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$35,234,258

National Aeronautics and Space Administration·National Aeronautics and Space Administration

to SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE

aerospaceactiveONGOING · MOD OF 2009 CONTRACT
WORK BEGAN2009-09-14·LATEST ACTION2026-04-02·SOURCEUSASPENDING·SOURCE IDCONT_AWD_NNM09AA24C_8000_-NONE-_-NONE-
Award description

STROFIO - PHASE B IS AWARDED FROM ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY (AO) NNM08ZDA009O, STAND ALONE MISSION OF OPPORTUNITY NOTICE (SALMON) ISSUED BY NASA HEADQUARTERS. SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE (SWRI) WAS SELECTED FOR "STROFIO: EXOSPHERIC SAMPLING OF MERCURY'S SURFACE COMPOSITION" WITH DR. STEFANO LIVI AS THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR FOR FUNDING AND APPROVED TO DIRECTLY ENTER PHASE B PRELIMINARY DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY COMPLETION. STROFIO WAS SELECTED BECAUSE IT IS TIMELY AND TAKES ADVANTAGE OF A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY FOR NASA TO PARTICIPATE THROUGH THIS INVESTIGATION IN THE BEPICOLOMBO MISSION. THE ANTICIPATED OBSERVATIONS OF MERCURY'S EXOSPHERE WILL BE UNIQUE AND COMPLEMENTARY TO INVESTIGATIONS CONDUCTED BY MARINER, MESSENGER AND THE OTHER INSTRUMENTS ON BEPICOLOMBO. THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION WILL PROVIDE VALUABLE INFORMATION ABOUT MERCURY'S EXOSPHERE AND ITS INTERACTION WITH THE MAGNETOSPHERE AND SURFACE. THE STROFIO INSTRUMENT WILL PROVIDE A VALUABLE SCIENTIFIC RETURN, ADDRESSING MANY GOALS OF NASAS PLANETARY SCIENCE PROGRAM.

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

Fund Phase B design and development of the STROFIO instrument to study Mercury's exosphere as part of the BepiColombo mission.

Sub-sectors
nasa-space-scienceplanetary-explorationinstrument-development
Why this matters

Advances NASA's planetary science program through a unique international collaboration opportunity to characterize Mercury's surface composition and magnetosphere interactions.

Supply-chain signal

Drives demand for specialized space-qualified scientific instrumentation, sensor technology, and aerospace engineering capabilities from SwRI and its subcontractors.

U.S.–China competition angle

Strengthens U.S. leadership in planetary science and international space exploration partnerships, complementing European-led BepiColombo mission.

Generated by award_classification v2.0.0 via claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 on 2026-05-15. Cost: $0.002574.

Period of performance
Start
2009-09-14
End
2028-04-30
Status
activein 712 days
Other awards from this recipient
Sources

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$35.2M National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Buildout — The Buildout