ESA looks to open up in-space servicing market
The European Space Agency (ESA) is anticipating a new era of in-space servicing activities to prolong mission lifetimes, such as refuelling, refurbishment, assembly, manufacturing, and recycling.
The agency has begun soliciting ideas for In-Orbit Servicing activities from European industry and academia.
A first stage ‘request for information’ has been posted on ESA’s Open Space Innovation Platform. Respondents are invited to propose both a servicer spacecraft concept and identify a customer to be serviced, with the aim of putting the concept forward for ESA’s next Ministerial Council in 2022.
The ESA’s Director General, Josef Aschbacher, stresses “the need to address the management of assets in space with a sustainability mind-set – financial and environmental.”
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