MODIFICATION
A -- Industry Day Announcement 11-16-16
- Notice Date
- 11/2/2016
- Notice Type
- Modification/Amendment
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, HQ Air Force Test Center (AFTC) - Edwards, 5 S WOLFE AVE, Edwards AFB, California, 93524-1185, United States
- ZIP Code
- 93524-1185
- Solicitation Number
- BAA-RQR-2017-0001
- Point of Contact
- Timothy S. Palen, Phone: 661-277-8216, Blake Morgan, Phone: 6612756775
- E-Mail Address
-
timothy.palen@us.af.mil, blake.morgan.6@us.af.mil
(timothy.palen@us.af.mil, blake.morgan.6@us.af.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- 1. INDUSTRY DAY ANNOUNCEMENT. AFRL Edwards will be conducting an Industry Day for an upcoming Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) on Wednesday, 16 November 2016, from 0730 - 1600 hours. 2. Program Description The Air Force Research Laboratory at Edwards AFB is interested in developing flight ready 1N, 22N, and 100N AF-M315E monopropellant thrusters. The goal of this effort is to advance current AF-M315E technology by developing and demonstrating thruster hardware capable of providing similar lifetimes and duty-cycles when compared to the current standard in spacecraft monopropellants, hydrazine. The high combustion temperatures of AF-M315E have posed several engineering roadblocks in hardware development. Although AF-M315E provides a 50% increase in density impulse when compared to hydrazine, current state-of-the-Art (SOTA) 1N, flight weight AF-M315E thrusters negate the positive impacts of the propellant by having a total firing lifetime of approximately 1/4 th the total firing lifetime of current hydrazine technology. SOTA 22N AF-M315E thrusters are closer than 1N thrusters to the hydrazine lifetime benchmark, but there is still area for improvement. Along with decreased total lifetime, the thermal issues presented by the elevated combustion temperatures have the potential to diminish the range of operational duty-cycles. For AF-M315E to become an operationally relevant spacecraft monopropellant, the issues with overall lifetime and duty-cycle limitations must be addressed and remedied. The outcome of this effort will provide the United States Air Force and other potential users with the information and hardware necessary to confidently move forward into the future of high performing, green monopropellants serving as hydrazine alternatives. The 1N and 22N thrusters will be capable of providing small impulse bits required for such things as attitude correction, orbital rendezvous, and formation flying, while the 100N system will be used for generation of large orbital changes such as orbit raising or lowering and circularization. Propulsion systems of most interest to the Air Force are those that retain maximum mission flexibility with the maximum impulse and capability for large-scale orbital maneuvers. Development work will focus on advancing the critical technologies required to improve overall thruster lifetime and reduce duty-cycle limitations, with the end product being an AF-M315E thruster with similar lifetime and duty-cycle performance when compared to current hydrazine systems. While the definition of duty-cycle performance is relatively well understood, the definition for a thruster's effective lifetime varies throughout the industry. This variance has led AFRL/RQRS to establish a definition of thruster lifetime based on the total impulse delivered at nominal operating conditions, where nominal operating conditions are considered to be 0.25 second duration pulses. Along with similar lifetimes and operational duty-cycles, the new AF-M315E systems should have similar size, weight, power, and heat up times as the current SOTA hydrazine thrusters. This enables a smooth transition of technology to both the satellite manufacturer and user communities, providing them with improved capabilities without the hassle of significant reengineering of designs or Con-Ops. Table 1 lists the desired AF-M315E thruster specifications derived from data provided by current manufacturers of hydrazine systems. Though not listed in Table 1, it is also desired that the specific impulse for a minimum impulse bit be no less than 30% of the specific impulse for steady-state operation. Thrust Class 1 N 22 N 100 N Min Impulse Bit (mN-sec) 2-15 300-500 1000-2000 Total Impulse delivered (N-sec) 90,000-120,000 120,000-1,000,000 1,000,000-4,000,000 Total # of Pulses 350,000-850,000 12,000-250,000 2,000-50,000 Mass (kg) 0.3-0.5 0.5-0.75 0.75-1.5 Power (W) 10-15 35-50 50-75 Table 1 : Desired Technical Specifications for AF-M315E Thrusters 3. Tentative Industry Day Agenda : 0730-0800 Arrival/Security/Check-In 0800-0815 Welcome 0815-0845 AFRL Overview 0845-0915 Business Information Briefing 0915-0930 Break 0930-1030 Technical Information Briefings 1030-1100 Question Session on Briefings 1100-1200 Lunch 1200-1300 E Cell Tour 1300-1600 Individual Q&A Sessions (Sign-up during check-in) 4. Q&A Sessions. Individual Q&A Sessions will be limited to 30 minutes per company. Q&A sessions are available and will be reserved on a first-RSVP basis. Only one (1) Q&A session will be allowed per company. If a company cannot attend Industry Day, the Air Force reserves the right to schedule a one-on-one telecom in lieu of an on-site Q&A session. 5. A DRAFT BAA will be added to this announcement prior to Industry Day. Continue to check this FBO notice for changes or amendments to this notice. 6. Those interested in attending should contact Blake Morgan (AFRL/RQRS) at blake.morgan.6@us.af.mil, NLT 1600 PDT on 10 November 2016. If you have any questions, please contact Timothy Palen, Contracting Officer via e-mail (timothy.palen@us.af.mil) or Blake Morgan, Technical POC via email (blake.morgan.6@us.af.mil).
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/USAF/AFMC/AFFTC/BAA-RQR-2017-0001/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: AFRL, Edwards, California, 93524, United States
- Zip Code: 93524
- Zip Code: 93524
- Record
- SN04318128-W 20161104/161102233945-2cb0cfc1d7d5ad6f948ea05c50bafdbf (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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