Announcement for Partnership Proposals: Atmospheric Exploration Observatory
NASA · NASA HEADQUARTERS
Capture briefs (a one-page, shareable copy of this page) are part of Pro. The CSV here holds the notice, its timeline and past awards.
Where this opportunity stands
Every notice posted under solicitation NNH26ZDA015L in this department, oldest first.
Next steps for this stage
Standard steps for the notice type; not advice about this buyer.
- Answer the notice: this is when the requirement can still be shaped.
- Contact the contracting officer named on the notice.
- Check who won similar work; they are the likely bidders.
What the notice says
NASA�s Science Mission Directorate (SMD), Earth Science Division (ESD), is inviting innovative partnership proposals for the Atmospheric Exploration Observatory to explore collaborative opportunities for hardware utilization. NASA is exploring partnerships with external organizations to enable more impactful exploitation of NASA resources and to advance the commercial remote sensing industry. This Announcement for Partnership Proposals (AFPP) invites proposals for innovative partnerships for atmospheric exploration. This AFPP envisions one or more partnerships to complete the former GeoCarb in… (show all)
strument, integrate the instrument with a spacecraft, launch, operate, and share its unique data with clear benefits to the selected partner(s). On or after the publication date of this SAM.gov special notice, the full, final text for this AFPP will be available for download from the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) at https://nspires.nasaprs.com by searching on the SAM notice ID (called a solicitation number on NSPIRES) or via the link provided below. NASA may periodically update the submission website, including announcing meetings with log-on details for interested parties. It is the responsibility of interested parties and the proposer to stay up to date with that website and ensure that they have the latest information available. All meetings and forums will be virtual.
Who won similar work
4 award notices on SAM.gov in the last 24 months. Matched by: Same agency (NASA), same product/service code (PSC) AR12.
Single-winner award sizes (4): middle half $453K to $13.2M, median $6.9M; range $71K to $13.2M.
| Winner | Awards | Value | Last |
|---|---|---|---|
| SIERRA SPACE CORP | 2 | $26.3M | Jan 8, 2026 |
| UNIVERSITY OF UTAH Salt Lake City UT 84112 USA | 1 | $580K | Sep 29, 2025 |
| Outpost Technologies, INC | 1 | $71K | Jun 10, 2025 |
Value counts single-winner awards. "Shared" awards are multiple-award contracts that list every winner with the same total ceiling; that ceiling is not one company's win, so it is not added in. Revenue next to a ticker is the company's last annual revenue from its 10-K.
- Jan 8, 2026SIERRA SPACE CORP$13.2MAdvanced Spacesuit RegulatorNo listed company matched (Materiality N/A)
- Dec 18, 2025SIERRA SPACE CORP$13.2MAdvanced Spacesuit RegulatorNo listed company matched (Materiality N/A)
- Sep 29, 2025UNIVERSITY OF UTAH Salt Lake City UT 84112 USA$580KThe Development of Diffractive Filter Array (DFA) for Hyperspectral Diffractive Imaging Spectrometer (DRISM) ApplicationNo listed company matched (Materiality N/A)
- Jun 10, 2025Outpost Technologies, INC$71KQuick Disconnects for the International Space Station (ISS)No listed company matched (Materiality N/A)
Competitive landscape
For the 3 most frequent past winners above. Lobbying is matched by the company's exact name or exact ticker; agencies are as named on the filings.
- 1 of these past winners lobbied Natl Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) since 2024 (5 filings)
- 0 of their lobbyists list a past Natl Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) job
- No corporate PAC money from them to the overseeing committees since 2024
- 0 foreign-agent (FARA) registrations
Policy around it
Bills the past winners named while lobbying this agency's issues, rules from the department, and executive orders that name the agency, last 12 months.
- 1 bills named on the past winners' lobbying filings
- 16 rules from the department in the last 12 months
- 0 executive orders naming the agency in the last 12 months
Market
For past winners matched exactly to a listed company. Insider trades are open-market buys and sells (Form 4) in the last 90 days, shown as facts; our own study found insiders do not reliably buy ahead of awards. A sale marked 10b5-1 was made under a trading plan set up in advance.
- 0 of the past winners are listed companies
- 0 insider buys and 0 insider sells at them in the last 90 days
Sources: SAM.gov notices and award notices; Senate LDA lobbying filings; FEC filings; FARA; Federal Register; congress.gov; SEC Form 4. Every row above links to its record.
Companies are matched to tickers by exact name only. A company we could not match shows no market rows; that is a miss, not a finding.