Vantage Systems, Inc. (VSI) was awarded a 5-year contract to provide Sustaining Engineering (SE) Services to support the International Space Station (ISS) ExPRESS Logistics Carrier (ELC) project office at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).  VSI will support GSFC in transitioning SE to ISS in order to ensure continuous support to the Johnson Space Center ISS External Carriers Office for ISS activities.  The project includes the provision of ELC mission transition planning and related activities and integration of products and support.

VSI will support the ELC project in the following areas:

• Sustain engineering activities
• Sustain engineering efforts for transition
• Sustain engineering for transfer of data
• Web application development and maintenance
• Data reduction
• Electronic media and document services
• Educational outreach

The ISS is an Earth-orbiting facility that supports long duration human habitation and scientific/technological research activities in the microgravity environment of low earth orbit.  GSFC is partnered with the ISS program for the Expedite the Processing of Experiments to Space Station (ExPRESS) Logistics Carriers (ELC).  NASA/GSFC is providing ISS with five ELC to be used as logistic carriers/science platforms aimed to bring up to ISS items related to engineering/logistic purposes and scientific payloads.

Vantage Systems, Inc. (VSI) has been awarded a contract to provide mission support for Utilization and Logistics Flight (ULF) Missions and Sustaining Engineering (SE) activities, responsibilities, and interfaces between GSFC and NASA/Johnson Space Center/ISS to support the ExPRESS Logistics Carriers (ELC) project.  The scope of this project applies to activities performed during both on-ground and in-flight phases.  VSI will provide mission support for mission preparation, flight operations, materials and post-flight activities.

VSI’s overall support will be to perform dedicated analysis as required by the mission integration or by anomaly detection including both ground processing and on-orbit phases. VSI will also provide essential engineering support after hardware/software and ground support equipment development

The International Space Station (ISS) is an Earth-orbiting facility that supports long duration human habitation and scientific/technological research activities in the microgravity environment of low earth orbit.  GSFC is partnered with the ISS program for the Expedite the Processing of Experiments to Space Station (ExPRESS) Logistics Carriers (ELC).  NASA/GSFC is providing ISS with five ELC to be used as logistic carriers/science platforms aimed to bring up to ISS items related to engineering/logistic purposes and scientific payloads.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center awarded Vantage Systems, Inc. (VSI) a contract to provide engineering expertise in support of the Expedite the Processing of Experiments to Space Station (ExPRESS) Logistics Carrier (ELC) project. VSI will provide multidisciplinary engineering services to include the areas of program management, systems engineering, materials, structural analysis and loads, mechanical design, electromechanical design, thermal, manufacturing, integration and test, logistics and IT. 

 This contract is a follow on to a previous contract awarded to VSI in 2007 by which VSI was   instrumental during the development, testing, and integration of the ELC project and was  involved with ELC from systems requirements development through the hardware verification and launch phases.  VSI staff has been involved and supported ELC in many areas including mechanical, electrical/avionics, harness design and fabrication, integration and test (I&T), structural, software and IT and management.

Joe Polk, Vantage President and CEO, commented, “The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has been a satisfied VSI customer since 1993, and we welcome the opportunity to continue to provide quality service via this ELC contract. We have a solid track record of success and delivery of best quality products and services on the ELC program as well as numerous other GSFC programs.”

ASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) awarded Vantage Systems, Inc. (VSI) an 8(a) set-aside IDIQ contract for Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) Engineering Support Services (TESS).  VSI will perform engineering support services that will encompass all phases of project implementation from conceptual studies through definition, design and development; fabrication; integration; launch; preparation for pre- and post-launch operations; satellite servicing; and data acquisition, processing, distribution, analysis and archiving. 

VSI will also provide multidisciplinary design, analysis, integration and test support (systems, thermal, mechanical, electrical and software) to confirm that the TIRS Instrument meets or exceeds design, performance and verification criteria for the remaining phases of its development lifecycle.

TIRS is being designed to continue the Landsat thermal data gathering that has been used operationally to monitor water consumption on a field-by-field basis in the Western United States and internationally.  TIRS will produce radiometrically calibrated, geo-located thermal image data and will deliver algorithms and parameters necessary to evaluate data and produce required outputs.  

“VSI has supported GSFC on various missions for over 16 years, and we are excited about this opportunity to continue to support GSFC on the TIRS project,” commented Joe Polk, VSI President & CEO.

