The FACILITATORS goals are: -To Enable the highest possible level of validation of the common building blocks (developed by concurring operational grants) in the most relevant environment by adapting and providing the best available European test facilities, as well as -To Guarantee coherence among the different test facilities and among the building blocks by establishing common implementation/validation scenarios (to be reproduced during ground testing) and common interfaces with the test facilities. More concretely, in order to achieve such goals, the objectives of our project are to: 1. Analyse and identify the validation needs of each building block 2. Identify and adapt the already-existing top-notch European test platforms that will form a “federation of facilities” which will host the validation tests of ALL building blocks in BOTH demonstration scenarios 3. Characterize the facilities and provide representative datasets to support the design and development of the building blocks, carried out by concurring operational grants (OGs) 4. Ensure coherence among the different building blocks by agreeing on common demonstration scenarios that will be carried out within the federation of facilities, as well as by preparing common interfaces in coordination with the SRC board and the other parallel OGs 5. Provide easy access to the identified facilities, and ensure their availability when the building blocks will be tested 6. Assist the building blocks validation tests’ execution by providing monitoring and measuring means, as well as giving on-site support. The “Federation of Facilities” concept lies in a network of coordinated, complementary and exchangeable state-of-the-art facilities across Europe, identified, made available to the SRC, adapted and (if needed) enhanced for the scope of: -Validating the building blocks developed in the other parallel operational grants and -Providing regulated services to the space robotics community beyond this project.

The Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure (EPN2020-RI) will address key scientific and technological challenges facing modern planetary science by providing open access to state-of-the-art research data, models and facilities across the European Research Area. Its Transnational Access activities will provide access to world-leading laboratory facilities that simulate conditions found on planetary bodies as well as specific analogue field sites for Mars, Europa and Titan. Its Virtual Access activities will make available the diverse datasets and visualisation tools needed for comparing and understanding planetary environments in the Solar System and beyond. By providing the underpinning facilities that European planetary scientists need to conduct their research, EPN2020-RI will create cooperation and effective synergies between its different components: space exploration, ground-based observations, laboratory and field experiments, numerical modelling, and technology. EPN2020-RI builds on the foundations of successful FP6 and FP7 Europlanet programmes that established the ‘Europlanet brand’ and built structures that will be used in the Networking Activities of EPN2020-RI to coordinate the European planetary science community’s research. It will disseminate its results to a wide range of stakeholders including industry, policy makers and, crucially, both the wider public and the next generation of researchers and opinion formers, now in education. As an Advanced Infrastructure we place particular emphasis on widening the participation of previously under-represented research communities and stakeholders. We will include new countries and Inclusiveness Member States, via workshops, team meetings, and personnel exchanges, to broaden/widen/expand and improve the scientific and innovation impact of the infrastructure. EPN2020-RI will therefore build a truly pan-European community that shares common goals, facilities, personnel, data and IP across national boundaries