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PROTOTYPE OPERATIONS I

POPS-I

Official Transition Page

POPS-I Contract

The Prototype Operations I (POPS-I) contract is a procurement for research and development satellite operations and support services for the U.S. Space Force, Space Systems Command’s Innovation and Prototyping Delta (SSC/SZI). The directorate’s goal is to accelerate mission design and integration, launch operations, and ground system test support to provide reliable, low-cost access to space. These services will primarily occur at Kirtland Air Force Base, NM and Schriever Space Force Base, CO.

a.i. solutions, a leading mission engineering and technology enabler, will provide its proven capabilities in performing satellite operations and support services to include pre-launch, launch and early orbit, on-orbit operations, and anomaly resolution for the POPS-I opportunity with the USSF SMC/SZI.

POPS-I Transition Schedule

Event	Location	Time
POPS-I Town Hall	Acoma Room at the Marriott 2101 Louisiana Blvd. NE Albuquerque, NM	July 12, 2022 (12PM, 5PM, & 8PM)
POPS-I Town Hall	a.i. solutions Regional Office 2060 Briargate Pkwy. Suite 100 Colorado Springs, CO	July 14, 2022 (12PM & 5PM)
Welcome Aboard Social	Albuquerque, NM	August 30, 2022 (5PM – 7PM)
Welcome Aboard Social	Colorado Springs, CO	August 31, 2022 (4PM – 6PM)

Join Our Team for POPS-I

a.i. solutions provides a challenging work environment that delivers the best solutions while maximizing employee’s potential. We achieve this daily by living our Core4 values—Customer, Team, Company, and Self. Our culture boasts a high bar and asks a lot of our Team! We expect our Team to not only help each other live the values, but hold each other responsible up, down and across the organization.

STEC14 Current Incumbents

POPS-I Operations Engineer

POPS-I Operations Analyst

POPS-I Systems Engineer

POPS-I Job Fairs

Job Fairs	Location	Time
Virtual Job Fair – HireX (Entry to Mid-Level)	Albuquerque, NM	June 16th @ 11am – 2pm MDT
Virtual Job Fair – HireX (Diversity)	Albuquerque, NM	June 21st @ 11am – 2pm MDT
Virtual Job Fair – HireX (Veteran)	Albuquerque, NM	June 30th @ 11am – 2pm MDT

Contact Information

For general information regarding the POPS-I transition or schedule of events, contact:

Mike Mason, Transition Manager
Title: a.i. solutions | Director, NSSP Development & Operations
Email: POPS-I Transition Manager

Dedicated Incumbent Email for Recruiting, Benefits, and Security Information or Questions:

Email POPS-I Transition

4500 Forbes Boulevard
Suite 300
Lanham, MD 20706
(301) 306-1756

Latest News

Examining the Feasibility of Relative-Only Navigation for Crewed Missions to Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits

August 25, 2022

Recently, lunar Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits (NRHO) have been the focus of much study, and they have been selected as the target orbit for the Gateway mission, formerly the Deep Space Gateway. Also, the Deep Space Network (DSN) is increasingly congested and over-subscribed. In this work, the performance of relative-only navigation between a spacecraft in an NRHO and a relay in a Distant Retrograde Orbit is examined and compared to simulated DSN tracking using a Square Root Information Filter. Various tracking scenarios are examined using a closed-loop simulation where navigation errors inform maneuver planning and maneuver execution errors affect navigation performance. Results indicate that relative-only navigation can provide comparable levels of orbit determination error and orbit maintenance costs.

Distant Retrograde Orbit Constellations for Relative-Only Navigation in Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits

July 27, 2022

NASA is currently working on the spacecraft and trajectory design for the Gateway mission that will reside in a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO). In the NRHO, Gateway will nominally require orbital maintenance maneuvers once per revolution. Separately, NASA is also working to develop technologies and techniques for relative navigation in cis-lunar space. Together, these concepts represent an opportunity for interesting research in cis-lunar navigation performance.