6.1 Preproposal Activities and Notice of Intent to Propose

Technical questions concerning this AO may be directed to the NASA Headquarters STEREO

Program Scientist :

Dr. Madhulika Guhathakurta

Research Program Management Division

Code SR

Office of Space Science

NASA Headquarters

Washington, DC 20546-0001

Telephone: 202-358-1992

Fax: 202-358-3097

E-mail: lika@tristang.gsfc.nasa.gov

In order to inform prospective proposers of any significant changes in the STEREO project,

especially concerning the resources likely to be available for the payload, plans for mission

development, operations, data analysis, and expected Project schedule information will be posted

at the same WWW site as this AO. Also, questions may be submitted by prospective proposers

by letter or E-mail to the STEREO Program Scientist (listed above), and may cover any phase of

the STEREO program. All questions and answers will be posted at the same WWW site as this

AO. The author(s) of such questions will not be identified. It shall be understood by prospective

proposers that, while every effort will be made to ensure that such information will be as current

as possible, many of the final STEREO specifications will not be determined until the payload

instruments are actually chosen and the mission science team is established and functioning.

A Notice of Intent (NOI) to propose should be submitted by each prospective Principal

Investigator on or before the deadline given in Section 4.0. The NOI requests information, to the

extent known, on the objectives of the proposed investigation, including a description of the

instrumentation to be proposed. The NOI should also include the names, addresses, telephone

numbers, and E-mail addresses of all prospective team members and their sponsoring

organizations. It must be emphasized that STEREO is a cost-capped mission. Hence, science

team size must be minimized as much as practical (see Appendix B, section C). All material

provided to NASA through an NOI is for information only and is not binding on the submitter.

An NOI is not required but is strongly encouraged by NASA in order to assist in the planning of

the evaluation of proposals.

An NOI to propose should be submitted via the Internet site at <http://props.oss.hq.nasa.gov/>.

If you have any problems submitting the NOI please contact Ms. Debra Tripp at E-mail:

dtripp@hq.nasa.gov; fax: 202-554-3042. Do not send a duplicate NOI, by postal mail.
23

6.2 Format and Content of Proposals

Certain key NASA policies for proposals in general are given in Appendix A, which are binding.

A uniform proposal format, which is summarized in Appendix B, is required from all proposers to

aid in proposal evaluation for both STEREO science investigations and Missions of Opportunity.

Failure to follow this outline may result in reduced ratings during the evaluation process, or in

extreme cases, could lead to rejection of the proposal without review. The proposal shall be

limited to a single volume plus the prefatory materials and the allowed appendices (see Appendix

B). The volume must provide a clear statement of the proposed research investigation and how it

will address the scientific objectives of the STEREO mission (as outlined in Section 2.0), while

maintaining consistency with the NASA resources (Section 1.2), expected model payload and

spacecraft, the missions operations and data analysis plans, and the expected Project schedule

(Table 5.4). The proposal must contain enough background information to be meaningful to a

reviewer who is generally familiar with the field, although not necessarily a specialist. Finally, all

proposals to this AO must contain an Education/Public Outreach proposal submitted in

compliance with Appendix E.

The description of proposed hardware must provide adequate technical information to permit

evaluation. Proposals for multiple instruments are expected to justify each instrument type.

Multiple-instrument proposals are expected to provide technical and cost information for each

instrument type sufficient to allow separate evaluation.

6.3 Submission Information and Certifications

6.3.1 General

All proposals must have a Cover Page and Proposal Summary that is to be submitted

electronically at the Web site given in Appendix B. Once the form is submitted, it must be printed

and used to obtain the required Principal Investigator and institutional signatures. Paper copies of

proposals and the original, signed version must be received by the indicated due date.

Unlike previous NASA solicitations, the authorizing institutional signature on the printout of the

electronically submitted cover now also certifies that the proposing institution has read and is in

compliance with the three required certifications printed in full in Appendix D. Therefore, it is not

necessary to separately submit these certifications with the proposal.

Proposers must provide 40 copies of their proposal, plus the original signed proposal. All

proposals must be received at the following address by 4:30 pm EDT on the proposal deadline

date given in Section 4.0:

STEREO Support Office

Jorge Scientific Corporation

Suite 700

400 Virginia Avenue SW

Washington, DC 20024
24

Point of contact for commercial delivery: Ms. Debra Tripp at 202-554-2775. All proposals

received after the closing date will be treated in accordance with NASA’s provisions for late

proposals (Appendix A, Section VI).

NASA will notify the proposers in writing that their proposals have been received. Proposers not

receiving this confirmation within two weeks of the proposal deadline should contact

Dr. Madhulika Guhathakurta at the address shown in Section 6.1.

6.3.2 Proposals with Non-U.S. Participants

In addition to the number of copies specified above, one additional copy of any proposal that

includes any non-U.S. participants and/or institutional and governmental commitments must be

sent to the address listed below.

The original and all copies of proposals shall include a letter of endorsement signed by an

institutional official from each partner and each organization expecting to provide contributions of

hardware, software, facilities etc. This official must certify institutional support and sponsorship

of the investigation, as well as concurrence in the management and financial parts of the proposal.

Non-U.S. organizations must submit the original of such endorsements to:

Ms. Wavalene Barnes

Space Science and Aeronautics Division

Code IS

Ref: STEREO

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Washington, DC 20546-0001

Phone: 202-358-0900,

and a copy to:

STEREO Support Office

Jorge Scientific Corporation

Suite 700

400 Virginia Avenue, SW

Washington, DC 20024

Fax Number: 202-554-2970
25

7.0 PROPOSAL EVALUATION, SELECTION, AND IMPLEMENTATION

7.1 Evaluation Criteria and Procedures

The fundamental aim of this NASA investigation acquisition process is to identify scientific ideas

and unique instrumental capabilities that best address the overall scientific objectives of the

STEREO program as described in this AO. All proposals submitted in response to this AO will

be subjected to a preliminary screening to determine their compliance to the constraints,

requirements, and guidelines of the AO. Proposals not in compliance will be returned to the

proposer without review. The following evaluation criteria (listed in descending order of priority)

will be used in evaluating proposals submitted in response to this AO:

1. The scientific merit of the proposed investigation and its relevance to the specific

opportunity described in this AO.

2. The technical merit and feasibility of the proposed investigation, with particular regard

to its ability to supply the data needed to successfully complete the goals of the

proposed investigation. The competence and relevant experience of the proposing

investigation team will be evaluated as an indication of its ability to carry the

investigation to a successful conclusion.

3. The fit of the investigation within the STEREO spacecraft resource and operations

constraints identified in Section 5.1.3, Table 5-1.

4. The proposed total cost to NASA together with management practices and technical and

cost risks (uncertainty) associated with the proposed investigation. Total NASA cost

will be considered to include not only that proposed for any instrument development and

for data analysis, but also the projected cost of the investigation during mission

operations (through Phase E). Management aspects include the capability to deliver any

proposed hardware on the schedule required by the STEREO project.

5. The plan for education, outreach, technology, small disadvantaged business, and

Minority Institution activities. These requirements are described in Section 5.5.

The scientific and technical aspects of each proposal will be assessed by a panel of scientific and

technical peers of the proposers. These panels may be augmented through the solicitation of mailin reviews as well, which the panels have the option to accept, modify, or reject. A nonGovernment organization will be used by NASA to provide assistance in organizing and

documenting this panel review process. The purpose of this peer evaluation will be to determine

the scientific and technical merit, that is, criteria 1) and 2) above, of each proposal expressed in

terms of its inherent strengths and weaknesses. The proposals will not be directly compared by

this peer review panel.
26

Simultaneous with these above science reviews, proposals will be scrutinized for technical and

fiscal integrity by NASA. The intent of these latter reviews will be, first, to assess the likelihood

that any proposed hardware can be built using state-of-art techniques and be delivered within the

mission schedule for STEREO; and second, to independently estimate the likely cost-to-NASA

for the entire investigation as proposed. The technical fit to mission constraints, management,

cost risk, and other (TMCO) evaluations will be done against criteria 3) through 5). Note that

appropriate experts and professionals will evaluate the education and public outreach portions of

the proposals. Once all evaluations are complete, a panel composed wholly of civil service

personnel will convene to finalize the science peer review and TMCO results and categorize the

proposals on the bases of

criteria 1) and 2), in accordance with procedures required by Federal Acquisition Regulations

(FAR) Supplement 1870.102. These Categories are defined below. Note that individual

instruments, as well as their composite suites, will be categorized.

Category I. Well conceived and scientifically and technically sound investigation pertinent

to the goals of the program and the AO’s objectives and offered by a competent

investigator from an institution capable of supplying the necessary support to ensure that

any essential flight hardware or other support can be delivered on time and that data can

be properly reduced, analyzed, interpreted, and published in a reasonable time.

Investigations in Category I are recommended for acceptance and normally will be

displaced only by other Category I investigations.

Category II. Well conceived and scientifically or technically sound investigations which

are recommended for acceptance, but at a lower priority than Category I.

