Notice

Call for Bilateral Space Science and Exploration Mission - Proposals for New Mission Studies (Category B)

Updated 14 October 2022

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/call-for-bilateral-space-science-and-exploration-missions-invited-full-proposal-phase-for-bilateral-missions/call-for-bilateral-space-science-and-exploration-mission-proposals-for-new-mission-studies-category-b

1. INTRODUCTION

The UK Space Agency announces a new funding line for the development of new Space Science and Space Exploration (SS&SE) mission proposals featuring bilateral agreements with international space agencies outside of ESA (e.g., NASA/US, JAXA/Japan, CSA/Canada); this is to complement our activities within ESA and provide additional opportunities for the UK R&D community to participate in science and exploration missions. The new bilateral line is to support development of Space Science and Space Exploration mission proposals. This Open Call invites proposals in three categories:

  • Category A: Proposals (by invitation only, following the recently completed SOI assessment) for participation in bilateral space science and exploration (SS&E) missions, which are already in advanced state of discussion, and which require funding throughout the current CSR period. This is expected to include partnership on science instrument developments and/or data processing developments for data pipelines on missions led by another space agency.
  • Category B: Proposals from teams wishing to study new bilateral SS&SE mission concepts, and convert them into full proposals, which could be submitted for future calls after 2022. Funding would be for teams requiring short term (3 months) support for initial feasibility studies to end March 2023.
  • Category C: Proposals from institutions seeking to provide expert training and support, including early concurrent design activities, to new teams wishing to develop new ideas for bilateral SS&SE missions for submission to future Calls. One grant will be awarded (this is likely to be a one-off setup package, comprising start-up/FTE costs to approximately £100k in Q4 2022).

Funds in Category B awarded in FY22/23 need to be spent before the end of March 2023

This Announcement of Opportunity is for the Category B proposal opportunities only. The Category A and C activities are being handled by separate AOs. The guiding principle for the evaluation of these proposals will be science excellence with consideration made for feasibility, value for money and affordability, as well as potential economic and societal benefits.

For all Categories: We will hold a bidders’ Briefing and Q&A session on 3rd October 2022 which should be attended by all potential bidders in Categories A, B and C. The session will be held using Microsoft Teams. We welcome enquiries from potential bidders for clarification of any aspect of the Call outside of the Q&A session, but to maintain a level playing field any answers provided by the Agency may be published on the CEOI website (www.ceoi.ac.uk).

Proposals will be subjected to competitive peer review by UKSA and UKRI, using established methods for assessment of funding of UK involvement in missions.

The UK Space Agency will invite successful bidders to submit standard JeS forms to the UKRI Research Grants system for processing under the UKSA/UKRI service level agreement (SLA), analogous to the process used for grants in support of ESA missions. The UKRI grant regulations specify that for any award made top academic institutions, the UK Space Agency contribution will be 80% FEC, and the academic institution must cover the remaining 20%. We will not seek match funding in addition to this. Overheads are calculated according to UKRI’s standard grant regulations.

Please note that only UK national organisations eligible for UKRI grants can receive funding from this call. This AO is open to Higher education institution (HEIs) and other research organisations based in the UK. We expect international partners to provide their own funding for these joint mission programmes.

You should also bear in mind the impact of current political issues, potential difficulties with export licenses and travel when selecting partners for missions. These issues should be clearly stated in the application, with mitigating actions included. UK Export Control Office (ECO) assessment and clearance is a condition of funding at all times. It will be necessary to maintain briefing and engagement between the project and ECO throughout the entire development programme.

The UK Space Agency and UKRI will only award grants to proposals judged to be of sufficient quality, against the assessment criteria outlined in section 3. The UK Space Agency reserves the right to re-issue the Call in a revised form if all allocated funds are not utilised. The UK Space Agency reserve the right to vary the amount, duration, or recipient of funding available to exceptional proposals.

Due to time constraints, this first competition will be managed by the Centre for Earth Observation Instrumentation. The UK Space Agency funds the CEOI, which is a partnership of Airbus Defence and Space Ltd, QinetiQ Ltd, University of Leicester and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. See www.ceoi.ac.uk. It is anticipated that the transition of successful proposals to contract and future calls will be managed by a new science & exploration bilateral team in the UK Space Agency TSE Directorate.

1.1 Reference Documents

The following documents contain information that is relevant to this Call:

2. SS&SE Category B Proposal Descriptions

The proposal shall be a 16-page form using Times New Roman 12 size font. The bid template and bid guide is given in the Annex. Please keep to the specified page limits. Material outside of the page limits may not be considered. The deadline for proposal submission is noon on 31st October 2022.

