Get your own satellite in space
Having a great idea but you “just” need a satellite to bring your assets into space? Now it's your chance. Apply to ESA BIC UK alumnus Open Cosmos` Call To Orbit competition, a joint partnership with ESA giving away free payload development and qualification support over the next year.
It can be from demonstrating a technology in space to validating an application in orbit to provide a new service on Earth.
“Until now, many research institutions, companies and start-ups found it difficult to mature their technology to meet their customers' time-to-market needs,” said ESA Director General Jan Wörner.
“Today, Open Cosmos gives the opportunity to be ready for launch within 3 months.”
The call is open to all kinds of space applications and technologies from remote sensing to telecommunication and navigation. It will boost innovation in the space sector, enabling organisations of all sizes and backgrounds to get payloads ready for In-Orbit Demonstration and Validation.
Unique opportunity to disrupt the access to space
“This opportunity supported by ESA continues our ongoing efforts to democratise the use of space missions as a tool to solve big global challenges,” said Rafel Jorda, CEO of Open Cosmos.
“With this Call To Orbit we want to make sure that anyone with useful space technologies or space applications can bring them to orbit benefiting from Open Cosmos fast and affordable space missions.”
Accepted projects will benefit from Open Cosmos’ set of tools and services to speed up early design processes and enable progress to the needed higher technical development levels.
Being an alumnus from ESA Business Incubation Centre (ESA BIC) UK, Open Cosmos is launching Call To Orbit in collaboration with ESA, a competition that will allow a diverse range of organizations to put their technologies and service-oriented applications into orbit.
It will reduce the amount of time and money needed to get a satellite-based business off the ground, especially for companies developing new technologies or validating the commercial potential of a new application.
In total 10 winners will be awarded access to Open Cosmos’ orbit readiness program for free, alongside support from ESA, allowing them to go from concept to orbit readiness in just three months using Open Cosmos’ beeInnovative and beeReady services.
Once ready, launch opportunities will become available both under ESA programmes and others, where Open Cosmos is involved providing in orbit demonstration and validation services, taking advantage of Open Cosmos’ beeOrbital service. This will be supported under the partnership with the ESA Pioneer SAPION program.
ESA BICs boost new companies into business
"This initiative and Open Cosmos call is an excellent demonstration of the values our space solutions network generates throughout Europe thanks to our 20 ESA Business Incubation Centres and 16 Technology Brokers," said Frank M. Salzgeber, Head of ESA Technology Transfer and Business Incubation Office.
"Our ESA BICs have boosted more than 650 new companies in Europe taking in another 160 start-up yearly"
The present Call To Orbit will be open for one full year. Applications will be accepted from 1 October 2018.
More on the Call To Orbit and its flight opportunities: open-cosmos.com/flight-opportunities
More about Open Cosmos: open-cosmos.com.
More about ESA Technology Transfer and Business Incubation and its space solution initiatives: spacesolutions.esa.int and www.esa.int/ttp
More about ESA's Pioneer SAPION program here.
