ESA Open Invitation to Tender: 1-10148
Open Date: 14/07/2021 14:28 CEST
Closing Date: 30/09/2021 13:00 CEST

The most critical materials related to ground storage are to be tested in a variety of accelerated conditions and the effects of those conditions, compared to ground storage, shall be carefully analysed. The methodology will also be important for potential future placement needs caused by obsolescence or formulation changes of materials where a fast re-screening is needed.There are many challenges in materials for space applications. One of them is materials’ performance during its lifetime. Recently many Earth observation projects (e.g. Sentinels 2, 4, 5, MTG, METOP-SG) struggled with the definition of a suitable approach for accelerated testing. Many aspects of ground “ageing” are unknown. Therefore, accurate accelerated testing methodologies are required to assess the possible impact of ground storage as early as possible in a project phase. Conventional models based on accelerated humidity tests fail when compared with real lifetime performance of test hardware and some accelerated tests proved to be too conservative to give realistic predictions of materials. This activity is essential to support PA plans of all ESA projects with anticipated LTS campaigns and extended AIT phases. The outline for the activity is the following:- The most critical materials for ground storage shall be selected and tested in a variety of acceleratedconditions.- The materials shall be evaluated by state of the art physical/chemical materials characterisationtechniques.The majority of the work is to derive degradation parameters such that by accelerated ageing the real lifeperformance can be accurately predicted. This will also include an analysis of the test item geometries (e.g. Diffusion driven effects).

Directorate: Directorate of Tech, Eng. Quality
Estabilishment: ESTEC
ECOS Required: No
Classified: No
Price Range: 200-500 KEURO
Authorised Contact Person: Karine Magne-Lie
Initiating Service: TEC-QEE
IP Measure: N/A
Prog. Reference: E/0901-01 – Technology Developme
Tender Type: Open Competition
Open To Tenderers From: AT+BE+CH+CZ+DE+DK+EE+EL+ES+FI+FR+GB+HU+IE+IT+LU+NL+NO+PL+PT+RO+SE
Technology Keywords: 24-B-I-Joining / 24-B-II-Coating / 24-B-III-Characterisation and Feedback / 24-B-IV-Advanced Materials Manufacture / 24-D-II-Interaction of Materials with the Ground Environment
Products Keywords: 2-C-2-Non-metallic