DPA Title III Next Generation Star Tracker System Project | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

This Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) grant opportunity (FOA AFRL-RQKM-2015-0024) sought one award under a cooperative agreement to fund the Phase 1 development and initial production of a modular, Next Generation Star Tracker System (NGSTS) for space applications. The central goal was to create a star tracker family that is both affordable and reliable, while being built around advanced, domestically produced CMOS detector technology. The government emphasized that the resulting system should meet or exceed the performance targets associated with the earlier DPA Title III Advanced CMOS Capability effort, referenced in the announcement as the STELLAR specification. In practice, this meant proposing a modern star tracker architecture that leverages U.S.-sourced CMOS imaging sensors and can deliver competitive guidance and navigation performance without relying on foreign detector supply chains.

A key feature of the program was “modularity.” Rather than funding a single bespoke star tracker designed for one spacecraft or one mission, the government described a modular NGSTS as a common baseline design that can be adapted across many missions and operating conditions. The system was expected to span a range of environments, sensitivities, and update rates, supporting different spacecraft needs without redesigning from scratch each time. The baseline target was a Medium Accuracy Star Tracker (MAST), described as approximately 1 to 20 arcseconds accuracy, with the additional ambition that the same foundational design could potentially be configured to satisfy High Accuracy Star Tracker (HAST) needs on the order of 1 arcsecond. The intent was to serve both U.S. Government and commercial space markets using one core architecture and/or footprint, reducing cost and integration complexity while improving availability and maintainability.

The announcement made it clear that although there would be a baseline NGSTS design, real-world missions would still require tailoring. Applicants were expected to plan for customization across major subsystems, including electronics, software, optics, detectors, and mechanical structure, in order to meet program-specific requirements. In other words, the program was looking for a standardized platform approach: a common star tracker design that can be efficiently configured for different spacecraft classes and mission profiles through modular swaps or adjustments, rather than a one-off engineering effort.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity was categorized as discretionary, in the Science and Technology / Research and Development area, and was associated with CFDA 12.800 (Air Force Defense Research Sciences Program). AFRL anticipated making a single award, with an estimated total funding level of $22,730,000, and the opportunity required cost sharing or matching. Eligibility was listed as unrestricted, meaning it was open to a broad range of applicant entity types unless further limited by details in the full announcement. The opportunity was posted on June 15, 2015, and closed July 31, 2015, with an archive date of August 30, 2015. For access issues, the listed point of contact was Laura Ortiz, Agreements Negotiator, at 937-713-9899.

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