Inactive

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. NO PROPOSALS ARE TO BE SUBMITTED IN RESPONSE TO THIS NOTICE. This notice is issued by the NASA GSFC to post a follow up to a previously posted Request for Informati... THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. NO PROPOSALS ARE TO BE SUBMITTED IN RESPONSE TO THIS NOTICE. This notice is issued by the NASA GSFC to post a follow up to a previously posted Request for Information (RFI) to solicit responses from interested parties. This document is for information and planning purposes and to allow industry the opportunity to verify reasonableness and feasibility of the requirement, as well as promote competition. The original presolicitation RFI was issued under Notice ID: GSFC-ATHENA-XIFU-CRYOCOOLER on December 13, 2022, with responses due January 17, 2023. Due to logistical and budgetary constraints that continue to evolve, NASA is not yet prepared to issue a request for proposal (RFP) for the Athena-XIFU cryocooler. Once prepared to formally solicit, all information will be posted to the Governmentwide Point of Entry (SAM.gov) for prospective offerors to review. In the interim, NASA GSFC continues to accomplish market research activities to better understand the capabilities of prospective offerors. As part of the continued process of design development by ESA, NASA was recently notified of the potential desire to increase the cooling power requirement, specifically at 4.5 K, to the extent that it is possible. This came about due to new thermo-mechanical modeling that indicated that the launch vibration requirements had increased, that will require a stiffer structure to mount the cooled cryostat stages. As a follow-up to the initial RFI prospective offerors are asked to provide: (i) An estimate of the maximum available cooling power (if any) above 40 mW (the currently assumed baseline which includes all needed ESA margins). (ii) The approximate new power estimates that would be needed for the higher level(s) of cooling. (iii) Any risks associated with the increase in cooling power, assuming your current 4.5 K cooler design. (iv) We previously asked prospective offerors to assume the need for > 200 mW of cooling in the temperature range of 15-20 K, plus any additional cooling power needed to accommodate parasitic heat loads of the lines between the precooler and the cold tip at 15-20 Kelvin. Please indicate whether the upper bound heat intercept temperature at 20 K can be lowered, and by how much. This would help alleviate the concerns with the heat load at 4.5 K since this stage is used to intercept the (expected higher) conducted heat coming from the heavier structure. Please assume that the cryocooler heat rejection temperature is 15 Celsius. To provide a rough idea, ESA would like to know if 50 mW of cooling at 4.5K is possible, and with what input power, and whether even higher cooling powers are even conceivable. This presolicitation synopsis is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government, nor will the Government pay for the information submitted in response. The Government may not respond to questions/concerns submitted. The Government will use the information to finalize the RFP as necessary. All comments, questions, and responses to the attached (labeled “GPE Cryocooler_Cooling_Power_RFI”) shall be submitted electronically to Spencer Hurd via email at spencer.w.hurd@nasa.gov, no later than November 15, 2023, at 4:00 PM Eastern. When responding reference RFI Follow-Up for ATHENA X-ray Integral Field Unit Instrument Cryocooler. NASA Clause 1852.215-84, Ombudsman, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at : https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf If a solicitation is released, then it and any additional documents will be available on www.sam.gov. It is the offeror's responsibility to monitor this website for the release of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Potential offerors will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and amendments, if any.