Earth Venture Instrument-6 (EVI-6) Questions & Answers
SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE (SMD) ACQUISITION COMMUNICATION POLICY:
Proposers are advised that only the Announcement of Opportunity, these Questions and Answers (Q&A), and any formal communications documented by the EVI-6 Program Scientist are maintained and considered as binding during the Evaluation, Categorization and Selection processes that would be applicable to this Announcement. Verbal, or other, unofficial communications with NASA, or other, personnel are non-binding and should not be considered as advice, guidelines, requirements, commitments or agreements for the purposes of this AO. By far, one of the most important NASA Science Mission Directorate's activities is the solicitation and selection of research investigations for NASA funding. Proposers and proposing colleagues should ensure that critical decisions are not based on erroneous, pre-selection hearsay information by asking for clarification through these Q&A and requesting that the Program Scientist document any proposal-specific communications with NASA officials.
Below are the answers to questions received to date. Similar questions may have been combined and answered as one question. If you have additional questions or feel your question was not answered, please submit an additional question.
Below are the answers to questions received to date. Similar questions may have been combined and answered as one question. If you have additional questions or feel your question was not answered, please submit an additional question.
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Questions are listed below.
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EVI-6 PEA (Final) Q&As
Q01 :
What is the anticipated date of selection for EVI-6?
Q02 :
Is the updated NASA Inflation Index table found in the EVI-6 Library?
Q03 :
In section 4.5.4 paragraph 2, the PEA states that NASA centers must use a NASA Center Engineering, Safety, and Operations (CESO) burden rate of $52K per FTE and local WYE. Can the project assume that the funds from this CESO burden line item will be provided to the project for the purpose of paying center overhead costs?
Q04 :
Should the cost of on-orbit operations for EVI-6 investigations, including the costs associated with uplink/downlink of commands and data, be budgeted as part of the PI-Managed Mission Cost (PIMMC)?
Q05 :
On page R-16, the EVI-6 PEA states, "Once an appropriate launch arrangement is determined (preferably before the Preliminary Design Review), minor changes to the SmallSat(s) may be required. Appropriate budget margin should be planned to account for such changes."; however, on slide 12, the NASA Launch Services Program (LSP) Pre-Proposal Conference (PPC) presentation states, "ATP is ~L-24 months". Please reconcile this apparent discrepancy.
Q06 :
On slide 9, the NASA Launch Services Program (LSP) Pre-Proposal Conference (PPC) presentation states, "The proposer must procure their selected deployer for the mission and provide requirements in an interface requirements document prior to launch service procurement"; however, Section 5.1.1 of the Program Level Dispenser and CubeSat Requirements Document (PLDCRD) that is referenced to in the EVI-6 PEA states "LSP will procure integrated services and flight qualified dispensers per the requirement in this document and mission specific Dispenser to LV ICD" Please reconcile this apparent discrepancy regarding whether the proposer is required to deliver the CubeSat(s) packaged for flight.
Q07 :
The EVI-6 PEA states in section 4.5.4 that the CESO costs must be included in the PIMMC. Does this imply that the costs for items that are not in the PIMMC such as the Science Enhancement Option (SEO) and Student Collaboration do not need to include CESO costs?
Q08 :
Is there capability to perform operations on data that sit on the DAAC or does it have to be pulled off the DAAC to process it? For instrument maturation and quality assurance during Phase A-B, is the project allowed alternate data storage sites or are they required to use the assigned DAAC?
Q09 :
Will NASA provide file storage for data collected throughout instrument maturation (i.e., from the airborne campaign & in-situ measurements for validation and post-launch campaign & in-situ measurements for validation) or is cloud-based or local project data storage preferred during that time?
Q10 :
If NASA provides file storage throughout instrument maturation via the DAAC, can data processing operations be performed directly on data that resides on the DAAC or is it preferred that processing operations are performed while in a cloud-based environment or stored locally and then migrated/delivered to the DAAC?
