ESA’s Space Rider aims to provide Europe with an affordable, independent, reusable end-to-end space transportation system integrated with Vega-C, for routine access and return from low Earth orbit.
ESA has released a dedicated Announcement of Opportunity with no restriction on nationality for commercial or institutional customers. It will provide a space laboratory to transport payloads into space for a variety of applications, orbit altitudes and inclinations, for missions lasting up to two months or longer if needed. Among the multiple exploitation capabilities and potentials, the Space Rider missions will tackle:
- free-flying applications, such as experiments in advanced microgravity environment;
- in-orbit technology demonstration and validation for applications, such as:
- exploration, including robotics;
- Earth observation, including instrumentations;
- Earth science, telecommunication;
- surveillance applications, such as Earth disaster monitoring, satellites inspection.
With the objective to down select End-Users Customers for the Space Rider missions and services, ESA has released a dedicated Announcement of Opportunity with no restriction of nationality, interested in flying:
- Commercial Payloads;
- Payloads operated by or for the benefit of Institutional entities.
The potential Customers are invited to submit by May 15th 2018.
For further information related to this announcement of opportunity: here.
