$178,975,557
National Aeronautics and Space Administration·National Aeronautics and Space Administration
to ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITIES FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY, INC.
WORK BEGAN2019-07-01·LATEST ACTION2026-05-12·SOURCEUSASPENDING·SOURCE IDCONT_AWD_80GSFC19C0054_8000_-NONE-_-NONE-
Award description
THIS CONTRACT IS FOR THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ASSOCIATED WITH THE DESIGN PHASE OF THE WIDE-FIELD INFRARED SURVEY TELESCOPE (WFIRST) SCIENCE OPERATIONS CENTER (SOC)
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 2019 WFIRST telescope Science Operations Center design contract, supporting NASA's wide-field infrared survey mission.
Sub-sectors
space-telescope-infrastructurescience-operations-centerongoing-modification
Why this matters
WFIRST is a flagship NASA astrophysics mission; the SOC is critical infrastructure for processing and distributing science data to the research community.
Supply-chain signal
AURA coordinates with instrument builders, data-processing vendors, and academic institutions; this obligation sustains design-phase workforce and vendor relationships.
U.S.–China competition angle
U.S. space-based infrared astronomy capability; WFIRST complements ground-based surveys and maintains American leadership in wide-field survey science.
Generated by award_classification v2.1.0 via claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 on 2026-05-22. Cost: $0.003093.
Period of performance
Start
2019-07-01
End
2027-09-30
Status
activein 457 days
Other awards from this recipient
- 2026-06-24THE PRIMARY ACTIVITIES COVERED BY THIS EFFORT INCLUDE THE FINAL SERVICING MISSION AND SUBSEQUENT OPERATIONS THROUGH END-OF-MISSION. THESE ACTIVITIES INCLUDE: A. SCIENCE PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION INCLUDING: MISSION PLANNING SUPPORT, SCIENCE PROGRAM DEFINITION SUPPORT, MANAGEMENT OF THE PROPOSAL SELECTION, TIME ALLOCATION, AND GRANT AWARD COMMITTEE PROCESSES, AND SCIENCE COMMUNITY OUTREACH. B. ROUTINE SCIENCE OPERATIONS INCLUDING: PROPOSAL GENERATION AND RECEIPT, OBSERVATION PLANNING AND SCHEDULING, UPDATING INSTRUMENT HANDBOOKS, OBSERVING AND USER SUPPORT, DATA PROCESSING AND PRODUCT GENERATION, ARCHIVAL AND DATA DISTRIBUTION SERVICES, CALIBRATION ASSISTANCE AND DATA ANALYSIS, ANOMALY INVESTIGATION SUPPORT, USER GRANT ADMINISTRATION, OBSERVER ASSISTANCE AND ENGINEERING OPERATIONS SUPPORT. C. GROUND SYSTEM SUSTAINING ENGINEERING INCLUDING: SCIENCE OPERATION SYSTEM MAINTENANCE, INFRASTRUCTURE ADMINISTRATION AND SUPPORT, AND DOCUMENTATION MAINTENANCE D. SERVICING MISSION SUPPORT INCLUDING: PREPARATION AND EXECUTION OF THE OBSERVATORY VERIFICATION PROGRAM, INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT, AND OPTICAL ALIGNMENT TESTING SUPPORT E. GENERATION OF PERFORMANCE, SCIENCE RETURN, AND OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATIONAL REPORTS TO THE HSTP F. ASTRONOMICAL COMMUNITY AND GENERAL PUBLIC/EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH G. SPECIAL PROJECTS INCLUDING ORIGINS FORUM AND INDEPENDENT RESEARCH THIS CONTRACT INCLUDES AN ADDITIONAL TWO-YEAR PERIOD AFTER THE END