Science Mission Directorate Rideshare Office Introduction

Abstract:

A Rideshare Office has been recently established within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and is focused on implementing the SMD-wide rideshare strategy outlined in the SMD Rideshare Policy (SPD-32). The goal of the office is to foster the maximizing of science, exploration, and technology return on investment by enabling rideshare or accommodation opportunities for secondary payloads on SMD primary mission launches. Sharing access to space is possible when a primary payload’s launch configuration has excess performance that can be shared with compatible secondary payloads. The SMD Rideshare Office will serve as the single point of contact in SMD for coordinating the rideshare opportunities between compatible payloads and the SMD launch opportunities. SMD’s policy also supports rideshare partnerships across NASA, other U.S. Government Agencies, NASA’s international partners, and the private sector.

The Rideshare Office coordinates and guides rideshare opportunities through: the SMD Rideshare 101 document, which outlines the basic definitions of rideshare; the SMD Do No Harm Requirements document, which outlines requirements and specifications to ensure all mission partners that payloads will do no harm to each other; and the SMD Rideshare User Guide, which offers guidelines for rideshare missions to design their secondary payloads for maximum compatibility. The Rideshare Office is also working to standardize Announcement of Opportunity language and requirements to further enhance the development of rideshare payload candidates. The SMD Rideshare Office is supporting current rideshare opportunities on upcoming SMD missions, including the IMAP, SPHEREx, PUNCH, and Psyche launches. By providing a leadership role across SMD and the rideshare community, the Rideshare Office will provide consolidated resources for guidance and solutions to the unique challenges of rideshare.