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$35,234,258

National Aeronautics and Space Administration·National Aeronautics and Space Administration

to SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE

aerospaceactiveONGOING · MOD OF 2009 CONTRACT
WORK BEGAN2009-09-14·LATEST ACTION2026-04-02·SOURCEUSASPENDING·SOURCE IDCONT_AWD_NNM09AA24C_8000_-NONE-_-NONE-
Award description

STROFIO - PHASE B IS AWARDED FROM ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY (AO) NNM08ZDA009O, STAND ALONE MISSION OF OPPORTUNITY NOTICE (SALMON) ISSUED BY NASA HEADQUARTERS. SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE (SWRI) WAS SELECTED FOR "STROFIO: EXOSPHERIC SAMPLING OF MERCURY'S SURFACE COMPOSITION" WITH DR. STEFANO LIVI AS THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR FOR FUNDING AND APPROVED TO DIRECTLY ENTER PHASE B PRELIMINARY DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY COMPLETION. STROFIO WAS SELECTED BECAUSE IT IS TIMELY AND TAKES ADVANTAGE OF A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY FOR NASA TO PARTICIPATE THROUGH THIS INVESTIGATION IN THE BEPICOLOMBO MISSION. THE ANTICIPATED OBSERVATIONS OF MERCURY'S EXOSPHERE WILL BE UNIQUE AND COMPLEMENTARY TO INVESTIGATIONS CONDUCTED BY MARINER, MESSENGER AND THE OTHER INSTRUMENTS ON BEPICOLOMBO. THE PROPOSED INVESTIGATION WILL PROVIDE VALUABLE INFORMATION ABOUT MERCURY'S EXOSPHERE AND ITS INTERACTION WITH THE MAGNETOSPHERE AND SURFACE. THE STROFIO INSTRUMENT WILL PROVIDE A VALUABLE SCIENTIFIC RETURN, ADDRESSING MANY GOALS OF NASAS PLANETARY SCIENCE PROGRAM.

Verbatim from USAspending.gov. Capitalization, abbreviations, and codes are unchanged.

The Buildout's read

What the model surfaced from this award

Confidence: high
In plain English

Continuation of STROFIO Mercury instrument program (begun 2009); funds Phase B preliminary design completion for BepiColombo mission.

Sub-sectors
nasa-planetary-sciencespace-instrument-developmentinternational-collaboration
Why this matters

Advances U.S. planetary science capabilities in Mercury exploration, enabling unique atmospheric observations complementing international mission partners.

Supply-chain signal

Drives demand for specialized space-rated sensors, electronics, and precision manufacturing from instrument component suppliers.

U.S.–China competition angle

Represents U.S. strength in deep-space planetary science; less a direct competitive flashpoint than lunar or LEO missions.

Generated by award_classification v2.1.0 via claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 on 2026-06-15. Cost: $0.017423.

Period of performance
Start
2009-09-14
End
2028-04-30
Status
activein 657 days
Other awards from this recipient
Sources

The Buildout does not edit federal records. Any inaccuracy reflects the upstream source; it will update here when corrected there.

$35.2M National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Buildout — The Buildout