Call for Payload Study Consortia for Cosmic Vision M-class Missions: Cross-Scale, Marco Polo, Plato, and Euclid
5 May 2008
The deadline for this call has now passed.On 5 May ESA issued a "Call for Declarations of Interest in Science Instrumentation" for the M-class Cosmic Vision mission studies Cross-Scale, Marco Polo, and Plato. A similar call for the M-class mission study Euclid followed on May 23. Prospective Principal Investigators are invited to submit proposals outlining the composition of nationally funded consortia to carry out assessment level studies. Responses to the calls for Cross-Scale, Marco-Polo, and Plato are due by 16:00 CET on 30 June 2008. The responses to the call for Euclid are due by 16:00 CET on 11 July 2008.ESA is currently carrying out an assessment study phase for a number of M-class missions which are candidates for the first launch slot (possibly at the end of 2017) in the Cosmic Vision plan. All currently studied M mission concepts will undergo a competitive selection at the end of 2009, from which 2 missions (out of the 4 currently under study) will be selected for definition studies extending to the end of 2011. Eventually, only one mission will be adopted for flight with the industrial implementation phase starting in 2012.
The instruments for the Cosmic Vision M-class missions are foreseen to be nationally funded and provided by consortia of institutes led by Principal Investigators (PI). To enable the instruments to be defined at the same level as the other mission elements (platform, launch services, etc.), the assessment-level studies for the instrumentation will have to be nationally funded and will be carried out by the prospective PIs, in line with the general approach to science payload studies and development described in the Science Programme Committee document on "National Activities parallel to Cosmic Vision Studies", (ESA/SPC(2008)3).
Prospective PIs are invited to respond to this call with details of the composition of nationally funded consortia and of the proposed work-plan. These consortia are expected to carry out assessment-level studies of the scientific instruments for any of the M-class Cosmic Vision missions. A description of the scope of the studies, the consortium structure and selection procedure, and interfaces with the ESA-managed studies is provided in the call for each mission. These can be downloaded from the right-hand menu.
A number of documents are included in this call:
| - | A call for declaration of interest in science instrumentation for each M-class Cosmic Vision mission |
| - | The draft Payload Definition Document (PDD) for each M-class Cosmic Vision mission |
| - | The draft Science Requirements Document (SciRD) for each M-class Cosmic Vision mission |
| - | Document ESA/SPC(2008)3, "National Activities Parallel to The Cosmic Vision Studies" |
(All of these documents are available to download from the documentation link on the right-hand menu)
Timetable for this call:
| 5 May: | Call for declaration of interest in science instrumentation for the M-class Cosmic Vision missions Plato, Cross Scale and Marco Polo is issued | |
| 23 May: | Call for declaration of interest in science instrumentation for the M-class Cosmic Vision mission Euclid is issued | |
| 1 June: | Submission system open (Editor's note: delayed to 3 June) | |
| 30 June: (16:00 CEST) |
Deadline for receipt of proposals in electronic form for Cross-Scale, Marco Polo, and Plato. (See the individual calls for submission details.) | |
| 11 July: (16:00 CEST) |
Deadline for receipt of proposals in electronic form for Euclid. (See the individual calls for submission details.) |
Submission process:
Proposals must be submitted electronically using the online form provided (see right-hand menu). Please note that the submission form will be available from 1 June 2008. (Editor's note: due to a technical problem the form will not be available until 3 June 2008.)
The deadline for receipt of proposals in response to the calls for Cross-Scale, Marco Polo, and Plato is 16:00 CEST on 30 June 2008.
The deadline for receipt of proposals in response to the call for Euclid is 16:00 CEST on 11 July 2008.
Further details:
For more information on programmatic matters please contact:
Dr. Marcello Coradini
Solar System Missions Coordinator, ESA HQ
(Marcello.Coradini
esa.int)
or
Dr. Fabio Favata
Astronomy and Fundamental Physics Missions Coordinator, ESA HQ
(Fabio.Favataesa.int)