Vantage Systems, Inc. (VSI) has begun work on the Program Analysis and Control (PAAC III) contract that it won as part of the ASRC Research and Technology Solutions (ARTS) team to provide mission support services to the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Flight Projects Directorate.

As a lead subcontractor, VSI provides mission enabling support in the areas of mission information systems; planning & scheduling; configuration management; documentation dissemination and control; data management; and general accounting and business services.

The 5-year contract has a maximum value of $200 million and supports current and future NASA programs, including the Geostationary Operational Environment Satellite-R (GOES-R), the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), the Magnetospheric Multi-Scale (MMS) Mission and numerous other space and earth science programs.

“Vantage is pleased to continue our efforts to support NASA at GSFC and nationwide in its mission to plan and manage space flight projects. We will move forward in our commitment to provide quality services as we support the GSFC Flight Projects Directorate and its program offices,” commented Joe Polk, VSI President and CEO.

Vantage Systems, Inc. is part of a team led by ASRC Research and Technology Solutions (ARTS) that has been awarded a five-year contract by NASA to provide mission support services to the Goddard Space Flight Center's Flight Projects Directorate. The contract has a maximum value of $200 million.

Under the Program Analysis and Control (PAAC III) contract, Vantage will use its expertise in a lead subcontract role to support current and future NASA programs, including the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Magnetospheric Multi-Scale (MMS) Mission and numerous other space and earth science programs. Vantage's role will focus on business and information technology support. Vantage is already supporting both of these areas through other contracts at Goddard.

"We are proud to be part of the ARTS Team. This award is testament to their commitment to provide high level technical and support services to their customers," said Joseph Polk, president of Vantage Systems.

Vantage Systems was recently awarded an SBA 8(a) sole source, task order contract to provide engineering support services to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center on the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) Project. Vantage Systems will provide the MMS Project with engineering and related services for the formulation, design, development, fabrication, integration, testing, verification, and operations of spaceflight and ground system hardware and software.

Tasks orders will be issued to perform services in all aspects of MMS mission development and implementation for components, subsystems, systems, observatory, launch, ground system, spacecraft, simulators, non-flight models, and prototypes; candidate, feasibility, and systems definition studies; project management; systems engineering; analysis; preliminary design; detailed design; non-flight and flight fabrication; assembly; integration; test and verification; test instrumentation; data systems management; launch, on-orbit and post-launch operations; research and technology unique to system development; parts and materials, technical facilities support, logistics, documentation; maintenance; sustaining engineering; configuration management; mission assurance; architectural trades, performance, cost, risk assessment, documentation, information technology (IT), project review and presentation support.

The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission is a Solar-Terrestrial Probe mission comprising of four identically instrumented spacecraft that will use Earth's magnetosphere as a laboratory to study the microphysics of three fundamental plasma processes: magnetic reconnection, energetic particle acceleration, and turbulence. These processes occur in all astrophysical plasma systems but can be studied in situ only in our solar system and most efficiently only in Earth's magnetosphere, where they control the dynamics of the geospace environment and play an important role in the processes known as "space weather”.

Vantage Systems was recently awarded an SBA 8(a) sole source, task order contract to provide Engineering services to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center on the ELC Program. Vantage Systems will provide the ELC Program with engineering expertise in support of the formulation, design, development, fabrication, integration, testing, and verification of the ELC. Services to be provided include Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Software and IT Engineering, and Program Management. The Expedite the Processing of Experiments to the Space Station (EXPRESS) Logistics Carrier (ELC) is designed to carry external payloads, Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs) and first time outfitting cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). The fully integrated ELC is designed to mount directly to the outside of ISS and is transported to and from the ISS using the Space Shuttle.

Vantage Systems Inc is a team member on the SGT team that was just awarded the NASA/GSFC Mechanical Systems Engineering Services (MSES) II/A contract. This is a 5 year IDIQ contract to provide engineering services for the study, design, development, fabrication, integration, testing, verification, and operations of space flight and ground system hardware and software, including development and validation of new technologies to enable future science missions under task ordering arrangements. The engineering areas of emphasis are multidisciplinary with concentration in the mechanical engineering areas of materials, structural analysis and loads, mechanical design, electromechanical design, thermal, contamination and coatings, manufacturing and integration and test. Vantage Systems will perform a variety of mechanical systems engineering services functions under this contract.

Vantage Systems Inc is a team member on the CSC team that was recently awarded the Wallops Engineering Services Contract, Blanket Purchase Agreement (WES BPA). We at Vantage Systems look forward to our continued relationship with CSC by supporting them and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) on the WES PBA contract.