Call for a Fast (F) mission opportunity in ESA's Science Programme
16 July 2018
The ESA Director of Science solicits proposals from the scientific community in ESA Member States for a Fast (F) mission to be launched in the 2026-2028 timeframe.This Call for a Fast mission aims at defining a mission of modest size (wet mass less than 1000 kg) to be launched towards the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point as a co-passenger to the ARIEL M mission, or possibly the PLATO M mission. From L2 the mission should reach its target orbit or destination with its own propulsion system.
The Call is open to all areas of space science. Any scientific goal and spacecraft technical configuration will be considered, including missions aiming at multi-point scientific measurements, for example, Near-Earth Objects or Main Belt comets, considered in the studies performed by ESA following the Call for New Science Ideas issued in 2016.
Full details of this Call, including all documentation, are on the dedicated web page at:
http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/call-for-fast-mission-2018
Schedule for this call and important dates
| Release of Call for a Fast (F) mission | 16 July 2018 |
| Phase-1 proposal submission deadline | 25 October 2018 – 12:00 (noon) CEST |
| Phase-1 proposal assessment | November 2018 |
| Workshop for Phase-2 proposers | 11 December 2018 |
| Phase-2 proposal submission deadline | 20 March 2019 – 12:00 (noon) CET |
| Letters of Endorsement deadline | 10 April 2019 – 12:00 (noon) CEST |
| Proposal evaluation and scientific ranking | April – July 2019 |
| Phase 0 study | July – December 2019 |
| Selection of candidate mission | February 2020 |
| Phase A/B industrial kick-off | September 2020 |
| Mission adoption | November 2022 |
| Mission CDR | June 2024 |
| Spacecraft launch readiness | December 2027 |