ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO9632
Open Date: 18/01/2019
Closing Date: 19/03/2019 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 18.18I.15
Prog. Ref.: EOEP4 EarthWatch Def
Budget Ref.: E/0093-E4 – EOEP4 EarthWatch Def
Special Prov.: BE+DK+FR+DE+IT+NL+ES+SE+CH+GB+IE+AT+NO+FI+PT+LU+CZ+CA+PL+RO+EE
Tender Type: C
Price Range: 200-500 KEURO
Products: Satellites & Probes / Other
Techology Domains: Others
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate of EO Programmes
Division: Future Missions & Instrument Division
Contract Officer: Aouad, Nadine
Industrial Policy Measure: N/A – Not apply
Last Update Date: 18/01/2019
Update Reason: Tender issue

The objective of the activity is to perform an architectural design of the data flow for the Copernicus evolution, which aims at optimizing uplink / downlink capabilities, including latency, over different future scenarios of the Copernicus constellation that could span between 2027 and 2035. The system needs to be considered as a whole, with the space segment based on multiple heterogeneous satellites and the ground segment based on multiple stations, as well as data relay constellation or single data relay satellite (e.g. EDRS, Inmarsat) as opposed to individual disconnected elements. This includes not only operations and commandability of the set of satellites, but also achievable data rates and latencies with a reasonable ground station network and eventually InterSatellite and constellation relay services too. The activity will need to address the following topics and propose its best solution about: Data volume and latencies TTC, including selection of frequency bands (e.g. S and X-band), ISL (optical and RF) between Sentinels and possible overall data relay system (e.g. via EDRS or Inmarsat) Payload data downlink, including selection of frequency bands (e.g. X and K-band), ISL (optical and RF) between Sentinels and possible overall data relay system Operational concepts as a constellation, rather than as individual satellites including telecommand relay though other sentinels or satellite relay system to increase capability in terms of commandability and satellite accessibility. Ground stations topology network and location, including Operation Control Centers, TTC stations and payload data downlink stations repatriation means and repatriation security for payload raw data from stations to processing centers Opportunities to define or adopt new practices and standards like CFDP or DTN as well as share of resources such as bandwidth among the sentinels. Risks associated with above elements Rough Order of Magnitude cost for running the operations in the different scenarios analyzed during the study The study is complementary to current and planned Architecture and Phase 0/A/B1 studies related to Copernicus evolution like the Standard EO Platform Study, which may have a shorter term view or do not address the Ground Segment evolution for the Copernicus constellation in detail.This optimization will be obtained through trade-off analysis and simulation over the space and ground segments and over different plausible scenarios. Once the proposed architectures are identified, a roadmap for the relevant developments enabling this data flow architecture shall be defined.