The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $14,995 - Wednesday the 18th of April 2012
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER
  MINIATURE 3-AXIS REACTION CONTROL WHEEL, MDL MAI-101.

  ---

• $124,716 - Tuesday the 25th of September 2012
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLUG-AND-PLAY COMPATIBILITY FOR CUBESAT ATTITUDE DETERMINATION AND CONTROL SYSTEMS (ADACS) IS PROPOSED. EXISTING MARYLAND AEROSPACE (MAI) ADACS TECHNOLOGIES ARE WELL-CAPABLE OF AUTONOMOUSLY PROVIDING COMPLETE ATTITUDE DETERMINATION AND CONTROL TO SATELLITES WEIGHING UP TO 20KG. IT IS ESSENTIAL FOR THESE ADACS TECHNOLOGIES TO BE FULLY COMPLIANT WITH A PLUG-AND-PLAY STANDARD THAT ALLOWS THEM TO INTEGRATE SEAMLESSLY INTO RAPID SPACECRAFT DEVELOPMENT. ONE SOLUTION FOR PLUG-AND-PLAY IS THE SPACE PLUG-AND-PLAY ARCHITECTURE (SPA) BUS DEVELOPED BY THE AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABORATORY (AFRL), WHICH IS CURRENTLY BEING ADOPTED BY MANY SPACECRAFT DEVELOPERS FOR ITS LOW-COST, LOW-POWER, AND SIMPLE DESIGN. A PROGRAM FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THE ELECTRONICS AND FIRMWARE IS OUTLINED TO CREATE SPA COMPATIBILITY TECHNOLOGIES FOR CUBESAT AND NANOSAT ADACS. THIS TECHNOLOGY IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE NOT ONLY DOES IT EXTEND THE CAPABILITY OF CURRENT LOW COST SPACECRAFT TO TACTICAL IMAGING, SPACE ENVIRONMENT MONITORING, AND OTHER MISSIONS REQUIRING PRECISION FINE POINTING, IT PROVIDES A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF FLEXIBILITY IN SPACECRAFT MISSION DESIGN. FUTURE NASA SPACECRAFT DEVELOPMENT WILL NO LONGER HAVE TO EXPEND TIME AND ENERGY TO DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE SOLUTION.

  ---

• $124,387 - Wednesday the 14th of November 2012
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  A HIGH PERFORMANCE ADACS (ATTITUDE DETERMINATION AND CONTROL SYSTEM) FOR CUBESATS INCORPORATING MINIATURE STAR TRACKERS IS PROPOSED. THE PROPOSED PROGRAM WILL FOCUS ON DEVELOPMENT AND INTEGRATION OF 2 STAR CAMERAS INTO THE MAI-400 WHICH IS THE CURRENT STATE OF THE ART NANOSAT ADACS AND IS MARKETED BY OUR COMPANY. THE RESULTING PRODUCT WILL FEATURE 2 STAR TRACKERS, 3 AXIS REACTION WHEELS, ELECTROMAGNETS, SUN SENSORS AND MAGNETOMETER, ALL WITHIN A SWAP (SIZE, WEIGHT AND POWER) ENVELOPE OF 1/2U, 0.7 KG AND 2.5W, WHICH IS RESPONSIVE TO THE NEEDS OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF CUBESATS. THE NEW PRODUCT, CALLED MAI-400SS SPACE SEXTANT, ENABLES PRECISION ATTITUDE CONTROL (BETTER THAN 0.05DEG) AS WILL BE REQUIRED FOR SPACE WEATHER, COSMOLOGICAL SCIENCE AND EARTH IMAGING MISSIONS. THE STAR TRACKER SYSTEM IS ENTIRELY AUTONOMOUS AND FEATURES LOST IN SPACE STAR IDENTIFICATION WHICH ASSOCIATES OBSERVED STARS WITH CORRESPONDING CATALOG STARS WITHOUT ANY APRIORI ATTITUDE INFORMATION. A MEMS GYRO FACILITATES KALMAN FILTERING OF AN ATTITUDE SOLUTION AND FRAME TO FRAME TRACKING OF STARS. A PROGRAM FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THE CAMERAS, ELECTRONICS, AND PROCESSING SOFTWARE IS OUTLINED WHICH LEVERAGES A PREVIOUS STAR TRACKER DEVELOPMENT PROJECT BY OUR FIRM. THE TECHNOLOGY IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE IT EXTENDS THE CAPABILITY OF CURRENT LOW COST CUBESATS TO HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGING AND OTHER MISSIONS REQUIRING PRECISION FINE POINTING AND DYNAMIC RETARGETING, WHICH WERE HITHERTO RESTRICTED TO $100M SPACECRAFT. THE NEW MAI-400SS WILL FACILITATE RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF LOW COST SATELLITES BY PROVIDING A TURNKEY SYSTEM WHICH WOULD BE CAPABLE OF DETERMINING SPACECRAFT ATTITUDE AUTOMATICALLY; SPEEDING INTEGRATION AND SIMPLIFYING OPERATIONS.

  ---