Amendment 9: New Opportunity: C.26 Rapid Mission Design Studies for Mars Sample Return

C.26 Rapid Mission Design Studies for Mars Sample Return solicits industry proposals to carry out rapid studies of mission designs and mission elements capable of delivering samples collected by the Mars Perseverance rover from the surface of Mars to Earth. NASA recognizes that U.S. industry has innovative ideas and substantial capabilities that may be relevant to a Mars Sample Return campaign. This Rapid Mission Design Studies for Mars Sample Return program element seeks to establish whether there are viable mission designs or mission element options, such as a smaller Mars Ascent Vehicle, to return samples from Mars that offer benefits compared to NASA’s reference mission design. Studies may be for complete mission designs, for mission designs that include elements of NASA’s Mars Sample Return Program or NASA’s Artemis Program as Government Furnished Equipment, or for individual mission elements. The results of these studies may inform revisions to NASA’s Mars Sample Return Program and may result in future procurements. The short URL for this opportunity is: https://go.nasa.gov/rasmsr24.

ROSES-2024 Amendment 9 adds a new program element to ROSES-2024. No Notices of Intent or Step-1 Proposals are requested. Proposals are due May 17, 2024. Only for-profit U.S. organizations are eligible to submit proposals to this program element, but there are no restrictions on the types of organizations that may participate as subawardees. Awards for studies will be firm-fixed-price 90-day contracts. Proposal content is significantly simplified from ROSES standard proposals. An optional Industry Day / Bidders Conference will be held via WebEx on April 22, 2024, at 1 pm EDT. Find information on how to connect in Section 4.9 “Industry Day / Bidders Conference” in the program element file on the NSPIRES page for C.26 Rapid Mission Design Studies for Mars Sample Return at https://go.nasa.gov/rasmsr24.

Questions concerning C.26 Rapid Mission Design Studies for Mars Sample Return may be directed to Paul Hertz or Lindsay Hays at HQ-RASMSR@mail.nasa.gov.