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Request for an Outline Concept for the removal of an ESA-owned to demonstrate commercial in-orbit services

Reference EA-SSP-K-RFI-0001 Issue/Revision 1.0 Date of Issue 05/09/2018 Status Issued

ESA UNCLASSIFIED - For Official Use

Table of contents:

1 INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT ...... 3 2 MISSION STATEMENT AND REQUIREMENTS ...... 4 2.1 Mission Statement ...... 4 2.2 Main Mission Requirements ...... 4 2.3 ESA Technology Elements ...... 4 3 RISK SHARING AND PARTNERSHIP WITH ESA ...... 5 4 INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION ...... 5 5 SUBMISSION AND EVALUATION ...... 5 5.1 General ...... 5 5.2 Submission template ...... 6 6 Envisaged next steps ...... 9 Appendix A: List of ESA-owned ...... 10 Appendix B: Reference Documents ...... 12

Page 2/21 Request for an Outline Concept for the removal of an ESA-owned satellite to demonstrate commercial in-orbit services Issue Date 05/09/2018 Ref ESA-SSP-K-RFI-0001

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1 INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT

The growing number of man-made objects and debris in protected and not protected regions of outer space is resulting in an increasing risk of collisions with cascading effects. Studies at NASA and ESA showed that the environment could be stabilised when approximately five objects are removed per year.

In-orbit servicing – spanning from inspection, to payload maintenance, to assembly and upgrade, refuelling, tugging, and more – is an emerging market that, whilst not clear yet when, will materialise.

In this context, the (ESA) is considering presenting at the ESA Council meeting at Ministerial level, foreseen to be held in December 2019 (CM19), a proposal to place service contract(s) with provider(s) for the safe removal of ESA-owned satellite(s). The aim is to contribute actively to a cleaner space and to demonstrate the capacities for in-orbit satellite removal. This initiative also aims at fostering capacities for commercial in-orbit services for institutional and commercial needs.

This initiative addresses three objectives:

- to perform the removal of ESA satellite(s) as a precursor of in-orbit servicing; - to demonstrate technologies, functions and operational know-how to perform other in- orbit services; and - to achieve the above by means of service contract(s) to provide an opportunity to space industry to enter into this new space market.

This Request for an Outline Concept is open to entities from all ESA Member States and Cooperating and Associated States.

Important note: All information requested and provided in the frame of this Request will be used for information and planning purposes only and is not part of an ESA procurement process. This Request does not bind ESA to any present or future procurement actions nor does it create any rights for respondents in relation to any present or future ESA procurements.

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2 MISSION STATEMENT AND REQUIREMENTS

2.1 Mission Statement

The mission statement is:

Perform the removal from orbit of an ESA-owned satellite(s) in execution of service contract(s) placed by ESA and demonstrate capabilities and technologies for in-orbit servicing

2.2 Main Mission Requirements

The main mission requirements are:

MIS-01 Remove from orbit ESA-owned satellite(s) with a total mass larger than 100 kg at least 5 years prior to its/their natural re-entry. Note: A list of satellites and possibly interesting objects is provided in Appendix A.

MIS-o2 Demonstrate feasibility of critical technologies enabling other in-orbit TBD servicing opportunities.

MIS-03 Provide a robust business model for in-orbit servicing activities beyond the service provided to ESA

MIS-04 Comply to space debris mitigation requirements stated in RD.1.

2.3 ESA Technology Elements

A number of technology elements relevant to in-orbit servicing and debris removal are being developed or will be developed in the near future. These will be presented at the upcoming workshop. Industry is welcomed to consider these technology elements for their proposal.

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3 RISK SHARING AND PARTNERSHIP WITH ESA

There are risks associated to the removal of an ESA satellite. Those risks are associated with the mission itself but also to the space and ground segment to be developed on time to perform the service contracted by ESA. A dedicated chapter of the concept submitted to ESA will be devoted to an analysis of the risks and to the actions that the company will undertake to mitigate them and to the actions, if any, expected from ESA for the same purpose.

The Agency is a partner in a number of partnerships in various domains and projects. To minimise risk, your company is invited to consider ESA expertise, capabilities, and facilities and propose a partnership concept. A viable approach could be based on two-phases where the first phase is based on a partnership ESA-Industry in which risks are minimised through the appropriate utilisation of expertise, capabilities and facilities on both sides; and where the second phase, once the approach has been demonstrated and validated in flight, is based on a pure industrial service provision. Should your company be interested to enter into a partnership with ESA to perform the operations during the execution of any service operation or to use ESA expertise, please describe your proposal in a dedicated chapter.