Category III. Scientifically or technically sound investigations which require further

development.

Category IV. Proposed investigations which are recommended for rejection for the particular

opportunity under consideration, whatever the reason.

7.2 Selection Procedures

The results of the proposal evaluations and categorizations will then be presented by the STEREO

Program Scientist to the Space Science Steering Committee (SSSC), which is composed wholly

of NASA Civil Servants and appointed by the Associate Administrator for Space Science. The

SSSC will conduct an independent review of the evaluation and categorization processes

regarding both their compliance to established policies and practices, as well as their

completeness, self-consistency, and adequacy of all materials related thereto. After this review,

the final evaluation and categorization results will be forwarded by the SSSC to the Associate

Administrator who will make the final selections. The overriding consideration for the final

selection of proposals submitted in response to this AO will be to maximize scientific return

within the available budget. However, note that the merits of the submitted E/PO proposal will

play a role in selection as noted in Section I of Appendix E.

It should also be noted that NASA reserves the right to select only a portion of a proposer’s

investigation and/or to invite his/her participation with other investigators in a joint investigation.

In that case, all affected proposers will be given the opportunity to accept or decline such partial

acceptance and/or participation with other investigators (See Appendix A, Section II).
27

Following selection, direct responsibility for establishing a contract with the institution of the

Principal Investigator of the STEREO Investigation Team will be assigned to the STEREO

Project Office at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. It is expected that funding for the

Phase A Studies will begin quickly thereafter.

7.3 Implementation Procedures

Following selection, the PI’s of the selected investigations will be notified immediately by

telephone followed by formal written notification. The formal notification may include any issues

noted during the evaluation that will require resolution and any special instructions for the

concept study. A Project Initiation Conference will be held as soon as possible after selection to

clarify requirements and responsibilities of all parties having roles in the mission. Proposers of

investigations that were not selected will be notified in writing and offered a debriefing.

It is anticipated that contracts will be awarded for Phase A concept studies for investigations

selected as a result of this AO. Each contract will contain a priced option for a bridge phase, to

be exercised upon authorization to proceed. The bridge phase is intended to cover a two month

period of Phase B effort to provide program continuity while the Phase B/C/D/E contract

negotiations are completed.

The product of the concept studies will be reports to be delivered at the conclusion of the Phase A

concept study period. NASA may request presentations and/or site visits to review the concept

study results with the investigation teams. As a result of evaluation of the concept studies, NASA

expects investigations to proceed toward flight by exercising their bridge phase options.

However, NASA reserves the right to allow additional studies through Phase A and the right to

confirm for flight by exercising contract options of investigations or portions of investigations as

described in Appendix A, Section II.

Should a non-U.S. proposal or a U.S. proposal with non-U.S. participation be selected, NASA’s

Space Science and Aeronautics Division within the Office of External Relations, will arrange with

the non-U.S. sponsoring agency for the proposed participation on a no-exchange-of-funds basis,

in which NASA and the non-U.S. sponsoring agency will each bear the cost of discharging their

respective responsibilities. Depending on the nature and extent of the proposed cooperation,

these arrangements may entail a letter of notification by NASA with a subsequent exchange of

letters between NASA and the sponsoring governmental agency or a formal agency-to-agency

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

During the Phase B timeframe, NASA will conduct an independent review of the investigation’s

readiness to proceed before being authorized to spend more than 25 percent of the total NASA

commitment for Phases A/B/C/D. Results of this Confirmation Review and a decision to proceed

(or not) will be rendered within 30 days of the review. This decision will be based upon review of

the Phase B results, and evidence of satisfactory technical, cost, and schedule performance.
28

8.0 CONCLUSION

The objectives of the STEREO mission represent a significant step in accomplishing the goals of

the Sun-Earth Connection program. NASA invites both the U.S. and international space science

communities to participate in proposals for STEREO investigations to be carried out as a result of

this Announcement.

George L. Withbroe

Science Program Director

The Sun-Earth Connection

Edward J. Weiler

Associate Administrator for

 Space Science
A-1

APPENDIX A

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS AND PROVISIONS

I. INSTRUMENTATION AND/OR GROUND EQUIPMENT

By submitting a proposal, the investigator and institution agree that NASA has the option to

accept all or part of the offeror’s plan to provide the instrumentation or ground support

equipment required for the investigation or NASA may furnish or obtain such instrumentation or

equipment from any other source as determined by the selecting official. In addition, NASA

reserves the right to require use, by the selected investigator, of Government instrumentation or

property that becomes available, with or without modification, that will meet the investigative

objectives.

NOTICE TO ALL OFFERORS: In the event that a Principal Investigator employed by NASA is

selected under this AO, NASA will award prime contracts to non-Government participants,

including Co-Investigators, hardware fabricators, and service providers who are named members

of the proposing team, as long as the selecting official specifically designates the participant(s) in

the selection decision. Refer to Section G of Appendix B of this AO for proposal information

which the selecting official will review in determining whether to incorporate a non-Government

participant in the selection decision. Each NASA contract with hardware fabricators or service

providers selected in this manner will be supported by an appropriate justification for other than

full and open competition, as necessary.

II. TENTATIVE SELECTIONS, PHASED DEVELOPMENT, PARTIAL SELECTIONS,

AND PARTICIPATION WITH OTHERS

By submitting a proposal, the investigator and the organization agree that NASA has the option

to make a tentative selection pending a successful feasibility or definition effort. NASA has the

option to contract in phases for a proposed experiment and to discontinue the investigative effort

at the completion of any phase. The investigator should also understand that NASA may desire to

select only a portion of the proposed investigation and/or that NASA may desire the individual’s

participation with other investigators in a joint investigation, in which case the investigator will be

given the opportunity to accept or decline such partial acceptance or participation with other

investigators prior to a selection. Where participation with other investigators as a team is agreed

to, one of the team members will normally be designated as its team leader or contact point.

III. SELECTION WITHOUT DISCUSSION

The Government reserves the right to reject any or all proposals received in response to this AO

when such action shall be considered in the best interest of the Government. Notice is also given

of the possibility that any selection may be made without discussion (other than discussions

conducted for the purpose of minor clarification). It is, therefore, emphasized that all proposals

must be submitted initially on the most favorable terms that the offeror can submit.
A-2

IV. NONDOMESTIC PROPOSALS

The guidelines for proposals originating outside of the United States are the same as those for

proposals originating within the United States, except that the additional conditions described in

Section 5.2 of the AO and in Section F, paragraph 3 of Appendix B shall also apply.

V. TREATMENT OF PROPOSAL DATA

It is NASA policy to use information contained in proposals and quotations for evaluation

purposes only. While this policy does not require that the proposal or quotation bear a restrictive

notice, offerors or quoters should place the following notice on the title page of the proposal or

quotation and specify the information, subject to the notice by inserting appropriate identification,

such as page numbers, in the notice. Information (data) contained in proposals and quotations

will be protected to the extent permitted by law, but NASA assumes no liability for use and

disclosure of information not made subject to the notice. To prevent inadvertent disclosure,

proposal data shall not be included in submissions (e.g. final reports) that are routinely released to

the public.

 RESTRICTION ON USE AND

 DISCLOSURE OF

PROPOSAL AND QUOTATION INFORMATION (DATA)

The information (data) contained in (insert page numbers or other identification) of this

proposal or quotation constitutes a trade secret and/or information that is commercial or

financial and confidential or privileged. It is furnished to the Government in confidence

with the understanding that it will not, without permission of the offeror, be used or

disclosed for other than evaluation purposes; provided, however, that in the event a

contract is awarded on the basis of this proposal or quotation, the Government shall have

the right to use and disclose this information (data) to the extent provided in the contract.

This restriction does not limit the Government’s right to use or disclose this information

(data) if obtained from another source without restriction.

VI. LATE PROPOSALS

The Government reserves the right to consider proposals or modifications thereof received after

the date indicated, should such action be in the interest of the Government.

VII. (RESERVED)

VIII. DISCLOSURE OF PROPOSALS OUTSIDE GOVERNMENT

NASA may find it necessary to obtain proposal evaluation assistance outside the Government.

Where NASA determines it is necessary to disclose a proposal outside the Government for

evaluation purposes, arrangements will be made with the evaluator for appropriate handling of the

proposal information. Therefore, by submitting a proposal the investigator and institution agree
A-3

 that NASA may have the proposal evaluated outside the Government. If the investigator or

institution desire to preclude NASA from using an outside evaluation, the investigator or

institution must so indicate on the cover. However, notice is given that if NASA is precluded

from using outside evaluation, it may be unable to consider the proposal.

IX. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

By submitting a proposal, the investigator and institution agree to accept the following clause in

any resulting contract:

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

During the performance of this contract, the Contractor agrees as follows:

A. The Contractor will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for 

employment because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

B. The Contractor will take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are 

employed, and that employees are treated during employment without regard to 

their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. This shall include, but not be 

limited to (1) employment, (2) upgrading, (3) demotion, (4) transfer, (5) 

recruitment or recruitment advertising, (6) layoff or termination, (7) rates of pay 

or other forms of compensation, and (8) selection for training, including 

apprenticeship.

