Tenders are invited for CHARGING EFFECTS MITIGATION USING INNOVATIVE MATERIALS - EXPRO PLUS

CHARGING EFFECTS MITIGATION USING INNOVATIVE MATERIALS - EXPRO PLUS Space missions encounter a wide range of plasma and radiation conditions possibly leading to detrimental effects. Typical scenarios include charging of solar arrays cover glasses leading to arcing, charging of radiators elements as well as insulators, possibly impacting platform performance, subsystems lifetime, and the performances of sensitive (e.g. plasma) instrumentation. For this latter stringent surface conductivity requirement are difficult to meet due to necessary trades off regarding thermal, power and communication budgets. The replacement of usual non-conductive coatings and materials by conductive or electrostatically dissipative materials would benefit spacecraft design cycles and reduce the risk of flight anomalies.Significant advances are being made in material science (e.g. carbon based composites and glues, nanoparticles growth/addition, carbon nanotubes based substrates etc..) with the potential capabilities to combine good electrical conductivity while preserving mechanical / thermal / transparency characteristics needed for specific applications.This activity aims at characterizing existing innovative materials potentially able to address the need of charge mitigation, while preserving critical properties for dedicated applications. In particular the activity should target at least cover glass materials and possibly thermal paints and primers, not excluding other applicative areas.The activity encompasses the following tasks:- Survey the state of the art of materials processes and new materials with regard to conductivity enhancement in the context of application to spacecraft surfaces- Select, procure or manufacture, and then characterize representative samples by measuring their physical and electrical properties such as dielectric constant, bulk and surface conductivities, photo and secondary emission properties- Assess the relevance and impact of such new materials on charging mitigation for typical charging scenarios(e.g. GEO or polar orbits)- Assess (possibly through additional experimental tests) the capability of such materials to comply with the requirements of specific applications (e.g. optical transparency for coverglass, thermal properties for paints/coatings etc.)- Shortlist promising materials in view of further characterization and developments. Provide a roadmap for the next steps from breadboarding to industrial production and application by spacecraft manufacturer.Procurement Policy: C(2) = A relevant participation (in terms of quality and quantity) of non-primes (incl. SMEs) is required. For additional information please go to:http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/Small_and_Medium_Sized_Enterprises/Opportunities_for_SMEs/Procurement_policy_on_fair_access_for_SMEs_-_the_C1-C4_Clauses