ESA’s “Science in Space Environment” (SciSpacE) activities – include scientific activities on research platforms such as ground-based space analogues, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and beyond low Earth orbit.
The objective of this Call is to solicit participation of scientists to form (Science) Facility Definition Teams (FDTs) to support upcoming science requirement definition, feasibility and development studies with a focus on Low Earth Orbit. In this context FDTs may be required to:
- Identify and constrain prioritised science exploration objectives;
- Support the definition of scientific requirements addressing identified scientific objectives;
- Assess and advise on the scientific impact of facility requirements;
- Assist in making any trade-offs related to the scientific performance for the relevant facility;
- Assess the feasibility of a mission/facility concept to deliver on the science objectives defined.
FDTs will be composed of external scientists and ESA experts from different technology disciplines. It is expected that each FDT has a lifetime of approximately 8 to 10 months.
The external scientists will be selected through an open call, with review and selection conducted by an ESA internal review panel. The whole selection process would require a relatively quick turn-around of approximately 2 months from the release of a call (i.e., the call itself would be open for a maximum of 4 weeks).