C. The Contractor shall post in conspicuous places available to employees and 

applicants for employment the notices to be provided by the Contracting Officer 

that explain this clause.

D. The Contractor shall, in all solicitations or advertisements for employees placed 

by or on behalf of the Contractor, state that all qualified applicants will receive 

consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or 

national origin.

E. The Contractor shall send to each labor union or representative of workers with 

which it has a collective bargaining agreement or other contract or understanding 

the notice to be provided by the Contracting Officer, advising the labor union or 

workers’ representative of the Contractor’s commitments under this clause, and 

post copies of the notice in conspicuous places available to employees and 

applicants for employment.

F. The Contractor shall comply with Executive Order 11246, as amended, and the 

rules, regulations, and orders of the Secretary of Labor.
A-4

G. The Contractor shall furnish to the contracting agency all information required by

Executive Order 11246, as amended, and by the rules, regulations, and orders of

the Secretary of Labor. Standard Form 100 (EEO-1), or any successor form, is

the prescribed form to be filed within 30 days following the award, unless filed

within 12 months preceding the date of award.

H. The Contractor shall permit access to its books, records, and accounts by the 

contracting agency or the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs 

(OFCCP) for the purposes of investigation to ascertain the Contractor’s 

compliance with the applicable rules, regulations, and orders.

I. If the OFCCP determines that the Contractor is not in compliance with this clause 

or any rule, regulation, or order of the Secretary of Labor, the contract may be 

canceled, terminated, or suspended in whole or in part, and the Contractor may be 

declared ineligible for further Government contracts, under the procedures 

authorized in Executive Order 11246, as amended. In addition, sanctions may be 

imposed and remedies invoked against the Contractor as provided in Executive 

Order 11246, as amended, the rules, regulations, and orders of the Secretary of 

Labor, or as otherwise provided by law.

J. The Contractor shall include the terms and conditions of subparagraph l through 9

of this clause in every subcontract or purchase order that is not exempted by the

rules, regulations, or orders of the Secretary of Labor issued under Executive

Order 11246, as amended, so that these terms and conditions will be binding upon

each subcontractor or vendor.

K. The Contractor shall take such action with respect to any subcontract or purchase 

order as the contracting agency may direct as means of enforcing these terms and 

conditions, including sanctions for noncompliance; provided, that if the 

Contractor becomes involved in, or is threatened with, litigation with a 

subcontractor or vendor as a result of direction, the Contractor may request the 

United States to enter into the litigation to protect the interests of the United 

States.

X. PATENT RIGHTS

A. For any contract resulting from this solicitation awarded to other than a small 

business firm or nonprofit organization, the clause at 1852.227-70, New 

Technology, shall apply. Such contractors may, in advance of a contract, request 

waiver of rights as set forth in the provision at 1852.227-71, Requests for Waiver of 

Rights to Inventions.

B. For any contract resulting from this solicitation awarded to a small business firm or 

nonprofit organization, the clause at FAR 52.227-11, Patent Rights -- Retention by 

the Contractor (Short Form) (as modified by 1852.227-11), shall apply.
A-5

XI. SMALL AND SMALL DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING

A. Offerors are advised that, in keeping with Congressionally mandated goals, NASA 

seeks to place a fair portion of its contract dollars, where feasible, with small 

disadvantaged business concerns, women-owned small business concerns, 

Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and minority educational 

institutions, as these entities are defined in 52.219-8 and in 52.226-2 of the FAR. 

For this Announcement of Opportunity, NASA has established a recommended 

goal of 8 percent for the participation of these entities at the prime and 

subcontract level. This goal is stated as a percentage of the total contract value. 

NASA encourages all offerors to meet or exceed this goal to the maximum extent 

practicable and to encourage the development of minority businesses and 

institutions throughout the contract period. Offerors will be evaluated on the 

proposed goal for participation of the entities listed above in comparison with the 

8 percent goal and on the methods for achieving the proposed goal.

B. Offerors are advised that for NASA contracts resulting from this solicitation 

which offer subcontracting possibilities, exceed $500,000, and are with 

organizations other than small business concerns, the clause FAR 52.219-9 shall 

apply. Offerors who are selected under this AO will be required to negotiate 

subcontracting plans which include subcontracting goals for small, small 

disadvantaged, and women-owned small business concerns. Note that these 

specific subcontracting goals differ from the 8 percent goal described in paragraph 

A above, and need not be submitted with the proposal. Failure to submit and 

negotiate a subcontracting plan after selection shall make the offeror ineligible for 

award of a contract.
B-1

APPENDIX B

SPECIFIC GUIDELINES FOR PROPOSAL PREPARATION

IN RESPONSE TO THIS AO

The following guidelines apply to the preparation of proposals by potential investigators in

response to this STEREO Announcement of Opportunity (AO). The guidelines apply to both

science investigations to be flown on the STEREO spacecraft and STEREO-related Missions of

Opportunity. The material presented is a guide for the prospective proposer, and is not intended

to be all encompassing. The proposer must, however, provide information relative to those items

applicable or as otherwise required by the Announcement of Opportunity. In the event of an

apparent conflict between the guidelines in this Appendix and those contained with the body of

the AO, those within this Appendix shall take precedence.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

All documents must be typewritten in English, use the metric system of units, and be clearly

legible. Submission of proposal material by facsimile (fax), electronic media, videotape, floppy

disk, etc., is not acceptable. In evaluating proposals, NASA will only consider printed material.

No proposal may reference a WWW site for any data needed to understand or complete the

proposal.

The proposal must consist of only one volume, with readily identified sections corresponding to

sections A through H given below. Proposals shall adhere to the page limits in Table B-1,

including no more than two fold-out pages (28 x 43 cm; i.e., 11 x 17 inches) that count as one

page each. All pages other than fold-out pages shall be 8.5 x 11 inches or A4 European standard.

The cover, table of contents, required cost table(s) and appendices will not be counted against the

page limit; for the remainder, every side upon which printing appears will be counted against the

page limits.

Single- or double-column format is acceptable. In complying with the page limit, no page shall

contain more than 55 lines of text and the type font shall not be smaller than 12-point Times (i.e.,

no more than 15 characters per inch). Smaller font is allowed within figures and in the cost

table(s).

In order to allow for recycling of proposals after the review process, all proposals and copies

must be submitted on plain white paper only (e.g., no cardboard stock or plastic covers, no

colored paper, etc.). Proposers are not permitted to use three-ring binders. Photographs and

color figures are permitted if printed on recyclable white paper only. The original signed copy

(including cover and endorsements) must be bound in a manner that makes it easy to disassemble

for reproduction. Except for the original, two-sided copies are preferred.
B-2

Table B-1. Proposal Page Guideline

Section Page Limits

Cover Page and Proposal Summary Printout of electronic submission

Table of Contents 1

Science Investigation Description 25 plus 4 pages each per additional

instrument if a suite of instruments is

proposed

Education/Public Outreach 5 (and also submitted electronically, see

Section D)

Technology, and Small, Disadvantaged

Business/Minority Institution Plan

2

Mission Operations Support and Data

Analysis Plan

4 plus 1 page each per additional

instrument if a suite of instruments is

proposed

Management, Schedule, Cost Estimating

Methodology, and Costs

10 plus 2 page each per additional

instrument, plus required cost table(s)

Appendices (No others permitted): No page limit but small size encouraged

Phase A Contract (from model provided)

Resumes (2 pages maximum for the PI

 and each Co-I)

Statement of commitment from each Co-I

Letter(s) of endorsement from

 participating institution(s)

Statement(s) of Work

References

Description of Team Member Selection

 (NASA PI’s only)

The content of each proposal shall be as follows:

A. COVER PAGE AND PROPOSAL SUMMARY

A Cover page and proposal summary must be a part of the proposal, but will not be counted

against the page limit. It must be signed by the Principal Investigator and an official by title

of the investigator’s organization who is authorized to commit the organization. This
B-3

 authorizing signature now also certifies that the proposing institution has read and is in

compliance with the three required certifications printed in full in Appendix D.

Certifications do not need to be submitted separately.

The full names of the Principal Investigator and the authorizing official, their addresses with

zip code, telephone and fax numbers, and electronic mail addresses, shall be included in the

cover. Additional information, including the names, institutions, and E-mails of all

participants, type of instrument(s) proposed, total investigation cost, and a 200-word

summary shall also be included.

The Cover Page and Proposal Summary must be submitted electronically to the WWW site

located at <http://props.oss.hq.nasa.gov/>. A hard copy version of this Cover must be

printed in time to acquire signatures and include with the original hard copy of the proposal

for delivery according to the schedule provided in Section 4.0 in this AO. Proposers are

advised that they must not reformat this Cover when it is printed, as important NASArequired documentation may be lost. Proposers without access to the Web or who

experience difficulty in using this site may contact Ms. Debra Tripp (E-mail:

dtripp@hq.nasa.gov) for assistance. Please note that submission of the electronic Cover

does not satisfy the deadline for proposal submission.

