GREENBELT, Md. - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center has issued a request for information seeking industry input on a potential "Mission Integration Prime" capability to support the next-generation Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) Program series of weather satellites.
The RFI, released on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), aims to gather market intelligence, technical approaches, and rough-order-of-magnitude cost estimates for managing end-to-end mission integration, launch, and operations services for GeoXO spacecraft.
GeoXO is the planned follow-on to NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R series, with the first launch targeted for 2032. The satellites will provide continuous environmental monitoring and meteorological data to support weather forecasting, hazard warnings, and aviation and maritime operations across the Western Hemisphere.
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Government handoff
Under the proposed concept, a Mission Integration Prime contractor would assume responsibilities historically managed by the government. These include procuring and integrating launch vehicles for two satellites, managing payload processing facilities, and overseeing mission operations from launch through 10 years of on-orbit service per spacecraft.
The scope of work spans several technically intensive areas relevant to aerospace electronics. Launch services would include integration engineering, mission assurance, and countdown operations. Payload processing would require cleanroom facilities, fueling operations, and electrical ground support equipment integration. Mission operations would involve satellite command and control, real-time telemetry handling across S-, L-, and X-band links, and generation of Level 1b calibrated and geo-located data products using instrument algorithms.
The contractor also would be responsible for operating ground systems compliant with Federal Information Security Management Act high-impact requirements, including secure communications and resilient architectures for continuous operations. Additional responsibilities include anomaly detection and recovery, instrument calibration, performance trending, and end-of-life satellite disposal into super-synchronous orbit.
NASA and NOAA are also evaluating alternative acquisition strategies and are encouraging vendors to propose different contract structures or architectures, including the use of government-furnished ground infrastructure such as the Wallops Command and Data Acquisition Station and the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility.
The agency anticipates releasing a draft request for proposals in early 2027, with a final solicitation expected in summer 2027 and a contract award planned for January 2028.
Responses to the RFI are due by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on 4 May 2026. NASA listed Travis Hagelberg as the primary point of contact for this project. They can be reached via email at [email protected].
More information is available at https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/640aaa0f0fd841068883054740c7686e/view.