The proposal to be developed shall be a proposition for a new bilateral SS&SE mission concept with a major international agency, or agencies. This funding is to develop concepts up to full proposal level, which could be submitted for future calls after 2022. Funding, up to ~£75k, would be for teams requiring short term (3 months) support for initial feasibility studies and proposal development, which must be completed by 31st March 2023. The top-level assessment criteria are science excellence/science value to UK of the proposed mission, feasibility, affordability and value for money, and will require a brief description of issues such as: proposed team to develop the proposal, status of the UK team and the potential international partners, rough order of magnitude (ROM) costs per phase in the final proposal, motivation for this proposal, how feasibility will be assessed, and outputs expected from the award.

The proposal development activity shall start in January 2023 (date TBD) and shall be complete by 31st March 2023. The schedule shall feature a kick-off meeting, a mid-term review, and a final review.

On award of a grant, the project management material in your bid should be updated to a simple project/study plan in support of proposal development to be presented in the kick-off meeting alongside the technical description.

Bidders must provide a statement of acceptance of the standard UK Space Agency/UKRI Terms and Conditions (T&Cs), defined in the RD3. Bidders should note that these T&Cs will not be open to negotiation and that in submitting this statement, you are accepting the T&Cs on behalf of your organisation.

3. Assessment Criteria for mission study proposals

The following questions and criteria will be used by the peer review board to assess the proposals under this Call. Proposers are expected to align their submission to address the criteria listed below.

3.1 Science quality of the mission

  • The inherent quality of the science, irrespective of the UK involvement.
  • Credible partnership with overseas space agency(s) for this proposal.

3.2 Science value to the UK

  • UK involvement in a mission – the cost versus benefit of having a UK-based PI versus the UK taking a more limited role in a mission.
  • The specific scientific benefit of the UK involvement in the proposal e.g., would there be likely access to data during a proprietary period, or would involvement in the instrument /data centre allow enhanced understanding of the data, so enabling more, or better quality, publications?
  • Mission proposals should be aimed at allowing the UK to build on existing strengths and/or developing capability in new areas that will enable the UK to position itself for the current and future scientific return.
  • Fit to UKRI science strategy and National Space Strategy.

3.3 Economic Impact and Industrial partnerships/roles

  • Would there be potential downstream academic or industrial benefit by e.g., bringing a new technology to market?
  • Would there be potential to develop spin-off opportunities, or develop potential strategic partnerships involved within the mission which could aid the UK in this and future missions?
  • Would the project provide upskilling to develop a group or science area?

3.4 Societal impact

  • Would this mission help attract talent into the space sector, provide societal engagement, public outreach and involvement, or other benefits to the UK public good.
  • Would this study contribute to any of the scientific literature?

3.5 Timeliness

  • Mission status – viability of future commitment to funding, from the start of the project through to operations.
  • Mission likelihood – position in selection procedures, there may be a lot of scientific interest in a project, but the project is not technically ready to proceed e.g., there is no evidence that the project can be turned into a practical and achievable mission.
  • Project development is tied to a particular event/scientific timing such as the solar cycle, comet appearance etc.; the project timing is driven by cosmic events.
  • Is the mission keeping the UK at the forefront of ground-breaking and innovative missions?

3.6 Value for Money

  • Assessment of whether the anticipated total cost of the study represents value for money, as well as the ROM ultimate total cost of the UK element of the mission if eventually selected.

3.7 Risk

  • Risks associated with the study
  • How will the risks for the mission be assessed in the study?

3.8 Submission and contact information

Only the lead institution should submit an application. Proposals should be submitted to the University of Leicester administrator, who will act on behalf of the UK Space Agency and CEOI, as follows:

  • Electronically in PDF format. The proposal should be contained in single PDF file, which must include your statement of acceptance of UK Space Agency/UKRI T&Cs and a short covering email providing a short summary of the proposal, UK institutions involved and lead UK contact (RD3). You will receive an email acknowledging receipt. Please contact Ms Moretti (below) if you do not receive an acknowledgement within 24 hours.
  • Submitted proposals will be treated in strict confidence, and only shared between UK Space Agency SS&SE Team Leaders, the designated peer reviewers, and the CEOI Leadership team members involved in managing the reviews and preparation of recommendations to UK Space Agency.

The electronic submission should be sent by email to the CEOI Technology Call Administrator, Ms Charlotte Moretti at cm738@leicester.ac.uk. Enquiries about proposal handling and administration should also be directed to Ms Moretti.

For further information and formal enquiries regarding the scientific and international aspects of the call, contact:

Caroline Harper
UKSA Space Science Lead

Email : caroline.harper@ukspaceagency.gov.uk

Sue Horne
UKSA Space Exploration Lead

Email : sue.horne@ukspaceagency.gov.uk

Both at:

UK Space Agency, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1FL

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