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$772,548,320

National Aeronautics and Space Administration·National Aeronautics and Space Administration

to CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

aerospaceexpiredONGOING · MOD OF 2012 CONTRACT
WORK BEGAN2012-10-01·LATEST ACTION2026-05-18·SOURCEUSASPENDING·SOURCE IDCONT_AWD_NNN13D820T_8000_NNN12AA01C_8000
Award description

IGF::CL::IGF DEEP SPACE NETWORK THE CONTRACT IS THE SPONSORING AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA) AND THE CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (CONTRACTOR), A PRIVATE NONPROFIT EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION, WHICH ESTABLISHES THE RELATIONSHIP FOR THE OPERATION OF THE FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER (FFRDC) KNOWN AS THE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY. THE CONTRACTOR, JPL, IS REQUIRED TO PERFORM WORK THAT IS DESIGNATED IN TASK ORDERS ISSUED BY THE NASA MANAGEMENT OFFICE (NMO) CONTRACTING OFFICERS. NASA - SPONSORED WORK: JPL'S PRIMARY MISSION IS TO SUPPORT THE NASA SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE (SMD) IN CARRYING OUT THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES IDENTIFIED IN THE SMD SCIENCE PLAN. THE FOUR BROAD SCIENTIFIC AREAS ARE: EARTH SCIENCE, PLANETARY SCIENCE, HELIOPHYSICS, AND ASTROPHYSICS. IN PERFORMANCE OF THIS CONTRACT, JPL SHALL: 1) SUPPLY A BROAD BASE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES RELEVANT TO NASA PROGRAM AND PROJECT RESPONSIBILITIES AND ASSIGNMENTS. 2) FOSTER ITS UNIQUE RELATIONSHIP WITH A TOP-TIER UNIVERSITY TO FACILITATE THE INVOLVEMENT OF SCIENTISTS, ENGINEERS, AND STUDENTS FROM THE UNIVERSITY AND RESEARCH COMMUNITIES IN NASA MISSION AND IN SUPPORTING OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. 3) SUPPORT NASA IN ENABLING PROGRAM AND INSTITUTIONAL CAPABILITIES. 4) DEVELOP SPACECRAFT AND INSTRUMENTS THAT ARE SENT TO VARIOUS DESTINATIONS WITH OUR SOLAR SYSTEM, INCLUDING EARTH ORBIT, PLANETS, PLANETARY SATELLITES, ASTEROIDS, AND COMETS. THESE MISSIONS MAY BE ORBITERS, LANDERS, OR ROVERS, AND TYPICALLY INCLUDE CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGIES REQUIRED TO MEET SCIENTIFIC REQUIREMENTS. 5) PERFORM PROJECT TASKS INVOLVING: (I) AUTONOMOUS DEEP-SPACE, INNER-SPACE AND EARTH-ORBITING SPACECRAFT OR MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS, (II) EXPERIMENTS, INSTRUMENTS, OR OTHER DEVICES WHICH MAY BE CARRIED AS PAYLOAD ON SPACECRAFTS IN MISSIONS MANAGED BY OTHERS, AND/OR (III) GROUND-BASED SYSTEMS. 6) BEYOND ITS PRIMARY MISSION, JPL MAY PERFORM WORK FOR OTHER NASA MISSION DIRECTORATES OR OFFICES. 7) JPL IS ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR THE OPERATION, RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY INSERTION, AND MANAGEMENT OF NASA S DEEP SPACE NETWORK TO PROVIDE TELECOMMUNICATION AND OPERATION SERVICES, INCLUDING DATA ACQUISITION AND DATA DELIVERY REQUIRED TO MEET ESTABLISHED AGENCY OBJECTIVES. 8) JPL IS ALSO REQUIRED TO MAINTAIN AND CONDUCT AN EDUCATION PROGRAM IN CLOSE COORDINATION WITH THE NASA HEADQUARTERS EDUCATION OFFICE, THE ACADEMIC COMMUNITY AT LARGE, AND IN SUPPORT TO NASA STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES TO IMPROVE STUDENT RETENTION IN THE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS (STEM) DISCIPLINES. WORK FOR NON-NASA SPONSORS: JPL MAY PERFORM WORK FOR NON-NASA SPONSORS. THIS WORK WILL BE DESIGNATED IN TASK ORDERS ISSUED BY NMO CONTRACTING OFFICERS BASED ON TASK PLANS INITIATED BY THE CONTRACTOR.

Verbatim from USAspending.gov. Capitalization, abbreviations, and codes are unchanged.

The Buildout's read

What the model surfaced from this award

Confidence: high
In plain English

Latest obligation on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory operations contract, which began in 2012, supporting NASA's science missions across Earth, planetary, heliophysics, and astrophysics research.

Sub-sectors
jpl-ffrdc-operationsdeep-space-networkspacecraft-development
Why this matters

JPL is NASA's primary center for robotic space exploration and deep-space communications; this ongoing $772M+ contract sustains critical U.S. capabilities in planetary science and autonomous spacecraft operations.

Supply-chain signal

Sustains a broad ecosystem of aerospace suppliers, instrument manufacturers, and university research partners integrated into JPL's mission architecture across multiple NASA directorates.

U.S.–China competition angle

Deep Space Network and autonomous spacecraft capabilities are strategic assets in space exploration; maintaining JPL's operational continuity is essential to U.S. leadership in planetary science and cislunar operations.

Generated by award_classification v2.1.0 via claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 on 2026-05-20. Cost: $0.003764.

Period of performance
Start
2012-10-01
End
2018-09-30
Status
expired2790 days ago
Other awards from this recipient
Sources

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