Space critical Equipment for EU non-dependence – Space Refuelling Interface

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Reinforcing EU strategic autonomy by reducing non-EU dependencies on critical space Equipment and related technologies across their entire supply chain;
• Providing unrestricted access to critical space Equipment and related technologies relevant for EU space missions and pilots (e.g. In-Orbit Space Operations);
• Developing or regaining capacity to operate independently in space by developing resilient space Equipment and related technologies supply chains, relying on EU supply chains and/or trustable and reliable supply chains not affected by non-EU export restrictions;
• Enhancing competitiveness by developing products and capabilities reaching equivalent or superior performance level than those from outside the EU and compete at worldwide level.

Scope:

Unrestricted access to state-of-art space equipment and related technologies is a pre-requisite for the EU space industry responding to EU space missions. However, especially for some families of equipment, the available solutions in EU do not meet the current high-performance space requirements. Currently, alternative products sourced from outside EU, are either affected by non-EU export control, that limits its use, or present challenges in terms of trustable supply chains for the implementation of EU space missions with a security dimension.

Within the frame of this topic, it is expected to finance and implement a development project aiming at maturing critical equipment with the final goal of lowering the dependency from outside EU. This will be done by establishing a long-term sustainable supply chain for supporting EU strategic autonomy in the space sector. The selection of the supply chains shall reflect this objective. Therefore, the supply chain shall preferably be built fully based in EU and when this can only be achieved partially, services procured from outside EU shall nevertheless ensure that the overall supply chain will remain trustable and not affected by non-EU export control. The latest scenario is subject to the approval of the granting authority (i.e. DG-DEFIS and HaDEA).

The space equipment and related technologies relevant for this topic represent a direct implementation of the EU Observatory of Critical Technologies (OCT) Technology Roadmap, named Robotics Manipulators for Space Applications: Space Refuelling Interface. Further details will be provided at the latest at the opening of the Call, in a Guidance document published on the Funding & Tenders Portal.

Space is a low volume market affected by a dynamic industrial landscape compared to the terrestrial market therefore, technological spin in and/or bilateral collaborations should be enhanced between European non-space and space industries. Furthermore, proposed activities should be complementary to relevant national or other activities at EU level. Complementary activities should be clearly identified, described and the proposal should report how the complementarity is ensured.

To achieve the non-dependence objective, applicants are expected to include a dedicated proposal’s paragraph covering:

• The description of the technology and/or technology processes used for developing the equipment and high-level breakdown of the supply chain to be used. Applicants should demonstrate that the supply chain and final product are free of any legal export restrictions or limitations, such as those established in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) or equivalent instruments applicable in other non-EU jurisdictions. Applicants shall also report, in a dedicated subsection, if and which part of the supply chain is affected by non-EU export controls such as the Export Administration regulation (EAR) i.e. EAR99.
• The description of the suitable technology development process that has been identified and set up within the consortium for avoiding export restrictions of non-EU states and assess vulnerabilities of the supply chain.

Proposals covering space equipment and related technology developments that are targeting a final TRL equal or higher than 5 should include a list of proposed applicable standards (e.g. EN, ECSS, ESCC, MIL, JEDEC,…) that are considered relevant for implementing a formal space evaluation and/or qualification. Additionally, projects that aim at a formal space qualification should include as deliverable the full data pack planned to be submitted to the qualification authority. This deliverable should be marked sensitive. Hardware that will successfully complete the space evaluation/qualification is expected promote the EU support by displaying the EU emblem on the package.

The proposal is expected to include specific tasks as part of the work plan and related dedicated confidential deliverables to be provided within six months from the start of the project, with the objective of:

1. Analysing and describing, in detail, the full supply chain, each entity and its role in the supply chain, level of criticality and, if relevant, identify dependencies from outside EU;
2. Describing the industrial technical roadmap and a business plan for commercialization with accurate understanding of applications needs, space mission insertion, including time to market indication, of the developed product.
3. Reporting the list of relevant non-EU export control with extra territorial applicability for the specific technology/product under development, independently from the supply chain established for the EU-COM project.
4. Undertaking a comprehensive literature review of the relevant technology/product reporting the state-of-the-art and highlighting potential gaps between current EU solutions and competition from outside EU.

Unless otherwise agreed with the granting authority, beneficiaries must ensure that none of the entities that participate as subcontractors are established in countries which are not eligible as set out in the call conditions.

The consortium as a whole and individual beneficiaries should ensure that, for a period of up to four years after the end of the project, supply and availability of the hardware, manufacturing, assembly processes developed and/or qualified within the project should be made available to any entity in the EU plus Norway and Iceland, at fair and reasonable market prices and conditions and with no legal restrictions and limitations stemming for example from International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) or equivalent instruments applicable in non-EU jurisdictions. Additionally, beneficiaries that intend to transfer ownership or grant an exclusive licence must formally notify the granting authority before the intended transfer or licensing takes place; the granting authority may, up to four years after the end of the project, object to a transfer of ownership or the exclusive licensing of results.

In this topic, the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content is not relevant.

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