It is NASA’s intent to enter the Summaries of all selected investigations for its various

programs into a publicly accessible database. Therefore, the Summary must not contain any

proprietary or confidential information that the submitter wishes to protect from public

disclosure.

B. TABLE OF CONTENTS

The proposal must contain a Table of Contents. This Table of Contents must parallel the

outlines provided below in Sections C through G.

C. SCIENCE INVESTIGATION

The science section must describe the scientific objectives of the proposed investigation,

including the value of the investigation to the STEREO mission objectives. A discussion of

the scientific products and how the science products and data obtained will be used to fulfill

the scientific objectives must be provided. A discussion of how the science data will be

obtained, including a plan for delivery of the products, and the individuals responsible for

the data delivery, must also be provided.

1. Scientific Goals and Objectives. This section must consist of a discussion of the

goals and objectives of the investigation, their value to NASA’s Sun-Earth Connection

science theme and to the specific STEREO objectives described in this AO, and their

relationships to past, current, and future investigations and missions. It must describe

the history and basis for the proposal and discuss the need for such an investigation.

The practical applications of the investigation, in relation to space weather forecasting,

must also be outlined.
B-4

The measurements to be taken in the course of the mission, the data to be returned,

and the approach that will be taken in analyzing the data to achieve the scientific

objectives of the investigation must be discussed. This description must identify the

investigation to be performed, the quality of the data to be returned (resolution,

coverage, pointing accuracy, measurement precision, etc.), and the quantity of data to

be returned (bits, images, etc.). The STEREO data downlink is likely to be limited

and has to support all the instruments; consequently, proposers must justify their

telemetry requirements in terms of the overall mission objectives. The relationship

between the data products generated and the scientific objectives must be explicitly

described. The improvement over current knowledge that the results of the

investigation are expected to provide must be clearly stated.

Tradeoffs between data volumes, rates, and compression factors must be considered

and any plans that can reduce the proposed instrument’s drain on telemetry resources

should be highlighted. In addition, proposers should note that at later times in the

STEREO mission, when Earth-spacecraft distance has increased, real time

commanding will be difficult, and thus plans for the development of command

software must be provided.

2. Science Implementation.

a. Instrumentation. This section must describe the instrumentation and the criteria

used for its selection. While it is not expected that full details of instrument

design will be available until completion of further studies, the information

requested in the following paragraphs will aid in proposal review and, thus, must

be provided to the extent known. This section must identify the individual

components (including any mechanisms supplied by the proposer) and instrument

systems, including their characteristics and requirements. In addition, the

proposal must describe how the data that are to be obtained with the proposed

hardware are related to that to be obtained from the other instruments of the

model payload. Specific approaches being proposed to maximize the effective

use of these data for the study of outstanding problems in solar physics must be

identified together with the proposer’s plans for data processing and

management.

In particular, the proposal must describe all parameters of the instrument that are

pertinent to the accommodation of the instrument within the spacecraft resources

and configuration advertised in this AO (and updated on the same WWW site

that contains this AO) plus any special requirements necessary for successful

implementation. This information must be given in sufficient detail to permit an

evaluation of both the concept and the practical feasibility of the hardware.

These resources include, but are not limited to: volumetric envelope, mass,

power and thermal requirements (including preferred thermal limits); telemetry

and command requirements; environmental sensitivities (e.g. to electrical
B-5

 cleanliness, magnetic fields, and contamination); any special spacecraft or launch

 vehicle integration requirements or constraints; pointing requirements; and onboard data processing. The power discussion must outline both cruise and peak

power use, and a time profile of power needs. The instrument-level reserve for

spacecraft resources such mass and power must also be identified. Definitions

for reserve and margin and some examples are given at the end of this section.

The proposal must outline items that are proposed to be developed, as well as

any existing instrumentation or design/flight heritage. The heritage of various

parts of the instrumentation, supporting systems, and software must be

described. For any level of heritage claimed, cost information about the

referenced sources of heritage will be required in the section on cost-estimating

methodology.

In the case of proposals for multiple instruments, both individual instrument

types and package parameters must be detailed to the extent possible. Proposals

for multiple instruments are expected to justify each instrument type. Multipleinstrument proposals are expected to provide technical and cost information for

each instrument sufficient to allow separate evaluation. This requirement also

necessitates estimates of the fraction of shared resources ascribable to each

instrument.

A preliminary description of the instrument design with a block diagram showing

the instrument systems and their interfaces must be included. In the case of a

new or not-yet-space-qualified instrument, the instrument must, to the extent

possible, be compared on the basis of performance, complexity, and cost to

existing instruments. Since the locations of the interfaces are not finalized,

proposers must identify possible locations for the electrical, mechanical, and data

interfaces based on information provided in this AO and updated on the same

WWW site that contains this AO. In addition, the preferred location of the

instrument itself on the spacecraft must also be described. Where more than one

choice is available, proposers must identify and justify their preference.

Proposals must include a discussion of the purpose of the instrument, data rates

(peak and average), fields of view, resolution, sensitivity, pointing accuracy, etc.

Instrument testing and calibration (both pre- and during flight) must also be

described.
B-6

Definitions:

Contingency (or reserve) when added to a resource, results in the maximum

expected value for that resource. Percent contingency is the proposed value

of the contingency divided by the value of the resource less the contingency.

Margin is the difference between the maximum possible value of a resource

as given in this AO (the physical limit or the agreed-to limit) and the

maximum proposed value for a resource. Percent margin for a resource is

the available margin divided by its maximum proposed value.

Example: A payload in the design phase has an estimated mass of 115 kg

including a proposed mass reserve of 15 kg. There is no other payload on

the ELV and the ELV provider plans to allot to you the full capability of the

vehicle, if needed. The ELV capability is 200 kg. The mass reserve is

15/100 = 15% and the mass margin is 85 kg or 85/115 = 74%.

Example: The end-of-mission life capability of a spacecraft power system

is 200 watts. Your instrument is expected to use 50 watts, including 25%

contingency. You are allotted 75 watts by the satellite provider. Your

reserve is 10 watts and your margin is 25 watts, or 25/50 = 50%.

b. Mission. The observing strategy, within the framework of the expected

spacecraft performance, required for obtaining the necessary data with the

proposed instrumentation must be described. Operational constraints and

viewing and pointing requirements must be identified. The concept and the

expected requirements for supporting mission operations must be given.

Requirements for pre- or postlaunch ground operations support must be

identified. Proposers with additional mission operations support beyond what is

currently planned must include the cost for the additional support under Phase E

in Table B-2. The planned support for mission operations is described in Section

5.1.4 of the AO.

c. Data Collection, Analysis, and Archiving. For both STEREO investigations and

investigations funded as a STEREO Mission of Opportunity, the data reduction

and analysis plan, following delivery of the data to the ground, must be

discussed, including the method and format of the data reduction, data

validation, and preliminary analysis. The process by which data will be prepared

for archiving must be discussed, including a list of the specific data products and

the individual team members responsible for the data products. The plan must

include a detailed schedule for the submission of raw and reduced data to the

appropriate data archive in the proper formats, media, etc. Delivery of the data

to the data archive must take place in the shortest time possible as specified by

the NASA policy on open data access and Section 5.4 of the AO.
B-7

d. Science Team. This section must identify the investigation science team. It is

required that every Co-I’s role and responsibilities be explicitly given in the

proposal. NASA strongly encourages proposers to identify only the most

critically important personnel to aid in the execution of their proposals. (Note:

the inclusion of Co-I’s who are judged by peer review to have either insignificant

or unjustified roles in a proposed program of research will be considered a

weakness for purposes of the evaluation of the proposal.) Additionally, the roles

and responsibilities of any other science team member funded for the

investigation (defined as meaning anytime in Phases A-D) must also be explicitly

defined and the capabilities and experience of all Co-I’s and funded science team

members must be described. The names of all Co-I's and funded science team

members must appear on the Cover Page and Proposal Summary. The PI must

submit a resume or Curriculum Vitae (not to exceed the specified page limit)

that includes his/her professional experiences, positions, and a bibliography of

publications relevant to the proposal. Resumes or Curriculum Vitae of Co-I's

and funded science team members must also be included in the appendices (see

Section G below).

Statement(s) of Commitment from Co-I’s and/or Funded Science Team Member

Every Co-I and funded science team member from a U.S. as well as a non-U.S.

institution identified in the proposal must submit a brief, signed statement of

commitment that acknowledges his/her participation, even if they are from the

PI’s own institution. In the case of more than one Co-I and/or funded science

team member from a given institution, a single, multiply-signed statement is

acceptable. Each statement should be addressed to the PI, may be a facsimile,

and must contain the following, or approximately similar, language:

“I(we) acknowledge that I(we) am(are) identified by name as CoInvestigator(s) [or funded science team member(s)] to the investigation

entitled <name of proposal> that is submitted by <name of Principal

Investigator> to the <name of Announcement> NASA Research

Announcement, and that I(we) intend to carry out all responsibilities

identified for me(us) in this proposal. I(we) understand that the extent and

justification of my(our) participation as stated in this proposal will be

evaluated during peer review in determining the merits of this proposal.”

