CALL FOR MISSION CONCEPTS FOR THE LARGE-SIZE 'L3' MISSION OPPORTUNITY IN ESA’S SCIENCE PROGRAMME

25 October 2016

Through this Call for Missions, the Director of Science solicits proposals from the broad scientific community for the competitive selection of mission concepts to be candidates for the implementation of the third large mission (L3) of the Cosmic Vision Plan, for a planned launch in 2034. 

“The Gravitational Universe” is the scientific theme of the L3 mission, to be pursued by implementing a gravitational wave observatory. Among the key subjects to be addressed by the mission concepts that are proposed in response to this Call are: the nature of gravity, the nature of black holes and black holes as sources of energy, dynamics of galactic nuclei, formation and evolution of stellar binary systems, the very early universe, cosmological issues such as the cosmic distance scale.

Please consult the Call document and the Technical Annex for further details; they are available to download from the right-hand menu, under Documentation.

Direct link to this Call page:

http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/2016-l3-mission-call

SCHEDULE FOR THIS CALL

The schedule for the issue of the Call and the proposal evaluation process is:

CALL INFORMATION PACKAGE

Full details of the Call are available in the Call document and the Technical Annex; they can be downloaded from the right-hand menu, under Documentation.

LETTER OF INTENT (LoI) SUBMISSION

Prospective proposers are required to submit, by the deadline indicated in the Table above, a Letter of Intent (LoI) stating their intention to submit a proposal in response to the present Call. Submission of a LoI is mandatory; proposals not preceded by a corresponding LoI will not be considered. The submission deadline will be implemented strictly. 

Submissions are accepted exclusively in electronic form, in PDF format, using the online submission form that can be accessed below or from the left-hand menu (the form opens in a new window).

The LoI should have a maximum length of 2 A4 pages, minimum font size 11 pt.

A description of the purpose of the LoI and the expected content is available in the Call document, available to be downloaded from the right-hand menu, under Documentation. The purpose of the Letter of Intent will be to allow ESA to make the necessary preparation for the proposal evaluation process. No support or endorsement letters should be attached to the Letters of Intent.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

Proposals must be submitted by the deadline indicated in the Table above. Proposals are accepted exclusively in electronic form, in PDF format, using the online submission form that can be accessed below or from the left-hand menu (the form opens in a new window).

Proposals will be limited in length to 42 A4 pages, with a minimum font size of 11 pt, and a maximum file size of 50 Mbytes.

A description of the expected proposal content is available in the Call document, available to be downloaded from the right-hand menu, under Documentation.

LETTERS OF endorsement SUBMISSION

Letters of Endorsement from Member State agencies (and international partners, if applicable) will be required after the Proposals submission, by the deadline indicated in the Table above. 

The Letters of Endorsement will have to be addressed to the ESA Director of Science, and sent directly by the Member State agencies (and international partners, if applicable) by email to the address: 

endorsement-L3cosmos.esa.int

BRIEFING MEETING

Following the submission of a Letter of Intent, proposers will be invited to a briefing meeting, currently planned for the date and place indicated in the Table above. Confirmation of the date and of the logistical details for the briefing meeting will be communicated to the contact points indicated in the Letters of Intent.

CONTACT

The main contact point for this Call is:

Luigi Colangeli
Head of the Coordination Office for the Scientific Programme
ESA SCI-CS

ESTEC
Postbus 299
2200 AG Noordwijk
The Netherlands
Tel:  +31 - 71 565 3573
Fax: +31 - 71 565 4791
Email: luigi.colangeliesa.int