Inactive

Current planning calls for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate to release an Astrophysics Probe Explorer (APEX) Announcement of Opportunity (AO) with a cost cap of $1B (FY23$) in 2023 summer to solicit... Current planning calls for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate to release an Astrophysics Probe Explorer (APEX) Announcement of Opportunity (AO) with a cost cap of $1B (FY23$) in 2023 summer to solicit proposals to accomplish the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey science objectives. Following the 2020 Decadal Survey recommendation, responses to the APEX AO will be limited to one of two mission themes: 1) A far-infrared imaging or spectroscopy mission or 2) An X-ray probe. In partnership with the Principal Investigator (PI)-led team, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is developing a mission concept to be proposed for this AO, which uses X-ray observations that have been proven crucial for advancing major areas of astrophysics. The mission concept, AXIS (Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite), expands on the last 40 years of space-based X-ray observations. Harnessing key advances in X-ray optics and detector technology, AXIS will be a major improvement over the Chandra X-ray Observatory, with a superior field-of-view averaged spatial resolution, a larger field of view, an order of magnitude more collecting area, and more flexible mission operations allowing Swift-like transient science. AXIS will significantly improve our understanding of the growth and fueling of supermassive black holes, galaxy formation and evolution, the microphysics of cosmic plasmas, and the time-varying universe. AXIS is a single-instrument mission (as illustrated in Figure 1) to be designed, produced, and operated in cooperation with industrial partners managed by GSFC. AXIS will build on the heritage of X-ray missions, including Chandra, Swift, and Suzaku. It will utilize well-developed CCD detector technologies and state-of-the-art monocrystalline silicon optics. The overall dimensions of the AXIS instrument are approximately 11 m (L) x 2 m (D), which doesn’t include the spacecraft, which is positioned around the instrument at its wider end to support the instrument and provide an interface to the launch vehicle. The AXIS telescope assembly is a high-precision metering structure shown in the figure as a tapered tube with other modules and assemblies attached to it. Because of the substantial focal length of the proposed telescope and the advanced X-ray imaging system, a large, long, dimensionally stable, and durable telescope tube with highly-constrained CTE1/CME2 instability while in operation on orbit is needed for this mission. Through this RFI, NASA GSFC seeks to: • Identify potential commercial designers and manufacturers with the capabilities to build composite structures that would meet the needs of NASA GSFC and its mission partners for the telescope tube for the AXIS instrument • Gain a better understanding of the challenges that arise with such a large composite fabrication, estimate its costs, and better define telescope tube requirements • Inform potential future solicitations for the AXIS mission Respondents are encouraged to provide information not constrained by limited/ restricted data rights. However, if proprietary data is included in a reply, respondents should mark any proprietary or restricted data within their submission to identify and protect it. NASA intends to evaluate all data received, and respondents may be contacted for further discussion on an as-needed basis. Additional documentation is attached to the posting.