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GDC ACQUISITION HOMEPAGE

 
Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC)
 

The Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) is a strategic Living With a Star (LWS) mission that will accomplish breakthroughs in fundamental understanding of the processes that govern the dynamics of the Earth's upper atmospheric envelope that surrounds and protects the planet. This layer resides in the nearest region of geospace and is comprised of an ionized component (the ionosphere) and a neutral component (the thermosphere) that co-exist above ~80 km altitude with the peak ambient ionospheric density occurring between 200-450 km. This region is where the transition to space literally occurs: below about 100 km altitude, the atmosphere is controlled primarily by neutral fluid dynamics, while above about 200 km, the atmosphere is strongly driven by electromagnetic forcing resulting from the dynamic interaction of the solar wind with the Earth's magnetosphere. The dynamics of the upper atmosphere at any time is the result of balancing the strength of each of its drivers, with the solar wind and magnetosphere electrodynamically driving huge impulsive changes with global-scale consequences, while the lower atmosphere continuously drives the thermosphere and ionosphere with tides, planetary, and gravity waves, shaping the global changes imposed by the magnetosphere. This constant tension between fluid dynamics and electrodynamics makes the upper atmosphere an extremely important and highly compelling region of scientific exploration. Most important, GDC will provide multipoint observations of both the energy inputs and the ionosphere-thermosphere (IT) system response with sufficient spatial and temporal resolution to finally unravel the physical processes underlying the observed system-level dynamical responses.

 
GDC News
  • January 6, 2023 ... NASA has announced the final selections for the GDC investigations. The press release may be found at: https://blogs.nasa.gov/gdc/2023/01/05/final-investigations-selected-for-gdc/.
  • August 29, 2022 ... NASA has updated the Phase A Guidelines and Criteria, and posted an additional the Phase A Competition Q&A.
  • August 25, 2022 ... NASA has posted the Phase A Evaluation Plan.
  • August 22, 2022 ... NASA has posted additional Phase A Competition Q&As.
  • August 5, 2022 ... NASA has posted an the Phase A Competition Q&A.
  • July 28, 2022 ... NASA has updated the Phase A Competition Q&As.
  • July 25, 2022 ... Program Library updated to include the correct version of the NASA WBS Handbook referenced in the SALMON-3 AO.
  • July 22, 2022 ... NASA has posted additional Phase A Competition Q&As.
  • July 1, 2022 ... NASA has posted the Phase A Kick-Off presentation.
  • June 30, 2022 ... NASA has posted the information for the Phase A Kick-Off.
  • June 28, 2022 ... NASA has posted updates to the Phase A Competition Q&As.
  • June 27, 2022 ... NASA has posted Phase A Competition Q&A and updates to the Phase A Guidelines and Criteria, and the GDC Competitive Phase A Bridge Contract Cost Tables.
  • June 15, 2022 ... NASA has posted the GDC Competitive Phase A Bridge Contract Cost Tables.
  • June 14, 2022 ... NASA has posted the Guidelines and Criteria for the GDC Competitive Phase A.
  • April 26, 2022 ... NASA has announced the selections for the GDC investigations. The press release may be found at: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-investigation-teams-to-join-geospace-dynamics-mission.
  • February 24, 2022 ... NASA has posted updated information on the GDC spacecraft procurement on SAM.gov. This information supersedes information in earlier announcements on the GDC Acquisition Homepage (this webpage) and may be found at: https://sam.gov/opp/1c5f84b59c304571bfaea969af8203ed/view. Any additional questions about the spacecraft procurement should be directed to the SAM.gov-identified Points of Contact.
  • November 5, 2021 ... NASA posted the approved Evaluation Plan.
  • September 16, 2021 ... NASA updated the questions received and the answers available at this time on the GDC Questions & Answers page.
  • September 15, 2021 ... NASA posted instructions for submitting the proposal and relevant files in the Program Library.
  • September 15, 2021 ... Program Library updated to include all documents that are referenced in the solicitation documents.
  • August 19, 2021 ... NASA amended this PEA to extend the proposal due date to September 22, 2021 and the date of first instrument delivery to December 2025. New text is in bold and deleted text is struck through. The NASA Announcement concerning this amendment can be found in the GDC Announcements page.
  • June 8, 2021 ... NASA announced the time, login information, and agenda for the single-day, all-virtual Pre-Proposal Conference.
  • June 2, 2021 ... NASA releases focused mission of opportunity solicitation for GDC science investigations as a Program Element Appendix (PEA) under the Third Stand Alone Missions of Opportunity (SALMON-3) Announcement of Opportunity (AO). This PEA is available through a link on this page. The NASA Announcement concerning this release can be found in the GDC Announcements page.
  • March 5, 2021 ... NASA releases draft mission of opportunity solicitation for GDC science investigations as a Program Element Appendix (PEA) under the Third Stand Alone Missions of Opportunity (SALMON-3) Announcement of Opportunity (AO). This draft PEA is available through a link on this page. The NASA Announcement concerning this release can be found in the GDC Announcements page.
  • January 12, 2021 ... NASA has released its draft plans for the GDC acquisition strategy. Those plans describe a spacecraft procurement process, a solicitation for GDC investigations and spaceflight instruments, and a separate Interdisciplinary Scientist call. The draft plans may be found in the GDC Announcements page whose link is here (the Announcements tab of this page).
  • October 6, 2020 ... Teaming Interest updated to include responders to a NASA released a Request for Information (RFI) for organizations that have instrument mass-production capabilities and were interested in partnering with instrument providers.