Brenda Marie Rivers
NASA has released a sources sought notice calling on launch providers that can send a cube satellite to highly elliptical orbit as part of a demonstration mission on phenomena occurring in the Earth’s outer radiation belt.
NASA said in the SAM notice posted Friday that it is looking for commercial launch services to deliver the 6 Unit GTOSat spacecraft to HEO in line with the agency’s orbital lifetime guidelines.
According to the document, GTOSat will operate as a sun-pointed cubesat and carry a Relativistic Electron Magnetic Spectrometer as well as a magnetometer to monitor the behavior of relativistic electrons in geostationary transfer orbit
GTOSat does not have de-orbit elements and is meant to “naturally decay†in 25 years, the notice states.
NASA expects spacecraft deliveries to begin in the first quarter of 2021 with rocket integration work scheduled for Aug. 1 of next year.
Responses to the notice are due on Jan. 8, 2021.
