Fabricate custom c-seals for VMS instrument

Statement of Work for Parker C-Rings DAVINCI VENUS MASS SPECTROMENTER Date:6/1/2026 PR: __4200935776_________ Background The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to launch a mission called DAVINCI to Venus to study the origin, evolution and present state of the planet. The Venus Mass Spectrometer (VMS) is an instrument in DAVINCI Descent Sphere (DS). In order for VMS to accomplish its sciences objectives, several different types of all-metal hermetic seals, called C-seals, with dimensions/coating optimized for use with GSFC mass spectrometers are required to seal multiple flanged interfaces on the Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (QMS) and gas processing system (GPS) assemblies. As such these C-seals have to be manufactured to the same quality/performance specifications as achieved for prior GSFC mass spectrometer developments, including the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM), Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS) and the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA) developments. Following the COVID epidemic, the VMS QMS team has not been able to receive required lead times or appropriate costing from its heritage vendor, Eaton, for all c-seals required for a successful VMS build. Eaton had routinely no-quoted several seals. This has forced the VMS team to explore other vendors. The DAVINCI Desecent Spheer (DS) team has been testing Parker c-rings (exact geometry of c-seals) over the past year and have developed high confidence in the quality. For this reason, the VMS team has decided to purchase multiple sizes required for the instrument and perform mechacnal testing of the seals to assure the required leak rates can be achieved and maintained through the expected environment. After receiving the test seal, VMS team worked with Parker to develop custom c-ring numbers that will provide the following care will be given to the c-seal. The additional requirements for confirmation of cleanliness and leak tightness are included under Requirements. Scope - Manufacture the following c-rings per custom numbers and production requirements. -- 1 of 3 -- - C-Rings should conform to all of parkers requirements with additional requirements below. Requirements -After plating, Parker personnel to handle c-rings with nitrile gloves, minimizing time seals are left in an unprotected space. Parker will inspect and leak test a sample of seals. - Post inspection and leak testing, a Third Part company to clean and bag in a cleanroom where seals are handled with cleanroom compatible nitrile gloves. -Visually inspect seals under bright white light at 10X magnification (Parker may not be able to meet magnification for scratches-accepted) -No visible contamination per VC-10X-1000 -No visible scratches on sealing surfaces under 1X -Uniform coating – no gold nodules under 1X -Third Party to adhere to standard IEST-STD-CC1246 A -Third Pary inspects and cleans seals for contamination -If spraying with compressed gas to knock off any particles, use commercial dry nitrogen 99.99% or higher purity with a 0.5 micron particle filter. -Place each seal in its own Ultra Low Outgassing (ULO) Polyethylene Bag that is transparent on each side. Vacuum seal bag. Put lot of bagged seals into a common bag. -Serialize each seal with company name, lot number, part number and manufacturing date on bag (label) DBR will assist. -- 2 of 3 -- -Class 1 Processing: Hi Quality Process leakage rate testing/ destructive testing/ non- destructive testing- not required for these tests. Cleanliness and leak rate most important. -Test certain number of seals for leak rate . After plating testing will be completed. How many seals for testing? 3 min or 10% …whichever is higher. Leak rate requirement Not Greater Than 1X10-10 cc/std He - Parker leak-check procedure will be sent to Goddard. Deliverables or Delivery Schedule C-rings shall be delivered 22-27 weeks ARO. All requested units of a given type + material certificates + any pertinent test reports/data shall be delivered to Marco Castillo GSFC by the end of period of performance as specified above. Parts can be shipped to: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD 20771 Government-Furnished Equipment and Government-Furnished Information • None Place of Performance - Parker Facility in USA (CT) -- 3 of 3 --