ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO10158
Open Date: 28/02/2020
Closing Date: 17/04/2020 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 20.112.01
Prog. Ref.: ESTRACK Infrastr
Budget Ref.: E/0700-3-5 – ESTRACK Infrastr
Special Prov.: AT+BE+CH+CZ+DE+DK+EE+ES+FR+FI+GR+HU+IT+IE+LU+NO+NL+PL+PT+RO+SE+GB+CA+SI
Tender Type: C
Price Range: > 500 KEURO
Products: Ground Segment / Ground Station / F&T equipment / Frequency Dissemination equipment / Ground Segment / Ground Station / F&T equipment / Distribution Amplifiers
Technology Domains: Ground Station Systems and Networks / Ground Station System / Frequency & Time Generation and Distribution
Establishment: ESOC
Directorate: Directorate of Operations
Department: Ground Systems Eng. & Innovation Dept.
Division: Ground Station Engineering Division
Contract Officer: Bednarek, Maren
Industrial Policy Measure: N/A – Not apply
Last Update Date: 28/02/2020
Update Reason: Tender issue

ESA operates a network of ground stations called ESTRACK to support its mission operations. After a major restructuring ESTRACK consists today of 7 stations that host 9 terminals. These consist of three Deep Space Stations at Cebreros (Spain) with terminal 35m CEB-1, Malargüe (Argentina), with terminal 35m MLG-1, New Norcia (Western Australia), with terminals 35m NNO-1 and 4.5m NNO-2; and theNear Earth Stations in Kiruna (Sweden) with terminals 15m KIR-1 and 13m KIR-2, Kourou (French Guiana) with terminal 15m KRU-1, Redu(Belgium) with terminal 15m RED-1 and Santa Maria of the Azores (Portugal) with terminal 5.5m SMA-1. In addition ESTRACK owns a small X-band terminal, which as a customer furnished item is installed in Malindi (Kenya) as 2m MAL-X.The ESTRACK deep space stations provide high precision radiometric and timing information needed for spacecraft navigation and time correlation, in addition to routine communication. The Frequency and Timing (FT) distribution system in the ESTRACK deep space stations is the distribution backbone for all equipment needing high precision frequency and time information to provide their function (e.g. frequency converters and modems).The current 1st generation Frequency and Timing (FT) distribution system was developed in the early 2000s and then deployedfirst in New Norcia (NNO-1) and later replicated in Cebreros (CEB-1) and Malargüe (MLG-1). The system is obsolete and therefore difficult to maintain, and the original development company, Timetech (DE), declared to leave this market segment.As the performance and operational requirements for the deep space stations are not met by any commercial-off-the-shelf equipment a TRP funded study (T712-402GS) was conducted which confirmed the feasibility for a new development based on state of the art distribution techniques, which allows for central distribution to multiple antennas on a ground station site, which is envisaged for New Norcia and potentially other deep space sites.The procurement will be structured into 2 phases:Phase 1 will develop a prototype which will be validated at ESAs Reference Ground Station within the Ground Segment Reference Facility in ESOC.Phase 2 will procure and deploy the systems for the existing deep space stations.