Space launch integrated services

Multiple Award Schedule Space Launch Integrated Services implementation guide

Explore the scope of services that can be provided under the MAS technical and engineering Services, or non-IT, subcategory in support of Space Launch Integrated Services. 

Space Launch Integrated Services are a commercial service that a contractor provides for the integration of a payload, or satellite, into a space launch vehicle, or rocket. Space Launch Integrated Services currently available on the MAS include engineering-related services. Activities associated with the actual launch of the space vehicle are excluded.

Potential customers of these types of services include:

• U.S. Air Force
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration environmental satellites
  • Department of Agriculture
  • Army Corps of Engineers
  • Department of Transportation/Federal Aviation Administration
  • U.S. Coast Guard
  • U.S. Agency for International Development
  • Department of Defense
  • Department of the Interior
  • NASA
• NASA
• Office of the Secretary of Defense

Services

Space Launch Integration Services are usually offered as a firm fixed price package based on the weight and mass of the satellites. These packages are offered as a service that includes all labor, materials, equipment, and facilities related to the integration of the satellite to the launch vehicle. The integration services are normally provided by a contractor other than the Launch Services Provider, or LSP. The satellite integration contractor works with the LSP and coordinates all aspects, on behalf of the customer, necessary to integrate, launch, and deploy the satellite from the launch vehicle.

Services include:

• Labor, including project managers, engineers, technicians, etc
  • MAS design reviews and Technical Interchange Meetings
  • Creating integrated master MASs
• Necessary launch support equipment, such as the integration plate and a separation system to attach the spacecraft to the launch vehicle
• Support during launch, orbital maneuvering, and separation from the spacecraft once it reaches orbit. Provide secure integration facilities as required
• Modeling, simulations, and analysis of single or multi-space craft missions; collision avoidance analysis; perform plume impingement analysis to ensure deployment sequence and thruster actions are performed in a manner to eliminate interaction of the plumes with the satellite or space vehicle
• Coupled Load Analysis to predict the loads interaction between the spacecraft and Launch Vehicle to characterize how these structures interact dynamically
• Mission Design Analysis
• Reception and inspection of government furnished spacecraft
  • Receive, process, integrate, test and resolve any anomalies associated with integrating and launching
  • Attaching bracketry, installing electrical, electronic and ordnance components, routing and securing electrical cables and ordnance lines, and adding instrumentation and thermal protection systems. Following installation, any added systems are subjected to subsystem and/or system level testing that verifies interfaces and desired performance.
• Spacecraft manifesting — contractor works with the satellite customer and the launch vehicle provider, ensure that the customer’s spacecraft is compatible with the launch vehicle’s mission.
• Defining interfaces and environments
  • Mechanical, electrical and all environments the spacecraft/satellite will experience from launch through deployment and ensure they are compatible with the launch vehicle’s mission
• Conducting testing/safety audit. Includes
  • Verification prior to integration, of customers NASA’s General Environmental Verification Specification testing for mechanical, thermal, EMC results
  • Conduct acceptance testing, functional testing, and post-acceptance testing
• Integrating the payload for flight customer agency
  • Total mission integration services to provide a complete solution. Activities include defining and documenting interface requirements, conducting verification and validation tasks for these requirements, and generating statutory documentation and obtaining necessary clearances for range safety and other organizations, such as the Federal Communications Commission for frequency allocations.
  • Includes attaching the spacecraft to the launch support equipment, verify physical and functional interfaces and integrate the payload stack with the LSP’s vehicle
  • Creating interface control documents
  • Generating statutory certification requests, obtaining models for mass properties analyses, and conducting separation and re-contact assessments
  • Hardware fit checks, as well as actual launch site integration and on console operations during launch and early on-orbit testing
  • Design and develop interface hardware, such as adapters and dispensers
  • Conduct static and dynamic load modeling, modal frequency response analyses, and detailed mass properties verifications

Use the SINs below for these services:

• 541715: Engineering research and development and strategic planning
• 541330ENG: Engineering services
• 541380: Testing laboratories
• 541420: Engineering system design and integration services

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