ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO10665
Open Date: 15/02/2021
Closing Date: 31/03/2021 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 21.112.03
Prog. Ref.: Technology Developme
Budget Ref.: E/0901-01 – Technology Developme
Special Prov.: AT+BE+CH+CZ+DE+DK+EE+ES+FI+FR+GB+GR+HU+IE+IT+LU+NL+NO+PL+PT+RO+SE
Tender Type: C
Price Range: 200-500 KEURO
Products: Ground Segment / Ground Station / Antennas / Structure & Thermal, Servo / Mechanics, Reflectors, feeds and diplexers, Antenna Control Units (ACUs), Drive Systems, …
Technology Domains: Ground Station Systems and Networks / Ground Station System / Microwave and Optical Active/Passive Systems
Establishment: ESOC
Directorate: Directorate of Operations
Department: Ground Systems Eng. & Innovation Dept.
Division: Ground Station Engineering Division
Contract Officer: Hurtz, Anne Maria
Industrial Policy Measure: C1 – Activities in open competition limited to the non-Larg…
Last Update Date: 19/02/2021
Update Reason: Loaded a new Clarification(English version)

The next generation Earth Observation missions will use higher frequency bands to communicate to the ground segment. The supportingstations will then have to be provided with equipment capable of supporting these new bands simultaneously to the currently used ones in order to guarantee back-compatibility with running missions. It is the intention of the Agency to foster industry to develop such equipment within Europe.The objective of the present activity is to de-risk the procurement of radomes that will soon be required to protect the next generation ground station antennas for Earth Observation missions from the harsh environmental conditions inpolar regions where the target ground stations are typically deployed.The radome shall be electrically transparent at all three frequency bands allocated for the present and future Earth-Observation missions, namely S-Band, X-Band and K-Band.The radome design shall be scalable for all typical antenna sizes (in the range from 6 to 14 meters) for such application.The radome shall be providedwith advanced means to prevent and reduce the thickness of snow and ice accumulation, which have been observed to particularly detrimental at high frequencies both especially in terms of boresight shift.The Contractor shall deliver as part of the project at least two breadboard modules (including supporting/interconnecting structure) to be used to demonstrate the compliance to the mechanicalandelectrical requirements.Procurement Policy: C(1) = Activity restricted to non-prime contractors (incl. SMEs). For additional information please go to EMITS news “Industrial Policy measures for non-primes, SMEs and RD entities in ESA programmes”.