The Florida nonprofit chosen last year to manage non-NASA science on the U.S. side of the international space station (ISS) released a request for information (RFI) Jan. 31 seeking input from potential implementation partners, service providers and organizations that can provide project integration and operations support for space station-bound payloads.
NASA picked the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) in July, awarding the Space Florida-backed entity $15 million in annual funding to manage the logistics of sending non-NASA research payloads to the station. The group also will solicit proposals for space station experiments from industry, academia and other nonprofit groups.
According to the RFI posted on the center’s website, CASIS is looking for providers to:
- Interface with CASIS and the NASA ISS payloads office on behalf of the researcher.
- Provide flight-certified hardware to support research objectives.
- Conduct required testing to verify science and hardware requirements.
- Develop required documentation packages.
- Support NASA reviews and crew training.
- Coordinate ground-analog requirements and post-processing activities.
- Conduct data analysis and other support activities.
- Provide technical support education and outreach activities associated with payloads.
Responses are due March 31.
“Many companies have the capability to provide support and integration services for space-based work,” CASIS Director Jeanne Becker said in a statement. “CASIS looks forward to new opportunities for bringing together these providers with the [National Laboratory].”
Congress designated the U.S. side of the international space station a national laboratory in 2005.
