MATERIALS FOR ANTIMICROBIAL / ANTIFUNGAL SURFACE TREATMENT IN CONFINED INHABITED ENVIRONMENT IN HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT – EXPRO PLUS
3, August 2018

ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO9363
Open Date: 30/07/2018
Closing Date: 05/10/2018 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 18.1QC.02
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: Orbital Transportation & Re-entry Systems / Environment and Crew Life Support (ECLS) / ECLS / Other
Techology Domains: Environmental Control & Life Support (ECLS) and In Situ Resource Utilisation (ISRU) / ECLS / Habitability
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate of Tech, Eng. & Quality
Department: Product Assurance and Safety Department
Division: Materials & Components Technology Divisi
Contract Officer: Magne-Lie, Karine
Industrial Policy Measure: C1 – Activities in open competition limited to the non-Larg…
Last Update Date: 30/07/2018
Update Reason: Tender issue

Confined inhabited environment in human spaceflight imposes challenges on the sanitary aspects or futureinfrastructure for the human space exploration of Moon or Mars. Within confined inhabited environment the microclimate cannot be fully controlled due to gradients in air flow and temperature. This leads to local microclimates which can lead to promotion of fungal or microbial growth. In addition, the problems connected with development of microbial / fungal resistance against the known agents (e. g. heavy metals) needsto be addressed. At the same time human spaceflight imposes constraints of low toxicity and limitation of release of e. g. heavy metals to the inhabited environment. The use of classical disinfection methods is limited under confined environment and an ideal solution is to add the antimicrobial / antifungal functionality to the existing surfaces.At the beginning of the activity classes of materials likely to meet the imposed requirements shall be identified. Atechnology transfer from medical / food industry is possible.A trade-off analysis shall lead to narrowing the range of materials and direction of their possible modification.The candidate materials shall be fully characterized in terms of such relevant properties as long-term stability, toxicity, offgassing, suitability for surface treatment methods not involving release of any substances to the environment. At the moment the methodology of standardized testing for assessment of antimicrobial coatings is developed in the framework of the TRP activity T322-418MM (ESA/IPC(2014)3, add. 6) which will be applied for testing.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”.

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