In addition, if that person or his/her institution will be providing or contributing

hardware/software/ or other tangible services, a letter from that institution must 

also be included.
B-8

Current and Pending Support

Information must be provided for all ongoing and pending projects and proposals

that involve the proposing PI, Co-I’s, and funded science team members.

Therefore, for each of the two categories of support awards as may exist at the

time of the proposal submission deadline, namely,

a) Current Support (for any of the period that overlaps with the proposal being

submitted to this NRA) and

b) Pending Support (including the proposal to this NRA),

the proposal must provide the following information for each such individual:

• Title of award or project;

• Program name (if appropriate) and sponsoring agency or institution 

(including point of contact);

• Proposed period of performance and budget; and

• Commitment by PI, Co-I, or funded science team member in fractions of 

a full time Work Year (WY).

D. EDUCATION, OUTREACH, TECHNOLOGY, AND SMALL DISADVANTAGED

BUSINESS/MINORITY INSTITUTION PLAN

The Education/Public Outreach, technology, and small disadvantaged business/minority

institution sections shall provide a summary of the benefits offered by the mission beyond

the scientific benefits. This plan must reflect the proposer’s commitment to achieving the

goals of the OSS education and outreach strategy as reflected in the Implementation Plan

for that strategy. It must also reflect the use of new technology in the implementation of the

investigations and the transfer of technology beyond NASA and the space science

community. Plans are required for the proposed investigation's commitment to meet the

small disadvantaged business participation goal of 8%.

Further information on the OSS broad approach to Education/Public Outreach, as well as

points of contact for obtaining assistance in the writing of Education/Public Outreach plans,

can be found in Appendix E. Guidance on the use of new technology in investigations can

be found in the OSS Integrated Technology Strategy, which can be accessed at the WWW

site <http://nic.nasa.gov/oss/>.

All portions of this plan must be included in the hard copy submission of the proposal,

within the page limits outlined in Table B-1. In addition, the identical Education/Public

Outreach plan and its budget must be submitted electronically by uploading its text to the

secure WWW site at <http://cass.jsc.nasa.gov/panel/> by the same deadline as for the parent

proposal. This site will provide complete instructions for accomplishing this activity using a

wide variety of formats. Proposers without access to the WWW or who experience

difficulty in using this site may contact the Lunar and Planetary Institute by E-mail at

<panel@lpi.jsc.nasa.gov> or by phone at (281) 486-2156 or -2166 for assistance.
B-9

Only the electronic version of the Education/Public Outreach plan will be evaluated; the

hard copy submission is for completeness only. This electronic submission must be clearly

linked to the parent proposal, by identifying the PI name, parent proposal title and, if

available, the proposal number assigned to the parent proposal at the time of submission of

the electronic cover.

E. MANAGEMENT AND SCHEDULE

This section must briefly summarize the investigator’s proposed management approach.

The management organization and decision-making process must be described and the

teaming arrangement (as known) must be discussed. The responsibilities of team members,

including contributors, and institutional commitments must be discussed. Unique

capabilities that each team member organization brings to the team, as well as previous

experience with similar systems and equipment, must be addressed. The specific roles and

responsibilities of the Principal Investigator, Co-Investigators, and Project Manager must

be discussed. The relationship between the PI, his/her team, the instrument provider(s) (if

not the PI), and NASA must be outlined. Risk management and risk mitigation plans,

including possible descope options with cost-savings indicated, particularly in the case of

multiinstrument proposals, must be described.

Mission of Opportunity proposals must specifically address how the investigation team will

relate with the sponsoring organization, for example:

• The status of the commitment from the spacecraft builder/owner or sponsoring

organization to fly the proposed instrument or conduct the proposed

investigation;

• If and how the proposed investigation relates to the spacecraft sponsor’s overall

mission objectives;

• The investigation development plan and how it fits in the development plan for

the sponsor’s mission; and/or

• How the operations plan for the proposed investigation fits within the mission of

the sponsoring organization.

A Project schedule to meet the proposed launch date and covering all phases of the

investigation must be provided. The schedule must include proposed major Project review

dates, instrument development and delivery, instrument to spacecraft integration and test,

any special launch vehicle integration issues, and mission operations and data analysis.

Schedule reserve must be clearly identified.

F. COST ESTIMATING METHODOLOGY AND COSTS

The Cost Plan must provide an estimate of the total lifecycle cost to NASA of the

investigation, along with sufficient technical information to allow the reliability of the figures

to be judged. The assumptions on which the estimate is based must be stated, particularly

with regard to any requested Government-furnished equipment and services. For purposes
B-10

of this cost estimate, the proposer should assume delivery of any hardware in accordance

with the Project Schedule shown in Table 5-2. Proposal cost estimates must include clearly

identified and sufficient reserves of both schedule and financial resources to ensure on-time

delivery.

The Cost Plan must have two parts: a detailed total cost for the concept study (Phase A)

that is expected to last for three months and an estimated cost plan for Phases B, C, D, and

E. Firm, fixed-price Phase A contracts with a bridge option will be issued for the concept

study while, in the meantime, the contract for Phase B through E is negotiated. Proposers

must estimate the NASA Cost in the proposal and, if selected through this AO, in much

more detail in the concept study report.

Because the interfaces between the instruments and the spacecraft have not been finalized,

proposers are asked to break down the estimates to a level that allows the total costs

associated with major subsystems of the hardware to be identified. Since cost details are not

anticipated until the conclusion of the concept study, cost estimates in the proposal may be

generated with models or cost estimating relationships from analogous investigations.

An investigation may be descoped to meet cost constraints; therefore, the proposer shall

identify a prioritized risk management plan for the removal of science objectives, reduction

of testing, etc. The decision points for achieving effective reductions in cost and schedule

must be identified. The hardware and Project costs associated with the investigation at each

level of descoping must be estimated and any resulting schedule savings must be outlined.

This section shall include a first-order estimated cost of the investigation that encompasses

all proposed activities, including Phase A/B/C/D/E, development of the ground system if

there are any special requirements needed to support the proposed instrument(s), fee, and

contributions. DSN costs will be covered by the project, thus proposers need only include

costs for data analysis-related activities in their Phase E estimates. Costs shall be consistent

with the program requirements described in Section 5 of the AO. The amount to be costed

in each fiscal year must be identified by providing the data in Table B-2, which will not be

counted against the page limit, using at least the WBS elements identified in Table B-3 and

any other items unique to the proposal. Costs for each instrument must be shown to an

instrument-specific WBS. The top portion of Table B-2 requests cost data relative to the

NASA Cost. The lower portion addresses both domestic and non-U.S. contributions.

Table B-4 gives the NASA inflation index to be used to calculate real-year dollars.

Since NASA may wish to select only part of a proposed instrument suite, each instrument

(pair) of a proposed suite must be costed separately on its own line(s) in Table B-2 and any

savings that may be realized by packaging the instruments must be described and justified in

the text or an additional table and subtracted from the total cost.

The methodology used to estimate the cost, for example, engineering estimate, specific cost

model, past performance, and cost estimating relationships from analogous missions, must

be discussed. If an estimate is based on heritage, the performance and cost parameters that

the proposed system has in common with the previous system shall be provided. No matter
B-11

which estimation method is used, sufficient details must be provided in this section and in

the technical description of the instrument(s) to allow reviewers to verify the estimate.

Budget reserve strategy, including budget reserve levels as a function of mission phase, must

be discussed.

1. Full Cost Accounting

NASA civil service labor and supporting NASA Center infrastructure must be costed

on a full cost accounting basis. If NASA guidance for full cost accounting has not

been fully developed by the closing date for proposal submission or for completion of

the definition studies, NASA Centers may submit full cost proposals based on the

instructions in the NASA Financial Management Manual, Section 9091-5, “Cost

Principles for Reimbursable Agreements,” or based on their own Center-approved full

cost accounting models. Other Federal Government elements of proposals must

follow their agency cost accounting standards for full cost. If no standards are in

effect, the proposers must then follow the Managerial Cost Accounting Standards for

the Federal Government as recommended by the Federal Accounting Standards

Advisory Board.

2. Goods and/or Services Offered on a No Exchange of Funds Basis

Contributions of any kind, whether cash or noncash (property and services), to

STEREO investigations by organizations other than the NASA Office of Space

Science are welcome. Such contributions are not accounted against the mission cap.

The value of the contributed goods and or services must be entered in the lower part

of Table B-2. Values for all contributions of property and services shall be established

in accordance with applicable cost principles. Such contributions may be

applied to any part or parts of a mission. A letter of endorsement that contains a

statement of financial commitment from each responsible organization offering to

make a contribution to the investigation must be submitted with the proposals for all

U.S. components. For non-U.S. components of proposals, see paragraph 3 below.

