EPIC Athena Sensorcraft

This action will be awarded as a new contract that will be a follow-on to two projects, the first named Economical Payload Integration Cost (EPIC) and the other named Athena. Together, this effort will be referred to as the EPIC Athena Sensorcraft. Below are descriptions of EPIC and Athena separately, as well as the EPIC Athena Sensorcraft.EPIC (FA8814-19-C-0007, successfully completed contract) EPIC was competitively awarded off of the BAA solicitation USAF-18-PEO-SPACE-11.C. The objective of EPIC was to build a prototype satlet-bus that demonstrates rapid payload reconfigurability. The scope also included integration of a payload todemonstrate the satlet/User Defined Adapter (UDA) interface contributions. NovaWurks' development of EPIC was successful as the reconfigurability of the prototype-bus was proven.Athena (National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) developed payload)Athena is a NASA developed payload that is an Earth Radiation Budget technology. The intent of

Athena is to continue to meet mission requirements regarding radiation-sensing while reducing SWAP (Size, Weight, and Power).EPIC Athena SensorcraftWhen combined, the EPIC satlet-bus and the Athena payload are considered a sensorcraft. NASA defines a "sensorcraft" as a highly integrated bus-payload system. What is different about this pairing versus a normal bus-payload is that the payload (Athena) will off-load capabilities onto the EPIC bus, and rely on the EPIC bus for on-orbit performance. By off-loading capabilities, the payload can be smaller than normal which reduces SWAP.All parties involved are looking for a proof of concept regarding the sensorcraft architecture. What is most important is the demonstration of a highly integrated bus-payload system which is a currently unproven architecture. Where the norm is that the bus is usually just a supporting structure, EPIC will supplement the capabilities of Athena.Description of action being approvedThis effort is a follow-on to a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Rapid Innovation Fund (RIF) contract, that was successfully completed in June 2021 which further explores a proof of concept for NovaWurks' reconfigurable prototype-bus "EPIC".The EPIC Athena Sensorcraft will be a firm-fixed-price (FFP) contract. The project will be funded by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Space Test Program (STP). This new contract is being pursued to reconfigure the EPIC satlet-bus, integrate the Athena payload into EPIC, launch the EPIC Athena Sensorcraft, and perform an on-orbit demonstration of the EPIC Athena Sensorcraft capabilities.NASA is providing funding to launch Athena, test Athena's capabilities, and analyze the sensorcraft architecture provided by the combination of EPIC and Athena. NOAA desires data relating to design, integration & test to further understand how the sensorcraft architecture will work. The STP is funding the launch and on-orbit demonstration.The full demonstration flight will be an STP-28C launch on Virgin Orbits LauncherOne system, currently scheduled for December 2022.