Contract Opportunity: Radio transmitter for NASA Mars mission

As part of the mission to return to Mars, NASA needs a radio transmitter to be used in the vehicle that will take samples collected from the surface of the planet to an orbiting spacecraft, the agency announced. 

NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center made the solicitation for the Radio Frequency Transmitters for the Mars Ascent Vehicle, according to the post.

The Mars Ascent Vehicle is one part of the Mars Sample Return Campaign and is a joint effort between Marshall and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  

The MAV is a vehicle designed to launch from the surface of Mars and will transport Mars samples taken from the Martian surface and launch the payload into orbit for rendezvous with an orbiting spacecraft.  The Earth Return Orbiter will rendezvous with and capture the payload from orbit, and bring it back to earth.

The MAV transmitter will transmit navigation and vehicle health data during the flight from launch until stage separation to aide in the capture of the released payload. The MAV has a downlink/transmit-only requirement for RF communications during the mission. There is no uplink/receive signal requirement.  

The transmitter will be required to operate solely in transmitting data mode during the first stage of the flight. 

The RF transmitter will be required to tolerate environments of launch, 2.5 years of deep space cruise, Entry, Descent, and Landing, and a storage period of approximately one year on the Martian surface. 

The transmitter will be in an unpowered state for a majority of the cruise except for short durations during health check-outs. 

Read more HERE.