NASA/Ames Research Center, JA:M/S 241-1, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000

A -- SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING RESEARCH SUPPORT IN SPACE TECHNOLOGY SOL N-A DUE 081798 POC Rachel R. Khattab, Contract Specialist, Phone (650) 604-5237, Fax (650) 604-4646, Email rkhattab@mail.arc.nasa.gov -- Dee Morrison, Contracting Officer, Phone (650) 604-3012, Fax (650) 604-4646, Email dmmorrison@mail.arc.nasa.gov WEB: Click here for the latest information about this notice, http://nais.nasa.gov/EPS/ARC/date.html#N-A. E-MAIL: Rachel R. Khattab, rkhattab@mail.arc.nasa.gov. NASA/ARC is hereby soliciting information for potential sources for a science and engineering organization that will provide personnel as required to support and perform basic and applied experimental and theoretical research and research support in the area of Space Technology at Ames Research Center. The Contractor shall have a pool, or have access to a pool, of top scientific and engineering talent at all levels, ranging from students to senior scientists and engineers who will accomplish portions of technical requirements as defined through the issuance of Contract Task Orders. During the process of defining each CTO, the roles and responsibilities of both NASA and the Contractor will be defined so that the work to be provided by the Contractor can be quantified and evaluated based on performance. A Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) type contact is contemplated. The estimated number of research person-hours per year is 66,600 or approx. 32 FTEs. Due to the nature of the work to be performed, the RFP and any resultant contract will include an Organization Conflict of Interest clause which will preclude aerospace vehicle manufacturers, their divisions, or any wholly own subsidiaries from proposing if they are to engage in aerospace vehicle manufacturing during the resultant contract performance period and three years following the completion of performance thereof. The Space Technology Division develops technologies for use in the design and fabrication of vehicles that travel at hypervelocities in the atmosphere of the Earth and other bodies in the solar system. The Division develops and applies technology in support of numerous projects for a variety of customers including industry, DOD, and other NASA centers. Near term projects include Reusable Launch Vehicles such as VentureStar, Kistler, Pioneer Rocketplane, Future X Pathfinders and Trailblazers, and solar system exploration projects as well as the ongoing X-33, X-34, and SHARP programs. Longer term missions, requiring a wider range of advanced technologies, include aerobraking space exploration missions, Rocket Based Combined Cycle Vehicles and other high reusable launch vehicles. The Space Technology Division is composed of four research branches and one Integrated Product Team. Multidisciplinary research is conducted across branch lines. The Reacting Flow Environments Branch studies real gas physics in hypersonic, reacting gas flows and develops/implements models into modern Computational Fluid Dynamics codes. The branch also participates in design activities in support of vehicle and mission studies that rely on aerothermal environment modeling in conjunction with TPS sizing and selection, trajectory trades, and overall vehicle performance/feasibility trades. Experimental efforts are complemented by a theoretical/computational program. Numerical algorithm enhancements and modifications to existing commercially available reacting flow solvers are assessed and implemented as appropriate based on the ongoing research/project requirements. Emphasis is placed on code validation by laboratory experiment and available flight data. An active role is taken in the planning of flight experiments for aerothermodynamic research. In addition, branch activities will support integrated design system efforts as needed to improve the vehicle/mission design process by injecting higher fidelity modeling earlier in the design process. The Computational Chemistry Branch (STC) conducts research into the basic properties of matter and the interaction between matter and light. Computations based on the Schroedinger equation are used to determine atomic and molecular properties such as bond strengths, vibrational frequencies, ionization potentials, and spectroscopic constants. Gas phase collisional properties such as reaction rate coefficients, transport properties, and excitation and ionization cross sections are also obtained. Gas surface interactions and amorphous solid and liquid chemical systems are also studied using a combination of quantum chemistry calculations and molecular simulations. Emphasis is placed on insuring all the resulting data are highly accurate as these data are used in a wide range of NASA scientific and technological projects. Science applications include astrophysics, exobiology, astrobiology, atmospheric research, combustion chemistry, and polymer science. The scientific projects are often carried out in collaboration with experimentalists at Ames and elsewhere. Technological applications include modeling of semiconductor fabrication processes, aeronautics, aerothermodynamics, and material science. These data are often incorporated into the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes used by the Reacting Flow Environments Branch to study real gas physics in hypersonic flows or by other groups to study flows in CVD and plasma reactors and jet turbines. Some of this computational research is focused toward NASA programs such as the Advanced Subsonics Technology program. Another aspect of work involves the study of metal-metal and metal-ligand bonding particularly involving transition metal systems. This work has as one of its goals to understand gas surface interactions including the effects of catalytic heating on space vehicles during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere and work complements the materials work done in the Thermal Protection Materials and Systems Branch. Other work in materials science involves the study of