Q11 :
Can a foreign national serve as a Deputy PI (DPI) if they are currently employed by a US organization and working toward green-card status? Can the budget plan pay for the DPI through this US organization?
Q12 :
The EVI-6 PEA R of the SALMON-3 AO uses the term "SmallSats" throughout the document. Does this term refer to CubeSats only or is it used in a broader term to include other types of SmallSats?
Q13 :
For an EVI-6 investigation that proposes multiple instruments to be integrated into a NASA-selected satellite constellation, are the cost and schedule presentation required for the multiple copies of the instruments or only for a single copy with ROM cost for multiple copies along with a narrative basis of estimate?
Q14 :
Requirement R-58 of the EVI-6 PEA states: "The Augmented Submission via the Box service shall include Microsoft Excel files of Tables B3a and B3b (Section 5.1.3 of this PEA), the Table of Proposal Participants (Section J.1 of this PEA and Section J.1 of Appendix B of the SALMON-3 AO), and the Master Equipment List (Sections 5.7.4 of the SALMON-3 AO, Section J.8 and Table B4 of Appendix B of the SALMON-3 AO). Microsoft Excel format templates of Tables B1, B2, B3a, B3b, and B4 are available for download in a consolidated workbook from the EVI-6 Library".
Although there is a Microsoft Excel format templates of Tables B1, B2, B3a, B3b, and B4 available for download in a consolidated workbook from the EVI-6 Library, there is no Table of Participants template. Should we create our Excel file format for J.1 and submit via Box? Please clarify.
Q15 :
Requirement R-58 of the EVI-6 PEA states "The Augmented Submission of proposals may additionally include up to 100 MB, higher resolution but otherwise identical, versions of electronic proposals." Is it required to add the NSPIRES-generated Proposal Cover Page(s) to the higher resolution proposal included in the Augmented Submission?
Draft EVI-6 PEA Q&As
Q01 :
Partner Missions of Opportunity (PMO) are not solicited for EVI-6 but international collaborations are allowed and encouraged. What is the difference between a PMO and an international collaboration?
Q02 :
How does NASA assess spacecraft and launch vehicles for EVI proposals? Will the government prioritize hosting aboard the ISS, hosting aboard another NASA mission as a rideshare, or potentially reaching out to commercial bus providers?
Q03 :
Is there a way for NASA to facilitate teaming of organizations that have an interest in working with other organizations on proposals?
Q04 :
What are the data latency requirements for EVI-6?
Q05 :
Does the Open Source Science Policy include ITAR and EAR information and/or proprietary engineering information?
Q06 :
What are the TRL requirements for an EVI-6 instrument?
Q07 :
Can you comment on the tradeoff between technological risk and innovation for EVI-6?
Q08 :
Is it better to propose an EVI Instrument or CubeSat that can achieve many objectives or one that can achieve more specific objectives?
Q09 :
Does the one-third limitation for international contributions apply to access to space?
Q10 :
Could the optional NOAA Operational Enhancement Opportunity (OEO) include hardware development?
Q11 :
Will NASA adjust the EVI-6 PIMMC cap to account for potentially higher inflation rates in the future?
Q12 :
Although Requirement TBD-31 specifies the content of the data plan, there is no indication of when the "schedule-based end-to-end data plan" is due. Is this data plan part of the proposal?
Q13 :
Draft EVI-6 PEA Requirement TBD-32, Item 1 requires proposals to create "an open source development plan and commit to open sourcing algorithms early in the project." Please define "early in the project" with respect to a project milestone.
Q14 :
Draft EVI-6 PEA Requirement TBD-32, Item 4 requires investigations to adhere to ..."open data requirements." Where are the open data requirements and principles specified?
Q15 :
Since the proposal structure has been revised from EVI-5, can NASA provide an "EVI-6 Proposal Structure and Page Limits" table in the final EVI-6 PEA? (Updated 01/12/2022)
Q16 :
For the NASA Science Enhancement Option (SEO), are there priorities between activities involving other federal agencies at national and international level versus those at local, state, and regional levels (e.g., tribes, Hispanic community, state, and private sector)?
