[meteorite-list] NASA Seeks Proposals on Asteroid Redirect Mission Concepts Development

[Ron Baalke]

March 21, 2014

NASA Seeks Proposals on Asteroid Redirect Mission Concepts Development

In support of NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission - a key part of the agency's 
stepping stone path to send humans to Mars - agency officials are seeking 
proposals for studies on advanced technology development.

Through a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), released Friday, NASA hopes 
to solicit proposals for concept studies in areas including asteroid capture 
systems, rendezvous sensors, adapting commercial spacecraft for the Asteroid 
Redirect Mission and feasibility studies of potential future partnership 
opportunities for secondary payloads and the crewed mission.

"As NASA continues to make great progress refining our mission concepts, 
we're reaching out to seek new and innovative ideas as we extend the frontier 
of space exploration," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator 
for Human Exploration and Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington. 
"To reach Mars, we'll rely on new technologies and advanced capabilities 
proven through the Asteroid Initiative. We're looking forward to exciting 
ideas from outside NASA as well to help realize that vision." 

Following evaluations of the proposals, NASA plans to select no more than 
25 proposals and make total awards of as much as $6 million. Contracts 
would begin and end this year. More information can be found in the BAA, 
available at:

http://go.nasa.gov/1jhiPXs

The announcement precedes a Wednesday, March 26, Asteroid Initiative Opportunities 
Forum at NASA Headquarters. The forum will provide status updates from 
ongoing Asteroid Redirect Mission concept and extensibility refinement 
and expand on the BAA, which is a follow-on step from the 2013 Request 
for Information in mission planning activities. The event also will highlight 
opportunities for public engagement in the mission and activities associated 
with the agency's Asteroid Grand Challenge. The forum will be carried 
on NASA Television and streamed online for virtual participants. For the 
agenda and to register as a virtual participant, go to:

http://socialforms.nasa.gov/asteroidforum-virtual

NASA's Asteroid Initiative includes the Asteroid Grand Challenge and the 
Asteroid Redirect Mission. The grand challenge will develop new partnerships 
and collaborations to accelerate the agency's existing planetary defense 
work, and the mission will collect and redirect an asteroid where astronauts 
can explore and sample it.

The Asteroid Redirect Mission has three major elements: target identification; 
a robotic mission to capture and redirect the selected asteroid into a 
stable orbit beyond the moon; and a crewed segment in which astronauts 
in NASA's Orion spacecraft launched on the Space Launch System rocket 
will rendezvous with the captured asteroid, conduct spacewalks to collect 
samples from it, and return them to the Earth for analysis. New capabilities 
and systems tested through the Asteroid Initiative will advance NASA's 
ultimate goal of sending humans to Mars.

For more information about NASA's Asteroid Initiative, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/asteroidinitiative

-end-

Trent J. Perrotto
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
trent.j.perrotto at nasa.gov