NASA plans to invite industry stakeholders to conduct capability studies in the areas of lunar surface user terminals and network orchestration and management systems through a solicitation under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2, or NextSTEP-2 broad agency announcement.
For the first study area, NASA is seeking industry studies on user terminals that could meet requirements to support moon exploration plans and ensure interoperability with developed standards, according to a presolicitation notice published Tuesday on SAM.gov.
Under the second study area, the space agency is interested in industry-led studies and demonstrations on systems that could help control and interface with a distributed network of satellite ground systems supporting the Near Space Network.
“The resulting studies will ensure advancement of NASA’s development of space communication and exploration technologies, capabilities, and concepts,” the notice reads.
NASA’s Commercialization, Innovation and Synergies Office will outline the detailed study requirements, participant eligibility, submission information, evaluation criteria and other information on the overall acquisition strategy in the forthcoming Appendix Q solicitation.
Through NextSTEP-2, the agency intends to facilitate industry studies to provide space mission users with a resilient infrastructure for space and ground communications and infrastructure.