Grant Alert – CASE: Commercial Applications Enabled by Space Environments
By Helen Young
on
New grant alert: Space can be the ideal environment to exploit a wide range of phenomena and physical processes that are not possible under the effects of gravity experienced on Earth, such as different fluid dynamics, material behaviour or cell biology.
Fund Name: Commercial Applications Enabled by Space Environments
Project Length: Dependent on proposal
Project Value: Varies
Deadline: Ongoing
The Commercial Applications enabled by Space Environments (CASE) Open Call for Proposals supports the development of commercial services that benefit from microgravity and space environments.CASE Feasibility Studies and Demonstration Projects are designed to assess, mature, and implement business concepts for new commercial services, products and applications that are enabled by existing space infrastructure related to human and robotic exploration. Eligible space infrastructure includes, for example, space-based facilities such as commercial services available aboard the International Space Station or, once available, future LEO and lunar infrastructure.We offer funding and support to companies for business case assessment and spaceflight preparation as well as developing and piloting of new end-to-end services and products that benefit from space environments in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Zero-equity funding
Personal ESA consultant
Technical & commercial guidance
Access to our network of partners
Credibility of the ESA brand
Entrepreneurs with promising business ideas that benefit from LEO can consider the following two mechanisms on their journey from a customer driven business opportunity to operational services:
CASE Feasibility Study
CASE Feasibility Studies provide a framework to identify, analyse, and define new potentially commercially viable services enabled by space environments.
Studies are customer/user driven and developments limited to the validation of critical assumptions regarding the desirability by envisaged customers, technical feasibility, or commercial viability of the proposed service.
CASE Feasibility Studies include:
- development and maturation of business cases including operational end-to-end service concepts enabled by the space environment
- assessment of the desirability by potential customers, technical feasibility, and commercial viability of these business cases
- preparation for the integrated service implementation and in-space demonstration during potential follow-on CASE Demonstration Project
- proof of concepts on ground to test the critical assumptions regarding desirability by customers, feasibility of the space and ground aspects, and viability of the proposed service
In case of successful results, a potential follow-on CASE Demonstration Project can be pursued.
CASE Demonstration Project
CASE Demonstration Projects are dedicated to the implementation of pre-operational demonstration services and validation with involved pilot customers/users.
The demonstration projects must be customer/user driven, technically feasible, and have a clear potential to become commercially viable.
CASE Demonstration Projects include:
- the development of the end-to-end solution for an operational pilot service
- the in-space demonstration and validation
- the end-to-end pilot service provisioning and validation with the envisaged customers and users in their operational environments
What We Look For
Attractive market opportunities and customer engagement
Commercially viable service concepts
Technically feasible solutions
Added value of space environment in Low Earth Orbit
Motivated teams with business and domain expertise, and a service provider enabling the access to space
Find out more: https://business.esa.int/funding/direct-negotiation-call-for-proposals/case-commercial-applications-enabled-space-environments
