Inactive

Pandora is a SmallSat mission concept, selected as part of NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers Program and designed to study the atmospheres of exoplanets using transmission spectroscopy. Transmission spectr... Pandora is a SmallSat mission concept, selected as part of NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers Program and designed to study the atmospheres of exoplanets using transmission spectroscopy. Transmission spectroscopy of transiting exoplanets provides our best opportunity to identify the makeup of planetary atmospheres in the coming decade. Pandora is designed to disentangle star and planet signals in transmission spectra and reliably characterize the planetary atmospheres. Pandora will collect long-duration photometric observations with a visible-light channel and simultaneous spectra with a near-IR channel, where water is a strong molecular absorber. Pandora will observe at least 20 exoplanets with sizes ranging from Earth-size to Jupiter-size and host stars spanning mid-K to late-M spectral types. Pandora is a collaboration with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), which is the Principal Investigator institution and the DOE/NNSA Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), which will manage the mission. LLNL will contract for mission operations & the ground station network and will oversee mission execution. The Pandora mission will complete the science objectives proposed, archive the data, and publish results within a 5-year timeline. Launch would occur in the mid-2020s, although the precise timeline is dependent on a ride-sharing agreement. The mission is designed to enable long-observing baselines on single targets, precise attitude control, and thermal stability from a Sun-Synchronous, 450-600km Low-Earth Orbit with a local time of approximately 6am/6pm. During the one-year science operations, Pandora will observe over 200 transits—10 transits for each of the 20 targets with>12 hours of observing baseline per transit. Pandora’s top 20 notional targets are highly accessible (enough to observe at least 10 transits per planet and at least 120 hours total per star). During science operations, observation sequences will be uploaded to the spacecraft up to twice weekly, provided by GSFC, via an S-band uplink. Pandora will be assigned a single target for approximately 24hrs before moving to the next target (the transit need not fall into the center of the 24-hr baseline). During this 24-hour period, Pandora will collect science data for at least 12 hours with science breaking during data down-link, Earth-occultation, and Moon avoidance. Upon completion of each observational period, Pandora will slew to point its antennas towards a ground station and begin science downlink via X-Band. Data downlink has no latency requirements beyond those imposed by the on-board 64 Gb recorder. During one 24-hour observation period, approximately 20 Gb of data will accumulate, requiring three-four passes to downlink data at a 5 Mbps data rate (~4000 seconds of downlink time). All mission data at that point will be forwarded via terrestrial networks to NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) and LLNL OBJECTIVES Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (hereinafter called “LLNS”) is seeking sources for the performance of: Mission operations, to optionally include anomaly response, per the elements described below. Focus would be on efficient, minimally manned automated operations, to execute the mission objectives (see below) and interface with mission elements from GSFC & ARC and a ground station network provider. Ground system network provide that can support ~4,000 seconds of downlink at X-band per day and required S-band uplink commanding & state of health support. Organizations can respond to one or both above items as a single response. REQUIREMENTS This is not limited to commercial entities and is open to Academic Institutions, UARC, and FFRDCs’ that have considerable expertise and experiences in the following: Capabilities to provide Small Satellite mission operations for command & control, automated operations, and spacecraft engineering support to include anomaly resolution when required. Includes ability to handle AES-256 software encryption/decryption US Government Approved for handling of ITAR data for elements of spacecraft design information requiring those controls Previous experience performing mission operations for NASA, CIVIL or DoD NanoSat or SmallSat Missions Ability to enter into a Non-Disclosure agreement with Raytheon Blue Canyon Technologies for access to required information to operate an ESPA class SmallSat bus. Abilities to interface with other operational elements to include NASA GSFC, ARC and LLNS over terrestrial networks for passing of data, files, and operations coordination. Capabilities to provide antenna coverage with S-Band Uplink & downlink and X-Band Downlink for the contacts described above or existing capabilities to interface with an existing ground station network provider. Companies that have not worked with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are encouraged to visit the LLNS Prospective Supplier website and complete a Supplier Information Form if it is interested in doing business with the Laboratory.