Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-05-30

Miniaturized Flow Control Unit

Objective

"This proposal is related to FP7 space call 2011 - SPA.2011.2.2-02 (Space critical technologies). The purpose of the proposed work is the development of a miniaturized flow control unit (µFCU) for noble gases like xenon. The proposed technology is relevant to the call as it is listed in the Urgent Action List (ID 13). It is requested by space industry and agencies according ESTER database (e.g. ref. T-8117, T-8119). The new development shall reduce Europe's dependency from other space fairing nations by using only European components.

From a technical point of view, the proposal is also related to SPA.2011.2.2-01 (Space transportation technologies) as it enables electric micropropulsion systems for new mission classes.

The μFCU design is based on a component-of-the-shelf (COTS) approach. The core components and technologies have already been developed for ground applications. They have a high reliability background like medicine, chemical industry or even space. These components will be modified for space applications and for the changed operational and environmental parameter range.

This new development shall outperform existing technologies with respect to mass reduction, leak tightness, drift and long term stability. Furthermore, it shall reduce complexity, driver electronics requirements and AIT effort and therefore will reduce cost. Further cost reduction shall be achieved by modularity, use of COTS and integration of for flow lines controllers into one device.

The design of the µFCU is driven by costumer requirements. Key customer already agreed to join an Advisory Board. The Advisory Board shall support the project by defining reference missions and by reviewing the design.

The Consortium has a strong focus on SMEs with first experiences in space business. Some partners already have a strong and long term involvement in space component and subsystem development."

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-SPACE-2011-1
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

CP-FP - Small or medium-scale focused research project

Coordinator

AST ADVANCED SPACE TECHNOLOGIES GMBH
EU contribution
€ 567 485,56
Address
MARIE-CURIE STRASSE 16-18
27711 Osterholz-Scharmbeck
Germany

See on map

Region
Niedersachsen Lüneburg Osterholz
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data

Participants (4)

My booklet 0 0