ISOS Pilot Mission Detailed Design – satAPPs component

To tackle the above expected outcomes, the following R&I actions should be addressed, taking into account the provided technical annex¹⁶¹:

• R&I to complete ISOS Pilot mission detailed mission and system design¹⁶² (including relevant key technology maturation) for the satAPPs component. All relevant technologies shall reach the necessary TRL.
• R&I on technologies relevant for the design of satAPPs components aiming at the establishment of a European construction kit for satellite systems and applications, consolidating an innovative, scalable and adaptive framework, following the AppStore approach and fostering development of modular functionalities (satAPP modules) for satellite systems independently from mission. More specifically, innovative satAPPs should be developed at TRL 6 that will be used in the context of the ISOS pilot mission to demonstrate upgrade of components’ functionalities and/or payload exchange and IOD/V experiments.
• R&I on satAPP modules specifically for hosting IOD/V experiments.
• Contribution to the overall ISOS pilot mission detail design in close cooperation with other mission components, the ISOS Pilot Mission Coordination and Support Action and the ISOS Pilot Mission Advisory Group.

Proposals are expected to promote cooperation between different actors (industry, SMEs and research institutions) and consider opportunities to quickly turn technological innovation into commercial use in space via e.g. on-ground or in-orbit demonstration.

Proposals should clearly present a concrete plan to ensure that required technologies reach the necessary TRL at the end of the project. Moreover, complementarities with previous and/or ongoing R&I for the proposed servicing component must be clearly described. More specifically, proposals should explore relevant and promising solutions developed in Horizon Europe, Horizon 2020, European Innovations Council (EIC) or other EU-funded relevant activities, in particular, the topics: Future Space Ecosystem (HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01-12/ 2022-SPACE-01-11/ 2023-SPACE-01-12) and in relevant projects funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and/or national programmes. Finally, proposals are also expected to consider the use of existing European technologies and/or building blocks, including at component level, contributing to European non-dependence and strengthen competitiveness.

International cooperation is encouraged in this topic.

In this topic, the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content should be addressed only if relevant in relation to the objectives of the research effort.

The project(s) selected from this topic are expected to collaborate among themselves and with those selected under topics HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-21, 22, 23 and ISOS Pilot Mission Coordination and Support Action, in order to ensure interoperability and the necessary and sufficient documentation and information sharing for the implementation of the Pilot Mission, to make economies of scale in sharing best practices, defining common processes for addressing the different challenges, ensuring efficient monitoring and review, organising dissemination and communication activities, etc. Such collaboration among all those projects will be formalised by a collaboration agreement.