NASA'S OBJECTIVE UNDER THIS ORDER IS TO ACQUIRE A NEW GENERIC, WING-MOUNTED, RECONFIGURABLE, AND MODULAR, SCIENCE POD FOR THE IKHANA UAS. IN 2006, NASA DRYDEN FLIGHT RESEARCH CENTER (DFRC) ACQUIRED A CIVILIANIZED VERSION OF THE MQ-9 PREDATOR B/REAPER UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM (UAS) THAT WAS SUBSEQUENTLY MODIFIED AND INSTRUMENTED FOR USE IN MULTIPLE CIVIL RESEARCH ROLES. THE MQ-9 WAS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED AS A SURVEILLANCE/RECONNAISSANCE PLATFORM FOR THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE (USAF). THE SYSTEM IS DESIGNATED AS NASA 870 AND IS KNOWN AS THE IKHANA UAS. THIS UAS IS BASED AT THE NASA DFRC FACILITY LOCATED AT EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE (AFB), CALIFORNIA. THE IKHANA UAS PROVIDES A VERSATILE TESTBED SUPPORTING A VARIETY OF FLIGHT RESEARCH ACTIVITIES RANGING FROM THE FLIGHT TEST OF SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS TO TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH TECHNOLOGY READINESS LEVEL (TRL) TECHNOLOGIES. THE IKHANA TESTBED CAN SUPPORT EFFORTS IN THE AREAS OF OVER-THE-HORIZON COMMUNICATION, ACCESS TO THE NATIONAL AIRSPACE, COLLISION AVOIDANCE, COMMAND AND CONTROL FROM AN OUTSIDE ENTITY, FORMATION FLIGHT, MULTI-SHIP OPERATION, TERRAIN AVOIDANCE, AND THE CARRIAGE OF SPECIALIZED SENSORS FOR A VARIETY OF LONG DURATION EARTH SCIENCES RESEARCH. TO ENHANCE THE IKHANA UAS'S CAPABILITIES, THE PROJECT REQUIRES A NEW GENERIC SCIENCE POD TO ENABLE A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN THE SPACE AVAILABLE TO CARRY AIRBORNE SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS AND TO DECREASE THE TOTAL COST AND TIME REQUIRED TO INTEGRATE SCIENCE INSTRUMENTS INTO THE UAS IN SUPPORT OF RESEARCHERS.