ISOS Pilot Mission Detailed Design – HOST component

The strategic objective of this topic is to develop capabilities to ‘Act in Space’ through demonstrating in space a pilot mission by 2030 related to ISOS. The envisaged ISOS pilot mission shall provide the necessary seed components for a future service infrastructure, available to the European in-space ecosystem (including the EU assets), driving the generation of a new in-space economy, providing enhanced in-orbit technology demonstration and maximising EU technology non-dependence.

This pilot mission will largely contribute to ensure EU’s freedom of action in space, increase the resilience and protection of EU assets in space and foster the development of the new in-space economy. A pioneering and a novel mission concept, which is unique compared to other initiatives among all space-faring nations is envisaged. The mission will build on previous R&I with an operational mission concept, focusing on application and service demonstration, with a concrete view to commercial and governmental usage. The detailed mission concept will be derived in close coordination with EU Member States and EEA countries through a dedicated ISOS Pilot Mission Advisory Group (PMAG)¹⁶¹.

This topic addresses the detailed design of the platform component of the ISOS pilot mission, which will be named Hub for Operational Services and on-orbit Testing (HOST). The HOST shall be able to host multiple servicer spacecraft, IOD/V experiments and composable, and exchangeable functional satellite modules (satAPPs) for delivery, and shall be equipped with robotic manipulation and refuelling capabilities.

Project results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcomes:

• A sustainable, highly automated, flexible and economically viable space infrastructure, building on technologies and concepts for a circular economy in space, e.g. plug-and-play spacecraft functionality introducing recycling/re-use of spacecraft modules/functionalities;
• ISOS Pilot mission preparation up to detailed mission and system detail design for the HOST component, and maturation of enabling technologies and innovative system and operational concepts;
• Elaboration of interfaces between the different components of the mission, together with the other mission components (i.e. servicing, logistics and satAPPs) and the ISOS Pilot Mission Coordination and Support Action (CSA)¹⁶²;
• Contribution to the ISOS Pilot Mission Objectives provided in the technical annex¹⁶³;
• Elaboration of clear use cases and relevant business models focussing on governmental and/or commercial needs;
• Provision of enhanced opportunities for IOD/V by actively promoting experiment plug and play on the HOST;
• Ensuring the availability of results to the next mission phases.

This topic will contribute to, in the medium to long term, developing, deploying global space-based services and contribute to fostering the European space sector competitiveness, as stated in the expected impact of this destination.

To tackle the above expected outcomes, the following R&I actions should be addressed taking into account the provided technical annex¹⁶³:

• R&I to complete ISOS Pilot mission detailed mission and system design¹⁶⁴ (including relevant key technology maturation) for the platform component (HOST), demonstrating the achievement of the required TRL for all relevant technologies;
• R&I on key enabling technologies relevant for design of a scalable, modular, flexible platform component, equipped with robotic manipulation, satAPPs compatibility^[1] and refuelling capability (for the HOST and the hosted servicer and logistic spacecraft), that can be extended and reconfigured to meet different demands (e.g., governmental and commercial, IOD/V and additional servicer hosting slots, robotic/manufacturing testbeds, warehouse and logistic node, etc.);
• Contribution to the overall ISOS pilot mission detail design in close cooperation with other mission components, the ISOS Pilot Mission Coordination and Support Action and the ISOS Pilot Mission Advisory Group;
• R&I on related HOST functions and applications including related operational concepts considering the use of distributed computing, multi-agent and network architectures and supported by simulations, enhancing the overall pilot mission system functionality.

Proposals are expected to promote cooperation between different actors (industry, SMEs and research institutions) and consider opportunities to quickly turn technological innovation into commercial use in space via e.g., on-ground or in-orbit demonstration.

Proposals should clearly present a concrete plan to ensure that required technologies reach the necessary TRL at the end of the project. Moreover, complementarities with previous and/or ongoing R&I for the proposed servicing component must be clearly described. More specifically, proposals should explore relevant and promising solutions developed in Horizon Europe, Horizon 2020, or other EU-funded relevant activities, in particular, the topics: Future Space Ecosystem (HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01-12/ 2022-SPACE-01-11/ 2023-SPACE-01-12) and in relevant projects funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and/or national programmes. Finally, proposals are also expected to consider the use of existing European technologies and/or building blocks, including at component level, contributing to European non-dependence and strengthen competitiveness.

Proposals are expected to consider and contribute to a balanced provision of Member States’ and eligible Associated Countries’ expertise and capabilities to the overall ISOS pilot mission, to support a successful introduction of the strategic capacity ‘Act in Space’ for the EU and its Member States.

In this topic, the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content should be addressed only if relevant in relation to the objectives of the research effort.

The project selected from this topic is expected to collaborate with those selected under topics HORIZON-CL4-2025-02-SPACE-21, 23, 24 and ISOS Pilot Mission Coordination and Support Action, in order to ensure interoperability and the necessary and sufficient documentation and information sharing for the implementation of the Pilot Mission, to make economies of scale in sharing best practices, defining common processes for addressing the different challenges, ensuring efficient monitoring and review, organising dissemination and communication activities, etc. Such collaboration among all those projects will be formalised by a collaboration agreement.

[1] Ability to receive functional upgrades through composable and exchangeable functional satellite modules (satAPPs) that will be connected via dedicated Universal Service Interfaces (USI)