Tenders Are Invited For Demisable Tank And Filldrain Valve For Cubesat Propulsion (Expro+) in Netherlands The

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Tenders are invited for Demisable Tank and Filldrain Valve for Cubesat Propulsion (Expro+) ObjectivesTo develop a demisable tank and a fill drain valve for CubeSat propulsion systems.DescriptionThousands of CubeSats operating in LEO have already and/or are planning to adopt chemical or electric propulsion systems to perform orbit insertion, deployment to the desired orbital planes, orbit changes, orbit maintenance, repositioning, collision avoidance and deorbiting at end of life.Yet several uncertainties remain on the demisability of elements constituting such propulsion systems. Some elements of those systems, like the tanks and the fill drain valves, might have high probability to survive during an atmospheric re-entry, due to the adopted system configuration (e.g. shielding effects of some parts on others that impact on the heat flux exposure or connections between components that influence the fragmentation process) and due to the materials adopted.Having reliable data on demisability of these elements is particularly important for the modelling phase of the re-entry analysis, to be able to mimic the entire system demise behaviour (e.g. fragmentation process and demise of the components). Overall, these uncertainties might significantly contribute to the increase of the system casualty risk budget and might create the need for adopting a more complex and expensive controlled re-entry strategies.Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the demise behaviour of elements of future Cubesat propulsion systems and to develop demisable design solutions to ensure compliance of future missions with the Space Debris Mitigation guidelines.This activity addresses any type of tanks and fill drain valves used on propulsion systems intended for Cubesats up to 16U and tasked to store any type of propellant in solid, liquid, or pressurised gas state. The targeted technologies are thus complementary to specific activities that target larger pressurised krypton tanks for LEO smallsat constellations.This activity encompasses the following tasks:- Characterisation of the demise behaviour of selected typical tanks and fill drain valves through simulations and tests at component and material level to validate and improve the accuracy of the demise predictions models- Design definition and justification of a demisable tank and demisable fill drain valves- Breadboard manufacturing and functional tests- Generation of development plan for follow-up qualificationhttp://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 Read less Tender Link : https://esastar-publication-ext.sso.esa.int/ESATenderActions/filter/open

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