HEAVY ION RADIATION TEST-THE NASA/JSC AVIONICS SYSTEMS DIV. PROVIDES RADIATION TEST PROCEDURES AND ANALYSIS OF ELECTRONIC FLIGHT HARDWARE. THE TESTING IS NECESSARY TO VERIFY THE OPERATION OF METAL OXIDE SEMICONDUCTOR FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR (MOSFET) COMPONENTS USED FOR THE ORION PROGRAM. TESTING WITH HIGH ENERGY HEAVY IONS TO A PARTICULAR DEPTH IS NECESSARY TO DETERMINE THE USABILITY OF MOSFETS FOR THE LUNAR ENVIRONMENT. RESULTS FROM THIS TESTING IS USED TO CALCULATE THE ESTIMATED TIME BEFORE ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR OR A CRITICAL FAILURE CAN BE EXPECTED TO OCCUR IN LUNAR ENVIRONMENTS. THIS RADIATION TEST WILL PROVIDE THE DATA THAT DETERMINES THE SPACE FLIGHT ACCEPTABILITY OF A CRITICAL PART TO THE DESIGN OF THE ORION POWER AND DATA UNIT (PDU). IF THE PART IS FOUND TO BE ACCEPTABLE, THE DESIGN OF THE PDU CAN CONTINUE AND ENGINEERING UNITS WILL BE AVAILABLE TO SUPPORT THE INTEGRATED TESTING OF AVIONICS IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF FY11. IF THIS PART IS NOT ACCEPTABLE, THE PDU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MEET ITS EXISTING SCHEDULE AND THE ORION PROJECT WILL HAVE TO EXECUTE CONTINGENCY PLANS. BY PERFORMING THIS TEST IN JUNE, THE ORION PROJECT WILL HAVE THE DATA NECESSARY TO EFFECTIVELY DECIDE HOW TO PROCEED WITH THE PDU DEVELOPMENT PLANS AND WITH THE DEVELOPMENT PLANS OF ALL THE OTHER HARDWARE THAT IS DEPENDENT ON THE PDUS. NO SPECIAL TESTING EQUIPMENT WILL BE PROVIDED UNDER THIS CONTRACT. THE HIGH ENERGY ION BEAM AT CYCLOTRON INSTITUTE (CI) AT TEXAS A&M HAS BEEN USED FOR TESTING FOR INDIVIDUAL ELECTRONIC PARTS FOR MANNED PROGRAMS PREVIOUSLY BY NASA. THIS PROCUREMENT WILL PROVIDE THE TEST FACILITY, THE HIGH-ENERGY HEAVY ION BEAM, THE NECESSARY DOSIMETRY, AND REQUIRED OPERATIONS PERSONNEL NEEDED FOR THE TESTING ON A RATE PER HOUR BASIS.