MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER (GSFC) HAS A NEED TO OBTAIN SUPPORT IN ACHIEVING THE GOALS OF THE SPACE GEODESY PROJECT (SGP). THE GOALS OF THIS ACTIVITY ARE RELATED TO THE STUDY OF THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH AND HOW IT ROTATES. THIS EFFORT WILL BE A FOLLOW-ON TO NASA GSFC CONTRACT NNG10HP00C WITH MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT)/HAYSTACK OBSERVATORY (HO) FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FOR THE STATE-OF-THE-ART NEXT GENERATION VERY LONG BASELINE INTERFEROMETRY (VLBI) SYSTEMS IN SUPPORT OF THE NASA SGP. UNDER THIS CONTRACT EFFORT MIT HAYSTACK OBSERVATORY SHALL PROVIDE CONSTRUCTION AND INSTALLATION OF THE SIGNAL CHAINS FOR THREE NEXT GENERATION GEODETIC VLBI ANTENNAS AND VALIDATION OF THE COMPLETED SYSTEMS OPERATIONS SUPPORT IN THE FORM OF CORRELATION OF GEODETIC VLBI DATA, OPERATION OF THE WESTFORD ANTENNA, AND ENGINEERING SUPPORT FOR THE NASA GEODETIC NETWORK AND CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEXT GENERATION GEODETIC VLBI SYSTEMS. THE HO SHALL PROVIDE THE PERSONNEL, MATERIALS, FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT NECESSARY TO PROVIDE SUPPORT TO NASA GSFC IN ACHIEVING THE GOALS OF THE SGP. THE SCOPE OF THIS EFFORT IS LIMITED TO FIVE SPECIFIC AREAS (CALLED TASKS): 1. BUILDING VLBI GLOBAL OBSERVING SYSTEMS (VGOS) 2. VGOS SYSTEM VALIDATION 3. OPERATIONS AND SUSTAINING ENGINEERING 4. FORWARD LOOKING DEVELOPMENT 5. PROJECT MANAGEMENT