3. International Participation and Purchases of Non-U.S. Goods and Services

Participation by non-U.S. individuals and organizations as team members in STEREO

investigations is welcomed. Participation may include, but is not limited to, the

contribution of scientific instruments, and the subsequent sharing of the data from the

mission, all on a no-exchange-of-funds basis. Contributions by international partners

must be included in the cost estimate.

Proposers are advised that a contract or subcontract by a U.S. team with a non-U.S.

participant using funds derived from NASA must meet NASA and Federal regulations.

Proposers are further advised that these regulations will place an additional burden on

investigation teams that must be explicitly included in discussions of the investigation's

cost, schedule, and risk management. Information regarding regulations governing the

procurement of foreign goods or services is provided in Appendix F.
B-12

Proposers for non-NASA OSS and also non-U.S. missions must recognize that all

such proposals must be consistent, and in compliance with, all U.S. Government laws,

regulations, and policies governing the export of hardware and/or technical data.

Further, any such successful proposal will require the appropriate agreement(s) and

export license(s). Therefore, all proposers for non-U.S. missions must contact the

Space Science and Aeronautics Division, Office of External Relations, at NASA

Headquarters at the address in Section G, below, during the preparation of the concept

study to obtain information about U.S. Government laws or policies (e.g., export

control), as well as NASA policy and procedures regulating international cooperation

that may be relevant to the proposal.

G. APPENDICES

The following additional information is required to be supplied with the proposal. This 

information can be included as Appendices to the proposal, and, as such, will not be 

counted within the specified page limit. NO OTHER APPENDICES ARE PERMITTED.

1. Phase A Contract. Provide a Phase A contract based on the model made available 

at the WWW site at< http://explorer.larc.nasa.gov/explorer/mel.html>

2. Resumes. Provide resumes or curriculum vitae for the PI, Co-I's, and funded science

team members identified in the science section and named on the Cover Page and

Proposal Summary. Resumes or curriculum vitae must be no longer than two pages

in length each.

3. Letters of Endorsement. Letters of endorsement must be provided from all 

organizations offering to supply goods or services or make a contribution to the 

investigation. Letters of endorsement must be signed by both the lead 

 representative from each organization represented on the team, and by institutional 

or Government officials authorized to commit their organizations to participation in 

the proposed investigation. In the case of science investigators who are providing 

their time, but not hardware/software or other tangible items, a letter from that

 investigator only will suffice. Copies of faxed or E-mailed letters from non-U.S. 

participants may be substituted in the hard copy proposals submitted by the 

 deadline as long as signed letters are received by the date specified in the schedule 

provided in Section 4.0 in this AO. Non-U.S. organizations must submit the

original letter to:

Ms. Wavalene Barnes

Space Science and Aeronautics Division

Code IS

Ref: STEREO

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

300 E Street, SW

Washington, DC 20546-0001

Phone: 202-358-0900,
B-13

with a copy to:

STEREO Support Office

Jorge Scientific Corporation

Suite 700

400 Virginia Avenue, SW

Washington, DC 20024

Fax Number: 202-554-2970

4. Statement of Work (SOW). For investigations managed from non-Government 

institutions, provide a SOW for all potential contracts with NASA. For 

investigations managed from Government institutions, provide a SOW as if the 

institution were non-Government. This SOW must include the requirement for a 

concept study report. In addition, the SOW must include general task statements for 

 Phases B/C/D, and for Phase E for the investigation. All SOW’s must include the 

following as a minimum: Scope of Work, Deliverables (including science data), and 

Government Responsibilities (as applicable). SOW’s need not be more than a few 

pages in length.

5. References List: Proposals may provide a list of reference documents and 

materials cited in the proposal. The documents and materials themselves cannot be 

submitted except as a part of the proposal (i.e., within the page limits).

6. NASA Principal Investigator Proposing Teams: Proposals submitted by NASA 

employees as Principal Investigators must contain the following information 

concerning the process by which non-Government participants were included in the 

proposal. The proposal must (i) indicate that the supplies or services of the 

proposed non-Government participant(s) are available under an existing NASA 

contract; (ii) make it clear that the capabilities, products, or services of these 

participant(s) are sufficiently unique to justify a sole source acquisition; or (iii) 

describe the open process that was used for selecting proposed team members.

 While a formal solicitation is not required, the process cited in (iii) above must 

include at least the following competitive aspects: notice of the opportunity to 

participate to potential sources; submissions from and/or discussions with potential

sources; and objective criteria for selecting team members among interested sources. 

 The proposal must address how the selection of the proposed team members 

followed the objective criteria and is reasonable from both a technical and cost 

standpoint. The proposal must also include a representation that the Principal 

Investigator has examined his/her financial interests in or concerning the proposed 

team members and has determined that no personal conflict of interest exists. The 

proposal must provide a certification by a NASA official superior to the Principal 

Investigator verifying the process for selecting contractors as proposed team 

members, including the absence of conflicts of interest.
B-14

Table B-2. Total Investigation Cost Funding Profile Template

(FY costs in 1998 Dollars, Totals in FY 1999 (FY99$) and Real-Year Dollars (RY$))

Item FY98 FY99 FY00 FY01 FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06

–07

Total

(FY99$)

Total

(RY$)

NASA Cost

Concept Study

Phase B/C/D:

WBS 1.0

1.1

1.2

1.3

WBS 2.0

2.1-2.n

WBS 3.0

WBS 4.0

WBS 5.0

WBS n.0

Phase E*:

WBS 1.3

MO & DA

E/PO**

Total

NASA Cost $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

Contributions:

WBS 1.0

.

.

.

WBS n.0

Total

Contributions $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

Instr.

Suite

Savings†

-$

Total

Cost

$

Costs must include all costs including overhead, G&A, and fee. Instrument costs must include the costs of two

identical instruments and any spares.

* Mission Operations (any costs associated with special requirements) and Data Analysis, Archiving, and

Distribution. The STEREO Project will cover the costs of normal DSN use and other normal mission operations

costs.

** Education and/or Public Outreach. This budget line must also be included with the electronically submitted

version of the E/PO plan (see section D of Appendix B).

† Any cost savings realized from packaging an instrument suite (compared with buying each instrument

individually) must be described and justified in the text or an additional table and subtracted from total here.
B-15

Table B-3. WBS Elements

1.0 Management/Science support (including Co-Investigators) must include:

1.1 Prelaunch Mission Operation Systems/Ground Data Systems development

1.2 Instrument development

1.3 Postlaunch MO&DA

2.0 Individual instrument costs (as applicable and if available; repeat for each

instrument of a suite) including:

• detector/focal plane array

• optics

• mechanisms

• power distribution

• structure

• electronics

• other major assemblies

• integration/assembly/test

3.0 Software development/data processing

4.0 Special launch service costs if applicable

5.0 Special ground data system costs if applicable

Table B-4. NASA Inflation Index

Fiscal Year 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Inflation Rate 3.1% 3.4% 3.3% 3.3% 3.3% 3.3% 3.3% 3.3% 3.3%

Cumulative Inflation Index 1.000 1.031 1.066 1.101 1.138 1.175 1.214 1.254 1.295 1.338
C-1

APPENDIX C

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF RELEVANT REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

I. SUMMARY OF FORMAL PUBLISHED REPORTS

All of the following reports have been issued by the National Academy of Sciences since 1980

through the auspices of its Space Science Board (SSB), the SSB Committee on Solar and Space

Physics (CSSP), the Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Research (CSTR) of the Board on

Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, or one of several ad hoc panels (in particular, the Astronomy

Survey Committees of 1982 and 1991, the Panel on the Physics of the Sun in 1985, and through

NASA’s Sun-Earth Connection Advisory Subcommittee (SECAS) and the Space Science

Advisory Committee (SSAC)). The page numbers shown are those containing discussion and/or

recommendations regarding solar coronal mass ejections, their role in energetic particle

production, and their possible impacts on terrestrial processes and the habitability of space.