OF HST'S SCIENCE-MISSION. THIS EXTRA TIME FOLLOWING THE CESSATION OF SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATIONS IS FOR TWO YEARS OF FOLLOW-ON ARCHIVAL RESEARCH. DURING THE FINAL TWO YEARS OF THE CONTRACT, ARCHIVAL OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE, AN ARCHIVAL RESEARCH PROPOSAL SELECTION PROCESS AND ASSOCIATED GRANT ADMINISTRATION, AND A PUBLIC OUTREACH PROGRAM WILL CONTINUE. DATA ANALYSIS SOFTWARE WILL ALSO BE MAINTAINED BUT AT A LOWER LEVEL OF SUPPORT SUCH THAT ONLY MODEST ENHANCEMENTS MAY STILL BE MADE. CONTINUING SUPPORT WILL ALSO INCLUDE THE COORDINATION OF DATA ANALYSIS SOFTWARE THAT IS PRODUCED BY THE ASTRONOMICAL COMMUNITY. ORIG PSC AR20$2.5B
- 2026-06-11THE PRIMARY ACTIVITIES COVERED BY THIS EFFORT SPAN THE MAJOR PHASES OF THE MISSION BEGINNING WITH FORMULATION THROUGH DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING, AND ENDING ONE YEAR AFTER LAUNCH WITH THE INITIATION OF THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE (JWST) SCIENCE PROGRAM. THESE MAJOR ACTIVITIES ARE SEPARATED INTO THE BASELINE PROGRAM AND SPECIAL STUDIES. THE BASELINE PROGRAM INCLUDES: A. MISSION REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS AND OBSERVATORY/MISSION DESIGN SUPPORT INCLUDING: TRADESTUDY GENERATION, SCIENCE AND OPERATIONS IMPACT ANALYSIS, SCIENCE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING SUPPORT, AND DESIGN REFERENCE MISSION ANALYSIS. B. GROUND SEGMENT DEVELOPMENT, TESTING, MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS INCLUDING: OPERATIONS SUPPORT OF SI, FGS, ISIM, AND OBSERVATORY INTEGRATION AND TEST (I&T), MISSION SIMULATIONS, AND DOCUMENTATION MAINTENANCE, AS WELL AS LOW COST OPERATIONS CONCEPTS. C. SCIENCE PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION INCLUDING: MISSION PLANNING SUPPORT, SCIENCE PROGRAM DEFINITION SUPPORT, PROPOSAL MANAGEMENT AND USER GRANT ADMINISTRATION, OBSERVER ASSISTANCE, SCIENCE COMMUNITY OUTREACH, AND STAFF RESEARCH. D. COMMISSIONING PERIOD AND ROUTINE SCIENCE OPERATIONS INCLUDING: PROPOSAL GENERATION, OBSERVATION PLANNING AND SCHEDULING, OBSERVING AND USER SUPPORT, DATA PROCESSING AND PRODUCT GENERATION, ARCHIVAL AND DATA DISTRIBUTION SERVICES, CALIBRATION ASSISTANCE AND DATA ANALYSIS, AND ENGINEERING OPERATIONS SUPPORT. E. FLIGHT OPERATIONS INCLUDING: SUBSYSTEM (INCLUDING INSTRUMENTS) HEALTH AND SAFETY MONITORING, COMMAND GENERATION AND UPLOAD, SCHEDULE EXECUTION ASSURANCE, TRENDING, AND ANOMALY INVESTIGATION. F. SUPPORT AND EXECUTION OF THE ON-ORBIT COMMISSIONING PROGRAM. G. GENERATION OF PERFORMANCE, SCIENCE RETURN, AND OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATIONAL REPORTS TO THE JWST PROJECT. H. ASTRONOMICAL COMMUNITY AND GENERAL PUBLIC/EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH. EXAMPLES OF SPECIAL PROJECT ACTIVITIES MAY INCLUDE: A. FOLLOW-ON MISSION STUDIES. B. ENGINEERING NECESSARY TO RESPOND TO NEW JWST PROJECT TASKS.$1.5B
Sources
- USAspending.gov — all awards for this UEI →
- SAM.gov entity registration →
- Award record ingested from usaspending. Source identifier CONT_AWD_80GSFC19C0054_8000_-NONE-_-NONE-.
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