Q17 :
For NOAA-related SEO activities, how can they be separated from NOAA OEO activities?
Q18 :
Would NASA consider augmenting the number of pages for various sections of the proposal?
Q19 :
Can a green-card holder be a PI? Can a green-card holder be a deputy PI?
Q20 :
Can algorithm development and data product development be included as part the proposal work plan?
Q21 :
When must a complete System Security Plan (SSP) (as referenced in Section 4.6.7 Cybersecurity) be provided to NASA? (updated 12/13/2021)
Q22 :
Does NASA intend that the Open Source Science requirement (Requirement TBD-32) to include any and all software produced in the execution of the project?
Q23 :
Does Requirement TBD-32 extend to project documentation, including test procedures and other internal documentation, that are normally produced over the course of a flight project?
Q24 :
Regarding Requirement TBD-32, can we assume that any software used for the investigation, but not developed by the project, is exempt from being made publicly available?
Q25 :
Is the software, code, and documentation of interest and relevant to Requirement TBD-32 exclusively the software, code, and documentation developed by the project that would allow third parties to reproduce the processing of Level 1 data into the various other Level data products produced by the Investigation?
EVI-6 Community Announcement Q&As
Q01 :
Will NASA consider selecting a mission with similar science goals from another mission with a different measurement approach?
Q02 :
Are investigations proposing instruments in the Class C Payload Risk Classification (e.g., ~$108M Cost Cap in EVI-5) being solicited for EVI-6?
Q03 :
Is the $37M FY 2024 EVI-6 Cost Cap for all the investigation Phases A-F including science analysis and publications?
Q04 :
Why is the EVI-6 cost cap of $37M much lower than the $108M for EVI-5?
Q05 :
Will the NOAA-furnished Operational Enhancement Opportunity (OEO) component include funding, or will it be in-kind (e.g., infrastructure accommodation, ride share, etc.)?
Q06 :
Will EVI-6 permit proposals for Partner Missions of Opportunity (PMO) as defined in the SALMON-3 AO?
Q07 :
The Community Announcement (CA) states that the Final EVI-6 PEA has a target date of November 2021. Is this a No Earlier Than (NET) or a No Later Than (NLT) date?
Q08 :
What is the definition of a CubeSat for EVI-6?
Q09 :
Will alternate platforms for access to space such as secondary payloads on ESPA rings be available for EVI-6?
Q10 :
Given the increase in availability of 12U launchers for CubeSats, will NASA consider larger form factors than the 6U specified in EVI-5?
Q11 :
Would NASA consider expanding EVI-6 to include demonstration of new and innovative CubeSat approaches for continuity science?
Q12 :
What are the NOAA mission assurance requirements for EVI-6 hosted payloads on JPSS-4?
Q13 :
For EVI solicitations, is NASA going to select the instrument investigations separately and match them with the spacecraft/hosting vehicle for launch and operations?
Q14 :
As a NASA Center, we would like to keep the same team members from a previous solicitation. What needs to be in the proposal to use the same team members for the EVI-6 solicitation?
Q15 :
Given that it is the end of September, are there any updates you can share with the community about EVI-6?
Q16 :
Will there be a follow-up meeting to discuss the EVI-6 solicitation?
Q17 :
Is NASA holding any Town Hall meetings at AGU or AMS regarding the EVI-6 PEA specifically?
Q18 :
Will an international collaboration payload launched on a non-US launch vehicle be considered for EVI-6?
Q19 :
The EVI-6 Community Announcement states that "NASA also may explore the ability of flying the selected EVI-6 instrument on the Joint Polar Satellite System - 4 (JPSS-4)". JPSS-4 is not scheduled for launch until 2032, while the JPSS-3 launch is scheduled for 2028. Should the EVI-6 Community Announcement have specified JPSS-3 rather than JPSS-4?
- NASA Official: Waldo J. Rodriguez, PhD.
- Curator: SOMA Web Support
- Document Initialized: July 23, 2021
- Last Modified: August 22, 2022