RBSP Mission Operations Center Core Software Selection Process

Abstract

This paper discusses the process used to select the NASA Radiation Belt Storm Probe (RBSP) Mission Operations Center (MOC) Core Software. It focuses on the process, including both the Request For Information (RFI) and the Request For Proposal (RFP) stages of this selection. It also includes lessons learned. This is not a “kiss and tell” paper. Out of respect to the vendors who participated in this process, no names or dollar amounts are included in this paper. However, the paper does include anecdotal information about how we made our selection. A key to our process was the philosophy to carefully construct a detailed plan and schedule for how we would conduct the selection, to communicate the plan to all parties participating in the selection, including the prospective vendors, and to stick to the plan and the schedule. This philosophy made the competition better for everyone involved, and it ensured that the final decision was a sound one. The RBSP MOC Core Software is the software that generates commands to the spacecraft and displays, alarms, distributes, and archives telemetry from the spacecraft. It is called “core” software because there is a significant amount of ground software that is positioned around this core, especially in the areas of planning and assessment. The MOC Core Software is used at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) for flight software development, flight software acceptance testing, avionics integration, spacecraft integration and test (I&T), and mission operations. APL purchases commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software to fulfill this need.