1980: Solar-System Space Physics in the 1980’s/A Research Strategy (pp. 7–10, 16, 21–26, 45–

53, 61–63)

1981: Solar-Terrestrial Research for the 1980’s (pp. 11–14, 26–27, 43–53, 70–85, 134)

1982: Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 1980’s/Volume 1: Report of the Astronomy Survey

Committee (pp. 76–80)

1984: National Solar-Terrestrial Research Program (pp. 11–12, 25)

1985: An Implementation Plan for Priorities in Solar-System Space Physics (pp. 5–7, 14, 16, 22–

23, 29–38)

1985: The Physics of the Sun (pp. 14–15, 20–22, 44–46, 54–59, 61–62)

1988: Space Science in the Twenty-First Century: Imperatives for the Decades 1995–2015:

Solar and Space Physics (pp. 7–10, 17–20, 33–41, 112–138)

1990: Office of Space Science and Applications Strategic Plan (pp. 11, 29, 34, 57)

1991: The Decade of Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics/Astronomy and Astrophysics

Panel Reports (pp. ix 3, ix 5–11, ix 21–22)

1991: Space Physics Strategy -- Implementation Study -- The NASA Space Physics Program for

1995–2010, Vol. 1, (pp. 9–11, 68–75, 143–144)

1991: Assessment of Programs in Solar and Space Physics (pp. 9–13)

1994: Solar Influences on Global Change (pp. 9–11, 106)

1995: A Science Strategy for Space Physics (pp. 2–3, 23–37, 64–71, 74)
C-2

1997: Sun-Earth Connection Roadmap: Strategic Planning for the Years 2000–2020 (pp. 19, 21,

25–38, 51–56, 98–99)

1997: The Space Science Enterprise Strategic Plan (pp. 4–7, 15, 19, 23–27, A1, A3, A4)

1997: An Assessment of the Solar and Space Physics Aspects of NASA’s Space Science

Enterprise Strategic Plan (p. 4)

II. EDUCATION OUTREACH

Documentation on Education/Public Outreach and other relevant subjects can be found on-line at

the “Education and Public Outreach” OSS WWW home page at

<http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oss/>.

“Partners in Education: A Strategy for Integrating Education and Public Outreach into NASA’s

Space Science Programs” (March 1995).

This document describes the overall strategy for integrating education and public outreach

into NASA’s space science programs. It may be found at the WWW site at

<http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oss/edu/educov.htm>

“Implementing the Office of Space Science (OSS) Education/Public Outreach Strategy” (October

1996)

This document describes OSS’s overall approach to implementing its Education/Public

Outreach strategy. It may be found at the WWW site at

<http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oss/edu/imp_plan.htm>

III. NEW TECHNOLOGY PLANS

“OSS Integrated Technology Strategy” (April 1994).

Describes efforts to manage technology infusion into future OSS missions and to promote

technology transfer to the private sector. It may be found at the WWW site at

<http://nic.nasa.gov/oss/>

IV. NASA POLICY

NHB 7120.5 -- Management of Major System Programs and Projects (November 1993)

This NASA Handbook provides a reference for typical activities, milestones, and products in the

development and execution of NASA missions.
D-1

APPENDIX D

CERTIFICATIONS

Certification of Compliance with the NASA Regulations Pursuant to Nondiscrimination in Federally

Assisted Programs

The (Institution, corporation, firm, or other organization on whose behalf this assurance is signed,

hereinafter called "Applicant ") hereby agrees that it will comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of

1964 (P.L. 88-352), Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1962 (20 U.S.C. 1680 et seq.), Section 504

of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 794), and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975

(42 U.S.C. 16101 et seq.), and all requirements imposed by or pursuant to the Regulation of the National

Aeronautics and Space Administration (14 CFR Part 1250) (hereinafter called "NASA") issued pursuant to

these laws, to the end that in accordance with these laws and regulations, no person in the United States

shall, on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, handicapped condition, or age be excluded from

participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under any program or

activity for which the Applicant receives federal financial assistance from NASA; and hereby give

assurance that it will immediately take any measure necessary to effectuate this agreement.

If any real property or structure thereon is provided or improved with the aid of federal financial assistance

extended to the Applicant by NASA, this assurance shall obligate the Applicant, or in the case of any

transfer of such property, any transferee, for the period during which the real property or structure is used

for a purpose for which the federal financial assistance is extended or for another purpose involving the

provision of similar services or benefits. If any personal property is so provided, this assurance shall

obligate the Applicant for the period during which the federal financial assistance is extended to it by

NASA.

This assurance is given in consideration of and for the purpose of obtaining any and all federal grants,

loans, contracts, property, discounts, or other federal financial assistance extended after the date hereof to

the Applicant by NASA, including installment payments after such date on account of applications for

federal financial assistance which were approved before such date. The Applicant recognized and agrees

that such federal financial assistance will be extended in reliance on the representations and agreements

made in this assurance, and that the United States shall have the right to seek judicial enforcement of this

assurance. This assurance is binding on the Applicant, its successors, transferees, and assignees, and the

person or persons whose signatures appear below are authorized to sign on behalf of the Applicant.

Organization Name AO or NRA Number and Title

Printed Name and Title of Authorized Representative

Signature Date

Printed Principal Investigator Name Proposal Title
D-2

CERTIFICATION REGARDING

DEBARMENT, SUSPENSION, AND OTHER RESPONSIBILITY MATTERS

PRIMARY COVERED TRANSACTIONS

This certification is required by the regulations implementing Executive Order 12549, Debarment

and Suspension, 14 CFR Part 1265.

A. The applicant certifies that it and its principals:

(a) Are not presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible, or voluntarily

excluded from covered transactions by any Federal department or agency;

(b) Have not within a three-year period preceding this application been convicted or had a civil

judgment rendered against them for commission of fraud or a criminal offense in connection with

obtaining, attempting to obtain, or performing a public (Federal, State, or Local) transaction or

contract under a public transaction; violation of Federal or State antitrust statutes or commission

of embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, falsification or destruction of records, making false

statements, or receiving stolen property;

(c) Are not presently indicted for or otherwise criminally or civilly charged by a government entity

(Federal, State, or Local) with commission of any of the offenses enumerated in paragraph A.(b) of

this certification;

(d) Have not within a three-year period preceding this application/proposal had one or more public

transactions (Federal, State, or Local) terminated for cause or default; and

B. Where the applicant is unable to certify to any of the statements in this certification, he or she shall

attach an explanation to this application.

C. Certification Regarding Debarment, Suspension, Ineligibility and Voluntary Exclusion -- Lowered Tier

Covered Transactions (Subgrants or Subcontracts)

(a) The prospective lower tier participant certifies, by submission of this proposal, that neither it nor

its principles is presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible, or

voluntarily excluded from participation in this transaction by any federal department of agency.

(b) Where the prospective lower tier participant is unable to certify to any of the statements in this

certification, such prospective participant shall attach an explanation to this proposal.

Organization Name AO or NRA Number and Title

Printed Name and Title of Authorized Representative

Signature Date

Printed Principal Investigator Name Proposal Title
D-3

CERTIFICATION REGARDING

LOBBYING

As required by S 1352 Title 31 of the U.S. Code for persons entering into a grant or cooperative agreement

over $100,000, the applicant certifies that:

(a) No Federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid by or on behalf of the undersigned,

to any person for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of any agency, a

Member of Congress, in connection with making of any Federal grant, the entering into of any

cooperative, and the extension, continuation, renewal, amendment, or modification of any Federal

grant or cooperative agreement;

(b) If any funds other than Federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid to any person

for influencing or attempting an officer or employee of any agency, Member of Congress, or an

employee of a Member of Congress in connection with this Federal grant or cooperative

agreement, the undersigned shall complete Standard Form -- LLL, “Disclosure Form to Report

Lobbying,” in accordance with its instructions.

(c) The undersigned shall require that the language of this certification be included in the award

documents for all subawards at all tiers (including subgrants, contracts under grants and

cooperative agreements, and subcontracts), and that all subrecipients shall certify and disclose

accordingly.

This certification is a material representation of fact upon which reliance was placed when this transaction

was made or entered into. Submission of this certification is a prerequisite for making or entering into this

transaction imposed by S1352, title 31, U.S. Code. Any person who fails to file the required certification

shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than $10,000 and not more than $100,000 for each such

failure.

Organization Name AO or NRA Number and Title

Printed Name and Title of Authorized Representative

Signature Date

Printed Principal Investigator Name Proposal Title
E-1

APPENDIX E

EDUCATION AND PUBLIC OUTREACH

I. SCOPE OF PROGRAM

The Office of Space Science (OSS) has developed a comprehensive approach for making

education at all levels (with a particular emphasis on K-14 education) and the

enhancement of public understanding of space science integral parts of all of its missions

and research programs. The two key documents that establish the basic policies and guide

all OSS Education and Outreach activities are a strategic plan, entitled Partners in

Education: A Strategy for Integrating Education and Public Outreach Into NASA's Space

Science Programs (March 1995), and an implementation plan, entitled Implementing the

Office of Space Science (OSS) Education/Public Outreach Strategy (October 1996).

Both of these documents may be obtained either by selecting Education and Public

Outreach from the menu on the OSS homepage at http://spacescience.nasa.gov, or from

Dr. Jeffrey Rosendhal, Code S, Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters,

Washington, DC 20546-0001.

In accord with these established OSS policies, proposers to this AO are required to

include an Education/Public Outreach (E/PO) program as part of their proposal. In

keeping with this policy, proposed E/PO activities should be budgeted at one to two

percent per year of the cost of the proposed investigation. E/PO proposals will be

evaluated (see criteria below) by appropriately qualified scientific, education, and outreach

personnel, and the results of those evaluations will be considered by the OSS Selecting

Official as a part of the overall evaluation and selection process. E/PO will serve as one of

the factors to be used in discriminating among proposals having otherwise comparable

scientific and technical merits.

