Introduction

The goal of SOLARIS is to prepare the ground for a possible decision in 2025 on a space based solar power development programme by establishing the technical, political and programmatic viability of Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) for terrestrial clean energy needs.

A critical aspect of the initiative is to identify and address key research questions linked to space based solar power. Informed decision-making regarding the safe implementation of SBSP requires adequate assessment of risks and mitigation options, addressing public safety potential impact on ecosystems, including fauna and flora, effects from interaction with atmospheric layers, including the ionosphere, potential interferences with other space or terrestrial applications, system resilience risks, and full life cycle environmental impact.

This campaign is carried out in parallel to other SOLARIS activities, schematically illustrated below.

What ideas are we looking for?

This campaign is soliciting ideas for co-sponsored research activities addressing the environmental and socio-economic challenges posed by SBSP with respect to the main thematic areas listed and illustrated here:

• Impact of SBSP approaches on the atmosphere
• Impact of SBSP on terrestrial ecosystem
• Impact on human health
• Issues pertaining to SBSP deployment and the space environment
• Infrastructure and interference challenges around SBSP

While these areas constitute the main focus as iterated with the community via a recent request for information (RFI) and workshop, related but perhaps omitted research areas will also be considered if properly justified.

Co-sponsored Research Implementation Scheme 

For co-sponsored research activities, such as those conducted at the PhD or advanced research (e.g., post-doc) level, we encourage collaborative efforts and welcome the utilisation of existing capabilities to drive this initiative forward. Funding contributions from, for example, industry and academia, can be both financial and "in-kind," meaning that existing resources such as labs, equipment, and staff can be utilised to support the project. Applicants do not necessarily need to secure new funds fully alongside what ESA provides.

The funding provided by ESA for co-sponsored research activities will cover up to 50% of the project's costs, with a maximum of 90k€. To apply, you should formulate a short and poignant research question, and clearly describe how your idea differs from the latest published research in the relevant field. As you begin your research, we recommend using reputable sources like IEEE, Google Scholar, and the ESA publication repositories to gather a strong starting point.

Co-sponsored research activities follow a fast-track implementation process facilitated through the OSIP platform. In the initial stages, you do not need to provide confirmation of co-funding. This is required only in the second step, if you are invited to further mature your idea into a full proposal.

How to check the eligibility and novelty of your idea

All research ideas addressing the aim of the campaign and complying with the special conditions below are eligible. Please clearly describe the novel aspect your research will address compared to the state of the art and how it would reduce uncertainty and/or risk related to space based solar power concepts.

We therefore encourage you to check that what you propose has not already been tried, studied or discarded - in which case you might want to use such information to find a novel approach.

The following list contains links to information on SOLARIS, and information from the Solaris Research Activities RFI and the Research & Technology Day:

• Solaris website
• Solaris activity plan 2023-2025 
• Solaris list of potential Technology Development Activities
• Presentations from Solaris Research & Technology Day 14 March 2023 

Process

For all implementation paths the selection will be a two step process: an idea step and a proposal step. 

The first step, is to enter an idea through this campaign. Ideas that are suitable for implementation within ESA and are evaluated positively by our idea evaluation board based on the below listed evaluation criteria will be invited to the second step, the proposal step.

Authors have at any moment full visibility of the status of their idea (visible above the title of the idea). Ideas move from "qualification" to "community discussion" to "evaluation" to "selection".

Ideas start in draft status and can be stored as such in case information for mandatory fields is still missing. Draft ideas are only visible to authors. As soon as all mandatory information is available, even if not final, authors are encouraged to submit the idea. You can still work on your idea and edit it until the start of the evaluation.

Once qualified, ideas will enter the Community Discussion phase indicating that the idea is eligible for the Campaign. Non confidential ideas become publicly visible in this stage allowing others to contribute and comment.

Authors can edit their idea at any moment during the qualification and community discussion phases. (See here how to edit ideas)

The first phase (idea phase) ends with the idea evaluation, resulting in the best evaluated ideas being invited to the second phase.

During the second phase (proposal drafting phase) you will be invited to mature your idea into a proposal which will be subject to a competitive evaluation of the research proposal. The proposal phase is competitive and only proposals of very high quality according to the evaluation criteria will be selected for funding.

Ideas that are successfully implemented will be made public on an ESA website using their title, image and abstract.

How do I prepare for the second step (proposal phase)? 

If your idea is selected you will be invited to submit a complete a research proposal to esastar Publication. The full template for the second phase already visible to you during idea phase for your information (Idea evaluation in the first phase will only consider content within the idea part of the form). Please note, that also the second phase is competitive and only proposals of very high quality according to the evaluation criteria will be selected for funding.

Following the invitation to mature your idea into a research proposal, you will also need to have a host entity and confirmation of the co-funding.

For the second phase you will be invited to what is called in ESA a “Restricted Fixed Call for Proposal“ (hereinafter “Restricted FCP”) procedure on esa-star Publication. The invitation will come after idea selection via an automatic notification from esa-star Publication inviting you to submit your full proposal to a Restricted FCP on esa-star Tendering. 

How would selected activities be contractually implemented? 

ESA will implement selected activities via a standard procurement process.

Please note, that the contractual clauses are non-negotiable.

Important: For economic operators to be eligible for a contract or agreement with the Agency, a full registration is mandatory. The full registration, followed by the assignment of a Vendor Code that will be unique for every validated economic operator, is done through the ESASTAR system. Please note that only the “Full Registration” allows the Contract to be placed with the selected Tenderer.

The registration as an ESA Entity includes the obligation to subsequently fill in the Agency Questionnaire and its yearly updating at the following link: https://esastar-em.sso.esa.int.

Public ideas, outreach and dissemination? 

You decide whether you want to submit an idea as confidential or public. In case your idea gets selected and implemented, we will in all cases publish openly summary information about the activity, such as a minimum the contractor name, the title, the image, and the abstract, and, after finishing the activity, also an executive summary and other final deliverables (executive summaries of previous Discovery and Preparation element activities are available here). 

After kick-off of the activity, we might automatically publish the title, image and abstract from your OSIP idea to https://activities.esa.int. You will be able to edit this information on the platform, and add additional information by logging in with your OSIP username credentials.

While respecting and protecting IP needs and requirements, academic publishing of results is encouraged. Especially co-funded research activities are almost systematically leading to publications. Open access peer-reviewed technical and scientific journals of good reputation should be the norm. DOIs of all publications resulting from Discovery and Preparation element activities should be added to the activity page on https://activities.esa.int. Publications shall acknowledge the support of ESA by adding the following phrase into the acknowledgements or equivalent field of the publication:

This research was supported by ESA via a Preparation element contract (contract number).

As much as possible, feasible and practical, such publications should be published open access, following the principles of Plan-S. (Background information and an analysis on open access and Plan-S: A guide to Plan S: the open-access initiative shaking up science publishing)

Updates:

• Deadline of the ideas phase has been extended until 25th of September.
• Optional fields to upload researcher resumee and answer to evaluation feedback added