Federal award (DEFINITIVE CONTRACT, fiscal year 2022)
Recipient: MOREHEAD STATE UNIVERSITY
Awarding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Funding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Period of performance: 2015-11-05 to 2023-10-01
Current total value of award: $7351516
Description: NASA BAA AWARD THIS IS AN AWARD UNDER THE NEXT SPACE TECHNOLOGIES FOR EXPLORATION PARTNERSHIPS (NEXTSTEP) BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT (BAA).  THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF THIS PROGRAM IS TO UNDERTAKE A MISSION TO THE MOON DURING EM-1 OR SIMILAR MISSION TO EARTH ESCAPE, THAT WILL ADDRESS SKGS ASSOCIATED WITH THE NATURE, LOCATION AND TRANSPORTATION PHYSICS OF LUNAR VOLATILES, AND TO DEMONSTRATE AN INNOVATIVE, HIGHLY CAPABLE RF ION PROPULSION SYSTEM AND 6U SPACECRAFT BUS.  THE MISSION WILL REQUIRE PIONEERING APPROACH TO POWER GENERATION AND INNOVATIVE, LOW-COST APPROACHES TO THE DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF RADIATION-TOLERANT SYSTEMS TO MEET THE MISSION REQUIREMENTS. THE PROGRAM CAN BE CATEGORIZED GENERALLY INTO THREE PHASES: 1) DEVELOPMENT, 2) INTEGRATION AND TESTING, AND 3) MISSION OPERATIONS.   SMALL SATELLITE MISSIONS ADDRESSING STRATEGIC KNOWLEDGE GAPS (SKG) WAS IDENTIFIED AS A KEY LONG TERM CAPABILITY AREA THAT COULD POTENTIALLY SIGNIFICANTLY BENEFIT FUTURE HUMAN SPACE EXPLORATION AND IN ADDITION ADDRESS COMMERCIAL INTERESTS SUCH AS IN-SITU RESOURCE PROSPECTING.  MORE SPECIFICALLY, NASA ANTICIPATES MAKING LAUNCH OPPORTUNITIES FOR A LIMITED NUMBER OF SMALL SATELLITES AVAILABLE ON SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM (SLS) AND OTHER BEYOND EARTH ORBIT MISSIONS.  THIS BAA THRUST AREA INTENDS TO PROVIDE INTEGRATION AND LAUNCH OPPORTUNITIES FOR 6U CUBESAT PAYLOADS AS SECONDARY PAYLOADS ON DEEP SPACE MISSIONS. A CUBESAT IS A TYPE OF SPACE RESEARCH NANOSATELLITE.  CUBESATS SUPPORTED BY THIS LAUNCH INITIATIVE INCLUDE ONLY 6U FORM FACTORS. CUBESATS OF TYPICALLY HAVE A MASS OF 1.33 KILOGRAMS PER 1U CUBE. A 6U CUBESAT TYPICALLY HAS A MASS OF 12 KG. THE MAXIMUM MASS COMPATIBLE WITH THE EM-1 DISPENSER IS 14 KG.