II. EVALUATION CRITERIA

There are two classes of evaluation criteria against which proposed E/PO activities

will be evaluated. The general criteria to be applied to the evaluation of all proposals,

which reflect requirements necessary for further consideration of a proposal, are:

• The quality, scope, and realism of the proposed E/PO program including the

adequacy , appropriateness, and realism of the proposed budget;

• The capability and commitment of the proposer and the proposer’s team and

the direct involvement of one or more science team members in overseeing and

carrying out the proposed E/PO program;

• The establishment or continuation of effective partnerships with institutions

and/or personnel in the fields of education and/or public outreach as the basis

for and an integral element of the proposed E/PO program;
E-2

• The adequacy of plans for evaluating the effectiveness and impact of the

proposed education/outreach activity.

To ensure that the goals and objectives of the OSS E/PO strategy are realized in practice,

proposals will also be evaluated using the following specific criteria. Based on the funding

guidelines given elsewhere in this AO, the E/PO programs submitted in response to this

Announcement will involve the expenditure of substantial resources. Therefore, it
E-3

is expected that proposed E/PO programs will have a breadth and depth commensurate

with these resources. Such programs are expected to be multi-faceted in nature, address a

number of different aspects of education and outreach contained in the specific criteria,

and have state, regional, or national scope. The specific E/PO criteria are:

• For proposals dealing directly with or strongly affecting the formal education

system (e.g., through teacher workshops or student programs carried out at

informal education institutions such as science museums and planetariums), the

degree to which the proposed E/PO effort is aligned with and linked to

nationally recognized and endorsed education reform efforts and/or reform

efforts at the state or local levels;

• The degree to which the proposed E/PO effort contributes to the training of,

involvement in, and broad understanding of science and technology by

underserved and/or underutilized groups;

• The potential for the proposed E/PO activity to expand its scope by having an

impact beyond the direct beneficiaries, reaching large audiences, being suitable

for replication or broad dissemination, or drawing on resources beyond those

directly requested in the proposal.

Although creativity and innovation are certainly encouraged, note that neither of these sets

of criteria focuses on the originality of the proposed effort. Instead, NASA seeks

assurance that the proposer is personally committed to the E/PO effort and the PI and/or

appropriate research team members will actively be involved in carrying out a meaningful,

effective, credible, and appropriate E/PO activity; that such an activity has been planned

and will be executed; and that the proposed investment of resources will make a significant

contribution toward meeting OSS E/PO plans and objectives.

To aid proposers in the preparation of their proposals, as well as to ensure that reviews

are carried out on a consistent basis aligned with the OSS Education Strategy and

Implementation Plan, an Explanatory Guide to the E/PO evaluation criteria has been

prepared and may be found by linking through Education and Public Outreach at the Web

site <http://www.spacescience.nasa.gov >.
E-4

III. ASSISTANCE FOR THE PREPARATION OF E/PO PROPOSALS

NASA OSS has established a nation-wide infrastructure of space science education/public

outreach groups whose purpose is to directly aid space science investigators in identifying

and developing high quality E/PO opportunities. This infrastructure provides the

coordination, background, and linkages for fostering partnerships between the space

science and E/PO communities, and the services needed to establish and maintain a vital

national, coordinated, long-term OSS E/PO program. Of particular interest are two

elements of this system (which are also described in more detail in the OSS

education/outreach implementation plan referred to above):

1. Four OSS science theme-oriented E/PO "Forums" have been established to help

orchestrate and organize in a comprehensive way the education/outreach aspects of

OSS space science missions and research programs, and provide both the space

science and education communities with ready access to relevant E/PO programs and

products; and

2. Five regional E/PO "Broker/Facilitators" to search out and establish high leverage

opportunities, arrange alliances between educators and OSS-supported scientists, and

help scientists turn results from space science missions and programs into

educationally-appropriate activities suitable for regional and/or national dissemination

Prospective proposers are strongly encouraged to make use of these groups to help

identify suitable E/PO opportunities and arrange appropriate alliances. Proposers should

be careful to note that these Forums and Broker/Facilitators have been established to

provide help, but the responsibility for actually developing the E/PO program and writing

the proposal is that of the proposer. Points of contact and addresses for all of these E/PO

Forums and Broker/Facilitators may be found by opening Education and Public Outreach

from the menu of the OSS homepage at <http://www.spacescience.nasa.gov>.

IV. PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF AN E/PO PROPOSAL

In order to be considered for evaluation, E/PO proposals must adhere to the following

formats and also must be submitted both electronically and in hard copy as described

below.

An E/PO proposal is to consist of a contiguous body and budget:

• The body of the E/PO proposal is limited to five pages (<21,150 characters,

including spaces, using the fonts and page layouts specified in the appropriate

Guidelines for Proposal Preparation appendix) and must include the following

parts: a brief abstract of the proposed activity (not to exceed 800 characters); an

expanded description of the E/PO objectives and planned activities; a description

of the intended involvement of the Principal Investigator and/or key science team

members in the proposed E/PO effort; a description of any educational personnel

who are involved in the effort, including proposed partnership institutions
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(together with specific indicators of commitment on the part of partners where

appropriate); a description of how the effort will be managed; and an explanation

of the requested E/PO budget. Note that the PI or one of the science team

members of the parent research proposal must have the prime responsibility for

overseeing the implementation of the proposed E/PO activity. The responsible

individual should be clearly identified in the body of the E/PO proposal.
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• The period of performance of an E/PO activity is generally expected to coincide

with that of the proposed investigation throughout all phases including the data

analysis phase. The E/PO budget must be summarized for its entire intended total

period of performance, as well as for each individual year thereof, using the format

entitled Budget Summary for Education/Public Outreach Proposals given at the

end of this Appendix (e.g., an E/PO effort proposed for a five year period of

performance will require six budget sheets). In addition, this E/PO budget must be

integrated into the budget for the entire proposed investigation as specified

elsewhere in this AO.

• E/PO proposals (both body and budget) must be submitted by each of two separate

ways:

• As an electronic submission (for the evaluation process) by uploading it, including

its Budget Summary sheets, to the secure Web site http://cass.jsc.nasa.gov/panel/,

which provides instructions for this activity using a wide variety of formats.

Proposers without Web access or who experience difficulty in using this site may

request assistance from the Lunar and Planetary Institute by E-mail at

panel@lpi.jsc.nasa.gov or by phone at (281) 486-2136; and

• As part of the total hard-copy version of the research proposal (see the ordered list

of component parts for proposals elsewhere in this AO).

V. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Following selection of investigations, all investigator teams will be expected to work

together to create, design, plan, and implement a coordinated and integrated program of

Education/Public Outreach activities for this mission opportunity. Such a program may

involve coordination of individually proposed E/PO efforts, the development of

appropriate collaborative activities, and/or the identification of new E/PO opportunities

that build on and/or extend the unique capabilities, connections, partnerships, and

resources that are brought into the mission by individual selected investigations.

Development of plans for such a coordinated E/PO program will be part of the Phase A

study activity.

General questions about the OSS E/PO program may be directed to:

Dr. J. David Bohlin

Code SR

Office of Space Science

NASA Headquarters

Washington, DC 20546

E-mail: david.bohlin@hq.nasa.gov

Telephone: 202/358-0880
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BUDGET SUMMARY

for

EDUCATIONAL/PUBLIC OUTREACH PROPOSAL

For (check one):

__ Total Period of Performance from (M/D/Y) ________ to ________

/or/

__ Year ____ of ____ from (M/D/Y) ________ to ________

1. Direct Labor (salaries, wages, and

fringe benefits) _________

2. Other Direct Costs:

a. Subcontracts _________

b. Consultants _________

c. Equipment _________

d. Supplies _________

e. Travel _________

f. Other _________

3. Facilities and Administrative Costs _________

4. Other Applicable Costs: _________

5. SUBTOTAL--Estimated Costs _________

6. Less Proposed Cost Sharing (if any) _________

8. Total E/PO Estimated Costs _________ 
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APPENDIX F

REGULATIONS GOVERNING PROCUREMENT OF

FOREIGN GOODS OR SERVICES

The following Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clauses cover the purchase of foreign goods

and services and may be included in contracts resulting from this Announcement of Opportunity:

52.225-3 Buy American Act -- Supplies (January 1994)

52.225-7 Balance of Payments Program (April 1984)

52.225-9 Buy American Act -- Trade Agreements -- Balance of Payments Program (January

1994)

52.225-10 Duty-Free Entry (April 1984)

52.225-11 Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases (May 1992)

52.225-17 Buy American Act -- Supplies Under European Community Agreement (May

1995)

52.225-18 European Community Sanction for End Products (May 1995)

52.225-19 European Community Sanction for Services (May 1995)

52.225-21 Buy American Act -- North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act

-- Balance of Payments Program (January 1994)

The proposer is directed to the Federal Acquisition Regulation and the NASA FAR Supplement

for further information on these regulations.