WASHINGTON - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is seeking industry and academic input on potential partnerships to support operations and data collection for its Terra, Aqua, and Aura Earth science satellite missions as the agency looks to encourage commercial participation in its missions.
Officials of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate issued a request for information to assess interest in operating and maintaining one or more of the on-orbit missions, as well as in innovative partnership arrangements related to mission operations and science data activities. NASA said the effort is intended to enable more effective use of agency resources and to advance the commercial remote sensing industry.
Depending on the responses received, NASA said it may hold discussions with individual respondents, issue an Announcement for Partnership Proposals, or pursue both approaches. Any follow-on activity would be conducted under a Space Act Agreement, either on a reimbursable basis in which the partner pays NASA or on a non-reimbursable basis with no exchange of funds. NASA emphasized that the request for information does not constitute a commitment to enter into an agreement.
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NASA said it is open to novel arrangements, including partial or full use of existing NASA operational teams under reimbursable terms, as well as partnerships involving consortia or multiple partners for a single mission.
Program histories
Terra, launched in 1999, remains operational with four of its five instruments functioning nominally and is projected to have sufficient power to operate until February 2027. Aqua, launched in 2002, continues to operate four of its six instruments and is expected to have available power until September 2027. Aura, launched in 2004, currently operates two of its four instruments and is projected to have sufficient power until July 2028. Due to fuel limitations, the orbits of all three spacecraft have been allowed to drift in mean local time.
NASA noted that the Terra, Aqua, and Aura missions share operating personnel and infrastructure and that the age of the observatories makes continued operations complex and dependent on specialized expertise.
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The agency said its preference is for partnerships that, to the maximum extent possible, continue producing existing data products and make them broadly and openly available to research and applications communities, whether through NASA science data archives or other mechanisms.
The request for information is open to industry, universities, nonprofit organizations, individuals, NASA centers, federally funded research and development centers such as NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, U.S. federal, state, local, and tribal government agencies, and international participants. NASA said responses are subject to U.S. law prohibiting bilateral cooperation with China.
Following the end of instrument operations, NASA said spacecraft decommissioning and passivation activities would be expected to comply with agency requirements for orbital debris mitigation and conjunction assessment.
All responses must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on 12 2026. NASA noted the primary point of contact for this RFI is Beth Weinstein, Earth Science Division, Science Mission Directorate, at the agency. They can be reached via email at [email protected]. For More information, please visit https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/0a54af9ae8f54f1bbedb2ef1665b7f44/view.
