ESA Science & Technology - Proposal submission instructions and application form for the AO for Gaia data processing

An electronic copy of the proposal 

Proposals shall be submitted electronically (pdf format only) using the proposal submission form which is available here:

Gaia AO proposal submission form (this link has been disabled since the deadline for submission has passed)

Paper copies of the proposal to ESA

In parallel the original, signed version shall be submitted to:

Also 7 paper copies shall be submitted to:

Dr. Fred Jansen
Gaia Project Scientist
ESTEC SCI-SA
P.O. Box 299
2200AG Noordwijk
The Netherlands

Paper copies of the proposal to funding agencies

In addition a copy of the complete proposal must be sent to each of the funding agencies which will later be requested to provide financial support to the DPAC activities.

Proposal contents

Proposals shall at least contain the following:

• Executive Summary
• Main Proposal
• Description of Gaia and its science
• Proposed data processing approach (logistics and algorithmic approach)
• Consortium breakdown
• Structure and authority of consortium executive
• Reporting structure proposed
• Work breakdown structure and associated details (detailed planning timeline etc.)
• Statement of compliance with the SMP and the terms and conditions of this AO.
• Detailed funding proposal:
• Brief description of qualification and experience of the DPACE members and the CU managers.
• Contact details and area(s) of involvement of all current DPACE and DPAC members
• Estimated breakdown of manpower per participating country
• Signed initial letter(s) of commitment from the relevant (national) funding authorities, indicating financial and manpower agreements. Where, for very clearly defined and specified reasons, such commitments are not yet available, a roadmap of how such funding will be secured should be identified.
• A list of funding authorities to which the proposal has been sent (see above).

Approval cycle

The timetable foreseen for the approval cycle is specified in the SMP.

The submitted proposal(s) shall be reviewed by an evaluation committee appointed by the Director of Science.

They shall evaluate the quality of the submitted proposals primarily based on:

• Scientific quality and completeness of the analysis and proposed processing
• Background and expertise of the proposed participants
• Adequacy of resources assigned to development, processing and management
• Compliance with the SMP and AO

It is anticipated that a clarification meeting between ESA and the proposing parties shall be held on 15 January 2007 (at ESTEC).

It should be noted the following selection of the successful consortium, a negotiation process between ESA and the (national) funding agencies is foreseen. These negotiations should result in a multilateral agreement (MLA, to be approved by ESA council), identifying the willingness of all parties involved to fund the proposed activities such as to allow achieving the goals of the Gaia data processing as specified in the proposal.

Enquiries about the AO or the approval process

Further questions on the AO itself, or on the associated approval process, should be addressed by E-mail to:

Or to