ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO10530
Open Date: 21/09/2020
Closing Date: 02/11/2020 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 20.197.06
Prog. Ref.: Preparation Element
Budget Ref.: E/0600-05 – Preparation Element
Special Prov.: BE+DK+FR+DE+IT+NL+ES+SE+CH+GB+IE+AT+NO+FI+PT+GR+LU+CZ+RO+PL+EE+HU+CA+SI
Tender Type: C
Price Range: 100-200 KEURO
Products: Satellites & Probes / Other
Technology Domains: Others
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate of Tech, Eng. & Quality
Department: Systems Department
Division: Adv. Concepts & Studies Office
Contract Officer: Casini, Gian Lorenzo
Industrial Policy Measure: N/A – Not apply
Last Update Date: 21/09/2020
Update Reason: Tender issue

Space19+ has approved European contributions to the NASA-led Mars Sample Return (MSR) Campaign, planned for launch in 2026. A Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) study has recently been completed by the European Space Agency (ESA) Human and Robotic Exploration (HRE) Directorates Exploration Preparation, Research and Technology (ExPeRT) team which has investigated potential small mission architectures that would further ESA Exploration objectives at Mars post-MSR (in the 2030’s) or potentially in-parallel with MSR (if sufficiently low cost).This tender is intended to extend the feasibility assessment of architectures for small satellite missions to Mars, to understand the available industrial expertise and heritage in Europe that could be applied to small Mars missions, to provide a preliminary programmatic definition and to identify critical technology developments. The output of this study will contribute to future strategic planning for Mars exploration within the framework of the European Exploration Envelope Programme (E3P) and interaction with relevant Stakeholders including international partners and ESA Member States.