We envision a radical redesign of Earth observation platforms for sustained operation at significantly lower altitudes than the current state of the art, using a combination of new aerodynamic materials, aerodynamic control and air-breathing electric propulsion for drag-compensation, for a variety of observation methods with the aim of creating a new platform paradigm. This vision requires foundational research in spacecraft aerodynamic characterization, in material aerodynamics and atomic oxygen resistance, in electric propulsion, and control methods. These activities are by their nature multidisciplinary covering atmospheric science, surface chemistry and material characterization, control engineering, spacecraft design, payload engineering, etc.

SPACEWAYS intends to create a common understanding of the guidelines and standards necessary to develop a Space Traffic Management (STM) concept for the European Union (EU). It also aims to assess European technical available and required capabilities (notably in the field of SSA/SST technologies) with respect to STM requirements; and to provide a set of STM best practices and recommendations in line with EU interests. This includes the preservation of a safe, secure and sustainable space environment as well as the reinforcement of European sovereignty and competiveness. Over its 18-month duration, SPACEWAYS’ first objective will be to analyse the policy, legal and economic context of STM. It will aim to better understand the STM concept’s dynamics worldwide and its consequences for Europe. While key space powers may attempt to create norms and regulations for future STM, SPACEWAYS intends to provide guidelines to support European policy making thereupon. In parallel, another goal will be to assess European capabilities and technology gaps with respect to future STM requirements. SPACEWAYS will identify stakeholders and users’ needs by associating them to the project through a networking platform. It will also proceed to a complete analysis of technical needs defined by future STM possible regulations. Both SSA/SST capabilities and technological developments related to new space missions and functions will be analysed. Here, specific attention will be devoted to mega constellation management, on-orbit operations or launch and re-entry future activities. These parallel lines of work will converge to produce a set of STM guidelines and best practices fully compatible with EU interests. They will be disseminated to relevant communities, to support the EU, as a major space and economic actor, to address future STM challenges.

For improving the capabilities of general-purpose AI models and for extending their applicability to domains where the temporal dimension – among several others – is of importance, we will target the development of the next generation of Multimodal Space-Time Foundation Models (MSTFMs). These will combine spatio-temporal understanding, which is important even for modalities such as the visual one that have already been introduced in large generative models, with the effective management of new time-relevant modalities that are yet to be supported in foundation models, such as industrial time series data, remote sensing data and health-related measurements. Real and synthetic data, to mitigate data scarcity, will be leveraged for training general-purpose MSTFMs and for further adapting them for specific downstream tasks. Real data used for training will include data directly provided by members of the consortium as well as data from relevant European Data Spaces, while complementary synthetic data will be generated by exploiting existing generative AI capabilities as well as new ones developed in the project. European HPC infrastructure is directly included in the consortium to ensure the availability of the necessary computing resources.

GEORyder addresses the Space Transportation technologies in support to In-orbit servicing systems subtopic. The geopolitical situation has greatly impacted the ability of Europe to access GEO orbit without Russian Launch. In parallel, smaller newcomers are now proposing services based on microsatellite in GEO. Consequently there is an urgent need to facilitate access to direct GEO for Europe. Additionally, upcoming REACH regulations together with cost constraints will lend weight to the evident necessity for efficient orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs). Space Transportation will find new market & innovation through “In-Space” Logistics. In this context, the GEORyder project proposes a combination of a reusable Kickstage vehicle and OTVs equipped with rendez-vous and refuelling capabilities, allowing cost-effective in-orbit logistics, and providing a greater accessibility and affordability for GEO access for Europe. Notably, it will be using green propellant and will be designed to anticipate future cryogenic storage and transfer logistics. Under the coordination of SME Infinite Orbits (FR) leading the mission design, the vehicle structure and industrialisation will be conducted by Berlin Space Tech. (DE), its propulsion and reusability will be the focus of Dawn Aerospace (NL). Additionally, a cryogenic propellant storage will be developed, with the aim of ensuring a sustainable propellant approach compliant to European Green Deal ambitions and ESA roadmap. Meanwhile, Space Application Services (BE) will manage the refuelling abilities. Deimos (SP) will handle the avionics on agnostic hardware architecture for electronics to ensure the versatility of the vehicle, said-electronics and software will be developed and provided by Skylabs (SL), and Politecnico di Milano (IT) will be focusing on the GNC and Proximity operation for rendez-vous and in-orbit services. Finally, Ariane Space (FR) will ensure the service commercialisation and market analysis.

ReDSHIFT will address barriers to compliance for spacecraft manufacturers and operators presented now and in the future by requirements and technologies for de-orbiting and disposal of space objects. This will be achieved through a holistic approach that considers from the outset opposing and challenging constraints for the safety of the human population when these objects re-enter the atmosphere, designed for demise, and for their survivability in the harsh space environment while on orbit. Ensuring robustness into the future, ReDSHIFT will take advantage of disruptive opportunities offered by 3D printing to develop highly innovative, low-cost spacecraft solutions, exploiting synergies with electric propulsion, atmospheric and solar radiation pressure drag, and astro-dynamical highways, to meet de-orbit and disposal needs, but which are also designed for demise. Inherent to these solutions will be structures to enhance spacecraft protection, by fracture along intended breakup planes, and re-entry demise characteristics. These structures will be subjected to functional tests as well as specific hypervelocity impact tests and material demise wind tunnel tests to demonstrate the capabilities of the 3D printed structures. At the same time, novel and complex technical, economic and legal issues of adapting the technologies to different vehicles, and implementing them widely across low Earth orbit will be tackled through the development of a hierarchical, web-based tool aimed at a variety of space actors. This will provide a complete debris mitigation analysis of a mission, using existing debris evolution models and lessons learned from theoretical and experimental work. It will output safe, scalable and cost-effective satellite and mission designs in response to operational constraints. Through its activities, ReDSHIFT will recommend new space debris mitigation guidelines taking into account novel spacecraft designs, materials, manufacturing and mission solutions.