ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO10142
Open Date: 24/02/2020
Closing Date: 06/04/2020 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 19.133.22
Prog. Ref.: Technology Developme
Budget Ref.: E/0901-01 – Technology Developme
Special Prov.: BE+DK+FR+DE+IT+NL+ES+SE+CH+GB+IE+AT+NO+FI+PT+GR+LU+CZ+RO+PL+EE+HU
Tender Type: C
Price Range: 200-500 KEURO
Products: Satellites & Probes / Mechanisms / Mechanisms / Other
Technology Domains: Materials and Processes / Materials Processes / Advanced Materials Manufacture
Materials and Processes / Non-Destructive Inspection
Quality, Dependability and Safety / System Dependability and Safety / Dependability and Safety Methods & Tools
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate of Tech, Eng. & Quality
Department: Mechanical Department
Division: Structure, Mechanisms & Materials Div.
Contract Officer: Reinsoo, Anna
Industrial Policy Measure: N/A – Not apply
Last Update Date: 24/02/2020
Update Reason: Tender issue

The key objectives of the activity are following:To ensure reliability of space transportation hardware for re-use on the level of materials and assemblies through:a) general risk assessment and development of risk mitigation strategy and b) demonstration of technology for structural health monitoring.Re-used parts will need to withstand launch conditions several times and on top may be exposed to combined load degradation effects (e.g. mechanical + thermal + environmental) not yet taken into account for space transportation systems. The activity will look on the effects these changed environments have on materials and set up requirements for the use of Materials and Processes for re-usable space transportation systems as a precursor for an ECSS standard. Risk mitigation strategies will be developed as well. The feasibility of embedding tactile sensors (see [RD2]) intypical composite materials or adhesively couple them to composite/monolithic materials will be presented. Furthermore it will be demonstrated that this technology is able to detect and monitor cracking/delaminations under the space specific boundary conditions (e.g. during a noise background at launch, during stages separation, during re-entry) both for space transportation systems and payloads.