4 INDUSTRIAL ORGANISATION

In your submission, you are requested to provide information on the companies identified for the development of the space and ground segment as well as those that may be called to perform the service itself. It is to be underlined that ESA may impose as a condition that the companies in charge of the development of the space and ground segment or of the execution of the operations continue to be involved on recurrent comparable activities beyond the ESA service contract. This element will play an important role in the decision to be taken by ESA Member States whether to support or not this initiative.

5 SUBMISSION AND EVALUATION

5.1 General

Please send the responses to this RFI to [email protected] by 15 October 2018 at the latest.

Respondents are asked to prepare submissions using the provided templates (see following sections), completing all relevant fields. Proprietary information submitted in response to this RFI should be clearly marked.

Responses should not exceed 15 pages. Additional information on your company or references can be provided as an annex.

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After the above closing date, a panel of ESA experts will review the submissions received. This expert panel will recommend, for step 2 of the present initiative, up to five of the outline concepts submitted offering:  the more solid basis for a successful removal mission;  a good analysis of the future market for in-orbit servicing and a clear view about future positioning on this market;  an interest to offer in due time to ESA a service for the removal from orbit of a selected ESA satellite(s) including Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) of a price range.

A dedicated Workshop will take place at ESTEC on 13 September 2018 in the Erasmus Building from 9:00 until 12:30. During this Workshop, ESA will provide more detailed information on programmatic, system, technology, operations and procurement aspects complementing the present RFI. There will also be a questions and answers session. Please register by e-mail to the following address: [email protected]

In their submission, respondents will agree that ESA may use the information provided (except the duly identified proprietary information) to prepare the future steps of the present initiative. This may include releasing part of it in the context of exchanges between ESA and its Member States and using elements in the frame of potential future tender actions, subject to the following:

• ESA will not release individual responses as such; • ESA will not release any information that a respondent has clearly identified as being “Proprietary Information” in its submission. Note: If a respondent requires additional non-disclosure arrangements before submitting its Outline Concept, ESA is ready to discuss this upon specific request.

5.2 Submission template

Please use the following template to present your outline concept, which should not exceed 15 pages. Additional information on your company or references can be provided as an annex.

PROPOSAL ADRESSING TECHNICAL AND BUSINESS ASPECTS 1 Concept/service title Title of the concept being proposed 2 Overview of the mission Objectives of the mission and service. 3 Technical description Description of the mission profile / concept of operations. Preliminary conceptual design of the space segment and ground segment, status of development, main equipment lists with TRL1 levels and a list of any technology developments needed with a due date. Compatibility with selected European launcher.

1 http://sci.esa.int/sci-ft/50124-technology-readiness-level/

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Description of on-going activities, both system and technology, including technology development plans (where applicable). Schedule / development plan of the system including details on the earliest delivery date of a de- orbit service for the selected ESA satellite. 4 Related publications and/or A list of relevant publications. (Use this field for patents notification of any patents existing or pending relating to any part of the proposed concept) 5 Level of support/ funding Information on present or previous funding for the development. 6 Service options Describe the service concepts you could propose to ESA for de-orbiting an ESA satellite. This section should describe the conditions, provide a range of prices (ROM) and contain the key main features of a service contract. 7 Major risks Describe any major risks associated with the development, the envisaged risk sharing with ESA and propose mitigation measures. 8 Partnership In case a partnership with ESA to participate to the operations or to use ESA expertise is envisaged please describe. 9 Industrial participation Provide a list of the companies you would involve as partner or suppliers in the development of the space and ground segment and in the execution of the de-orbiting service and explain in which way they would continue to participate beyond the ESA service contract. BUSINESS ASPECTS RELATED TO FUTURE IN-ORBIT SERVICES 10 Target customers/ market for Provide information on the addressable market future services and associated size, types of customers, and competitive advantage business case of the service beyond the service performed for ESA. That information must be included in a high- level business case. 11 Level of service Describe the type of service, service performance and level(s) of service provided with associated ROM price. 12 Planned entry into service Outline a first planned commercial service beyond the removal from orbit of an ESA satellite(s). SUBMISSION AUTHOR DETAILS 1 Lead author 2 Organisation & address 3 Email address 4 Contact telephone 5 Co-authors of the submission

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6 Background experience of the authors

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6 Envisaged next steps

As indicated under paragraph 5.1 above, the intention of the Agency is to select among the proposals submitted up to five proposals offering the more solid basis for a successful removal from orbit of an ESA satellite(s), a good analysis of the future market and an interest to offer in due time a service for the removal from orbit of the selected ESA satellite.