polymers used in a wide variety of applications. The Thermophysics Facilities Branch operates, maintains, and develops the following facilities in support of the Division's research efforts: the Arc Jet Complex with three active facilities: Aerodynamic Heating Facility (AHF), Panel Test Facility (PTF), and Interaction Heating facility (IHF)) and one facility on standby (2X9 Turbulent Flow Duct (TFD)) and the Range Complex with three active facilities (Hypervelocity Free Flight Facility (HFFF), Electric Arc Shock Tube (EAST), and Ames Vertical Gun Range (AVGR)). The Arc Jet Development Office, also part of the Branch, conducts the basic engineering research and development necessary to ensure the availability of the technology required for the design and construction of the next generation of Arc Jet Facilities, and to better understand the physical processes that take place in the facilities. Various disciplines this research encompasses include high-temperature, high-pressure radiating plasma, aerodynamics of hypervelocity nozzle flows, heat transfer, and design and use of high temperature materials. Experimental work utilizing the arc jet complex is complemented by computations for developing specific hardware designs. An arc jet research facility for developing experimental hardware, as well as new diagnostic tools, will be constructed. Activities of the Thermal Protection Materials and Systems Branch include development, fabrication, testing (both ground and flight), and computer modeling of advanced Thermal Protection Systems for future vehicles including multi-disciplinary work on flow field, surface chemistry, and structures interactions. Research and technology development is pursued in base R&T areas and also to support specific programs, such as Reusable Launch Vehicle. The Integrated Product Team conducts research on Device and Process Modeling, a new research focus on computational modeling of device physics and processes. NASA has needs for high performance, low power, low weight computers for onboard use; small, smart sensors, and interests in tera and petaflops computing. Reports indicate that petaflop computing may be possible in about two decades with a CMOS feature size of 50 nm and optical interconnect technology. There may be other candidate device technologies too. Even if candidate device designs are readily available, technologies to manufacture such small devices are not matured and advances are needed. To aid in this area, the IPT focuses on modeling of processes used in semiconductor device fabrication. A starting point is to eliminate reliance on " recipes " for processes and to understand the chemistry of processing. For example, computational chemistry to generate transport and thermochemical properties for various gases used in manufacturing, assessing reaction pathways and computing rate constants, molecular dynamics simulations of gas-surface interaction etc are key first steps and these are now carried out at the STC branch. To complement the STC activities, we need experimental work in two specific areas: 1. Measurement of collision cross sections, which can be validated against STC theoretical work 2. Plasma diagnostics measurements to compare against theoretical models to be described below. Once chemistry data is available from theory and measurements, they can be readily used in reactor models. These reactor models and codes are based on chemically reacting flow foundations. We need to develop multidimensional, multicomponent, multitemperature continuum codes that are accurate to describe the physics and chemistry of reactors down to 1m Torr level. This code should be demonstrated for plasma processing in device fabrication. Since the pressure of interest is 1 mTorr in the reactor, more accurate description by Direct Simulation Monte Carlo(DSMC) would be useful to benchmark continuum codes. Eventually, the actual figure-of-merit is how small one can make the devices. Then, the evolution of the small features should be described by models to enable a design tool. All of the tools need to be validated by performing studies of common processes in semiconductor industry and specific NASA needs. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released it will be synopsized in the CBD and on the NASA Acquisition Internet Service. It is the potential offerors responsibility to monitor these cites for the release of any solicitation or synopsis. Vendors having the capabilities necessary to meet or exceed the stated requirements are invited to submit appropriate documentation, literature, brochures, and references. Responses must include the following: name and address of firm, sizeof business; average annual revenue for past 3 years and number of employees; ownership; whether they are large, small, small disadvantaged 8 (a), and or woman owned; number of years in business; affiliate information: parent company, joint venture partners, potential teaming partners, prime contractor (if potential sub) or subcontractors (if potential prime); list of customers covering the past five years (highlight relevant work performed, contract numbers, contract type, dollar value of each procurement; and point of contact address and phone number). Please advise if the requirement is considered to be a commercial or commercial-type product. A commercial item is defined in Internet "Note A". This synopsis is for information and planning purposes and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government nor will the Government pay for information solicited. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation. Respondents deemed fully qualified will be considered in any resultant solicitation for the requirement. The Government reserves the right to consider a small business or 8(a) set-aside based on responses hereto. All responses shall be submitted to Rachel Khattab no later than COB 8/17/98. In responding reference SS-123. Any referenced notes can be viewed at the following URL: http://genesis.gsfc.nasa.gov/nnotes.htm. Posted 08/03/98 (D-SN231660). (0215)

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