Federal award (DELIVERY ORDER, fiscal year 2024)
Recipient: THE AEROSPACE CORPORATION
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: 2014-10-23 to 2019-09-30
Current total value of award: $1622238.98
Description: "OSIRIS-REX FLIGHT DYNAMICS TEAM NAVIGATION EXPERT SUPPORT":  THE ORIGINS SPECTRAL INTERPRETATION RESOURCE IDENTIFICATION SECURITY-REGOLITH EXPLORER (OSIRIS- REX) MISSION S PRIMARY GOAL IS AN EARTH RETURN OF REGOLITH SAMPLE FROM A TYPE-B NEAR EARTH OBJECT (NEO) ASTEROID.  THE OSIRIS-REX MISSION WILL GATHER THIS SAMPLE THROUGH A FLIGHT SYSTEM CONSISTING OF A SCIENCE INSTRUMENT SUITE, A TOUCH-AND-GO SAMPLE ACQUISITION MECHANISM (TAGSAM), AND A SAMPLE RETURN CAPSULE (SRC). THE FLIGHT SYSTEM WILL RENDEZVOUS WITH THE NEO, OBSERVE, CHARACTERIZE AND MAP THE ASTEROID, AND FINALLY APPROACH, PERFORM A TOUCH-AND-GO MANEUVER, RETRIEVE A REGOLITH SAMPLE AND DEPART FROM THE ASTEROID. THE OSIRIS-REX FLIGHT SYSTEM WILL THEN NAVIGATE BACK TO EARTH AND JETTISON THE SRC FOR A LANDING AT THE UTAH TEST AND TRAINING RANGE (UTTR).   THE OBJECTIVES OF THE MISSION ARE TO RETURN A PRISTINE SAMPLE OF THE ASTEROID, UNDERSTAND THE ORIGINS OF PLANETARY MATERIALS AND THE INITIAL STAGES OF PLANETARY FORMATION.  IDENTIFY THE SOURCES OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS AND OTHER PREBIOTIC CHEMICALS THAT CONTRIBUTED TO THE EMERGENCE OF LIFE ON EARTH EXPLORE A NEO TO GAIN A GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF POTENTIAL RESOURCES AND ENABLE THE LONG TERM PREDICTION OF THE DYNAMICS OF NEOS THAT POSE AN IMPACT HAZARD TO EARTH.  THE NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER (GSFC) MANAGES THE OSIRIS-REX PROJECT FOR NASA AND FOR THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR, AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, LUNAR AND PLANETARY LABORATORY (LPL) IN TUCSON, AZ. THE GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER MANAGES THE FLIGHT DYNAMICS SYSTEM.   KINETX, INC., IS UNDER CONTRACT TO NASA TO DESIGN, DEVELOP, TEST AND IMPLEMENT THE FLIGHT DYNAMICS SYSTEM FOR OSIRIS-REX.  THE CONTRACTOR SHALL LEVERAGE EXPERIENCE WITH DEEP SPACE NAVIGATION ANALYSIS AND OPERATIONS TO SUPPORT DIRECTLY THE GSFC FLIGHT DYNAMICS SYSTEM MANAGER IN DAY-TO-DAY ADMINISTRATION OF THE FLIGHT DYNAMICS TEAM. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PERFORM OVERALL COORDINATION OF FLIGHT DYNAMICS SYSTEM (FDS) ANALYSES ACTIVITIES PERFORMED BY GOVERNMENT AND CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL. EXAMPLES WOULD INCLUDE WORKING WITH THE NAVIGATION CONTRACTOR TO DEFINE AND PERFORM COVARIANCE ANALYSES AND NAVIGATION SIMULATIONS, AND SUPPORT THE DOCUMENTATION OF RESULTS FROM THESE ANALYSIS ACTIVITIES IN THE NAVIGATION PLAN. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL REVIEW OPERATIONAL INTERFACE AGREEMENTS (OIA) AND SYSTEM INTERFACE SPECIFICATIONS (SIS) FOR THE RELEVANT SUBSYSTEMS, SUPPORTING MEETINGS WITH FDS CONTRACTORS AND GROUND SYSTEM ELEMENTS.  THE CONTRACTOR SHALL ASSIST IN THE PREPARATION OF REVIEW MATERIALS FOR THE GROUND MISSION OPERATIONS REVIEW AND MOR EPR. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL COORDINATE THE ACTIVITIES OF THE FLIGHT DYNAMICS EXTERNAL ADVISORY PANEL, COORDINATING TOPICS AND MATERIALS FOR REVIEW PANEL MEETINGS, AND CORRESPONDING WITH REVIEW PANEL MEMBERS REGARDING MEETING PREPARATION AND FOLLOW UP.  THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PROVIDE A WRITTEN MONTHLY STATUS REPORT THAT SUMMARIZES ACCOMPLISHMENTS DURING THE PREVIOUS REPORTING PERIOD, AND A LIST OF PLANNED ACTIVITIES DURING THE NEXT REPORTING PERIOD.  MONTHLY STATUS INPUTS WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE THIRD FRIDAY OF THE MONTH, UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED.  THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PROVIDE AN ANNUAL REPORT AT THE END OF THE GOVERNMENT FISCAL YEAR SUMMARIZING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS DURING THE PREVIOUS YEAR.