EXPLORATORY CALL FOR A MINI-FAST MISSION
​​​​​​​IN ESA’S SCIENCE PROGRAMME

 

Date: 19 March 2025

The ESA Director of Science solicits the scientific community in ESA's Member States for proposals for mini-Fast (mini-F) mission concepts with an estimated ESA Cost at Completion (CaC) below 50M€ at 2025 economic conditions (e.c.) and a total development duration from selection to launch of less than 5 years.

The purpose of this exploratory Call is to assess the potential of mini-F missions in the Science Programme to:

  • increase the ESA Science Programme diversity;
  • support the development of the European science and technology communities, in particular the next generation of professionals;
  • increase launch opportunities for space science missions;
  • offer a new agile ESA Science Programme element to implement space science missions in less than five years from selection to launch;
  • explore new mission implementation schemes.

Given the nature of this Call, the boundary conditions are intentionally kept to a minimum and will be tuned following the analysis of the proposals for the future line of mini-F missions. However, the basic assumptions will remain unchanged: fast implementation schedule, implying a high technology readiness level at the time of the mission proposal. For full details of this Call, please see the documents in the Call information package.

​​​​​​​In parallel to the present invitation, the Director of Science has issued a Call for a Medium-size and a Fast mission opportunity in ESA's Science Programme.

Call information package

The documentation for this exploratory Call includes a Letter of Invitation from the Director of Science, the Exploratory Call for a mini-Fast mission in ESA's Science Programme document, and an Annex to the Call document containing technical details. These documents are available to download from the right-hand menu. Please consult the documents for full details, requirements, and constraints for this Call.

Proposal submission

Proposals for mini-Fast mission concepts must be submitted electronically (in pdf format), using the form linked below, by 12:00 (noon) CEST on 21 May 2025. Late submissions will not be considered.

Details of the required content for mini-Fast proposals are given in the Exploratory Call for a mini-Fast mission in ESA's Science Programme document.

Submission Form for mini-F mission concepts
The deadline for receipt of proposals in response to this Call is:
12:00 (noon) CEST on 21 May 2025

 

Schedule for this Call and important dates

Activity Date
Briefing for the community Done, 11 December 2024
Release of  Call 19 March 2025
Exploratory Call proposal submission deadline 21 May 2025 – 12:00 (noon) CEST
Assessment of mini-F proposals May - September 2025
Way forward on Exploratory Call October 2025

 

Contact

Queries may be address to mission-calls-2025 [at] cosmos.esa.int

 

Last updated: 19 March 2025