Tenders are invited for Power Front End and the Mains Power Distribution Unit for Copernicus LSTM and CRISTAL Programs

Power Front End and the Mains Power Distribution Unit for Copernicus LSTM and CRISTAL Programs The Copernicus programme is an evolution of the previous Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) Programme, an Earth monitoring initiative led by the European Union (EU) and carried out in partnership with the EU Member States and the European Space Agency (ESA). Emerging and urgent needs for new types of observations have been consolidated in a distinct set of requirements which are addressed by six new Copernicus Sentinel missions, formerly known as “High Priority Candidate Missions” (HPCM). ESA has awarded six contracts covering the implementation of the Phase B2, C/D,E1 for each of the six Copernicus missions, encompassing the procurement of both the prototype (instrument(s) and spacecraft), funded by the ESA Member States under the CSC-4 Programme, and the recurrent satellites, funded by the EU under the future MFF 2021-2027, where the recurrent satellites are offered at the same time as the prototype and are implemented as contractual options in a single contract. LSTM Mission contract was awarded to Airbus Defence and Space SAU (ES), as prime contractor for the procurement of the LSTM satellites, and the CRISTAL Mission contract was awarded to Airbus Defence and Space GmbH (DE), as prime contractor for the procurement of the CRISTAL satellites. The main objective of the LSTM Mission is to complement the existing family of Copernicus satellites observation capabilities with high spatio-temporal resolution Thermal Infrared observations over land and coastal regions in support of agriculture management services, and a range of additional services. The LSTM Mission primary objective is to provide timely and accurate monitoring of land and coastal areas in the spectral range of TIR, SWIR and VNIR. These measurements will allow determination of evapotranspiration at spatial scales enabling the range of innovative agricultural applications capturing the field scale variability required for irrigation, crop growth modelling and reporting on crop water productivity. The CRISTAL mission will carry, for the first time, a dual-frequency radar altimeter, and microwave radiometer, that will measure and monitor sea-ice thickness, overlying snow depth and ice-sheet elevations. These data will support maritime operations in the polar oceans and contribute to a better understanding of climate processes. CRISTAL will also support applications related to coastal and inland waters, as well as providing observations of ocean topography. In the frame of LSTM, Airbus Defence and Space will release an Invitation To Tender for the procurement of the Power Front End and the Mains Power Distribution Unit (in the following referred to as ‘PFE’ and ‘MPDU’ respectively) that will serve both LSTM and CRISTAL missions. The PFE is the main power source for the different hardware on the functional test bench equipped with representative LCLs and the MPDU is the distribution unit that provides the Electrical Ground Support Equipment with the necessary power including protections and a common ground reference. The present Invitation To Tender will be addressed to economic operators (including those deemed to act as subcontractors) whose registered office is established in Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, UK, Canada. This procurement will be conducted in line with the “ESA Best Practices for the Selection of Subcontractors by Prime Contractors in the frame of ESA’s Major Procurements” (reference ESA BEST PRACTICES IPC(2012)65,rev.2) as modified for the purpose of the Copernicus programme. Read less