A report will be made to ESA Member States on the selected outline concepts. A debrief will be provided to and a dialogue initiated with each of the selected companies. Those separate dialogues will be used to gain a broader understanding of the proposed outline concepts. A workshop will be organised by end-October 2018 to present to the selected companies a status of the technology development activities undertaken by ESA so far.

ESA intends to issue early 2019 a Service Offer Request (SOR) to the companies selected, requesting them to provide a more complete and committing offer for the removals from orbit of ESA satellite(s). A Service Evaluation Board will evaluate the proposals received, establish a ranking and as a result, the Agency will select up to two solid and promising proposals.

On that basis, a proposal will be made to ESA Member States in the course of the preparation of CM19. Assuming approval of the proposal within an appropriate programme framework at that occasion, ESA will be in a position to proceed in 2020 with the procurement of service contract(s) for the removal from orbit of ESA satellite(s).

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Appendix A: List of ESA-owned satellites

Dry Predicted Satellite Orbit Launch Orbit (km) Mass Reentry Name Class Date (kg) Date Cat3 GTO 214 x 21063 @ 10.2 215 19/06/1981 2026 GEO 37831 x 36810 @ MARECS A 588 20/12/1981 N/A graveyard 15.3 Cat4 GTO 269 x 26419 @ 10.4 215 20/12/1981 2109 GEO 37551 x 36548 @ MARECS B2 588 10/11/1984 N/A graveyard 16.5 GEO 35541 x 35420 @ Olympus 1 2595 12/07/1989 N/A intersecting 14.8 HIPPARCOS GTO 488 x 35790 @ 7.2 1130 08/08/1989 6027 ERS-1 LEO 742 x 791 @ 98.5 2140 17/07/1991 2135 ERS-2 LEO 499 x 502 @ 94.6 2140 21/04/1995 2025 ISO HEO 574 x 70040 @ 5.2 2475 17/11/1995 N/A Maqsat-H GTO 580 x 26398 @ 1.6 2269 10/10/1997 N/A LEO 764 x 766 @ 98.2 8110 01/03/2002 2280 Sloshsat- GTO 290 x 32783 @ 7.1 127 12/02/2005 2335 FLEVO VESPA Upper LEO 664 x 801 @ 99.5 100 07/05/2013 2045 Part

Additional possible objects include:

Dry Predicted Satellite Orbit Launch Orbit (km) Mass Reentry Name Class Date (kg) Date 35727 x 36358 @ MSG-2 AKM GEO 34 19/06/1981 N/A 13.5 35188 x 36273 @ MSG-4 AKM GEO 34 06/03/1989 N/A 14.0 35155 x 36477 @ MSG-5 AKM GEO 34 02/03/1991 N/A 14.4 23325 x 23368 @ Giove A MEO 600 28/12/2005 N/A 57.5 23822 x 23825 @ Giove B MEO 600 27/04/2008 N/A 57.5

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2914 x 38239 @ (ESA) GEOS 1 GTO 270.6 20/04/1977 N/A 26.6 GEO 36148 x 36067 @ OTS2 440.04 11/05/1978 N/A graveyard 13.6 GEO / GEO 36064 x 36014 @ (ESA) GEOS 2 273.6 14/07/1978 N/A graveyard 12.07 H8 Ariane 1 GTO 443 x 23370 @ 8.2 1318 02/07/1985 3811

Where the MSG-2 AKM, MSG-4 AKM and MSG-5 AKM, if considered, should be considered together.

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Appendix B: Reference Documents

The following documents may contain relevant information to prepare the submission:

RD1. ECSS-U-AS-10 Space sustainability. Adoption of Notice of ISO 24113: Space systems – Space debris mitigation requirements

RD2. ESSB-HB-U-002, ESA Space Debris Mitigation Compliance Verification Guidelines, ESA, February 2015.

RD3. CDF Study Report: CDF-179, Space Servicing Vehicle CDF Study, ESA, January 2018.

RD4. EDE-B1-OHB-RP-043-Iss1_Rev1, e.Deorbit Phase B1 Executive Summary, OHB, August 2017.

RD5. EDEB1-RIBRE-RP-0021-1.0, e.Deorbit Phase B1 Executive Summary, Airbus, December 2016.

RD6. GMV-ANDROID-ES_1.0, Android Executive Summary, GMV, July 2014.

RD7. SSEH0221674, Service Oriented Approach to the Procurement/Development of an Active Debris Removal Mission, SSTL, November 2013.

RD8. ED-NT-1-C-0004-SYS-1-1, Active Debris Removal by Adaptation of the Upper Stage, ELV, 29/11/2013.

All documents are publicly available and can be found in the following location during the submission phase for this RFI: https://esabox.esa.int/owncloud/index.php/s/1geyLYB1t4guktD

Password: RFI2018!

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