The projects will begin their research on a range of topics such as system competitiveness, access to space, service evolution or non-dependence in critical technologies.
They will contribute to EU policy, the operational EU Space Programme and the space sector as a whole.
Overview of projects by thematic area
The 45 projects were selected for funding in the following thematic areas:
| Thematic area | Total number of projects | Proposals received |
| Foster competitiveness of space systems | 16 projects | The number of proposals received in response to call HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01 was 28, and in response to call HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01 was 15 – so overall 43 proposals. |
| Reinforce EU capacity to access and use space | 6 projects | The number of proposals received in response to call HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01 was 18, and in response to call HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01 was 1 – so overall 19 proposals. |
| Evolution of services of the EU space programme components: Copernicus | 8 projects | The number of proposals received in response to call HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01 was 9, and in response to call HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01 was 4 – so overall 13 proposals. |
| Innovative space capabilities: SSA, GOVSATCOM, Quantum | 4 projects | The number of proposals received in response to call HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01 was 1, and in response to call HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01 was 11 – so overall 12 proposals. |
| Space entrepreneurship ecosystems (including “New Space” and start-ups) and skills | 1 projects | The number of proposals received in response to call HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01 was 0, and in response to call HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01 was 5 – so overall 5 proposals. |
| Targeted and strategic actions supporting the EU space sector | 15 projects | The number of proposals received in response to call HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01 was 7, and in response to call HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01 was 38 – so overall 45 proposals. |
| 5 projects are currently in the process of signing their grant agreements with the European Commission. They will sign the agreements in the coming weeks. | ||
Overview of selected R&I projects
Area 1
Foster competitiveness of space systems
| Call for proposals | Call Topic / Type of Action | Funded projects | Project description |
| HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01-12 | Future space ecosystems: on-orbit operations, new system concepts | ORU-BOAS, METASAT, ASCEND, SCHUMANN | ORU-BOAS will develop and demonstrate an Orbital Replacement Unit (ORU) concept (at TRL 6), compatible with different Standard Interfaces and based on the Building Blocks developing in previous SRC calls. This ORU will be used as “plug & play” module for the In Orbit Demonstrator. Moreover, it will develop a Satellite Construction Kit for future applications in ISMA missions by investing in an AppStore and Open-Architecture mentality. Two payloads shall be tested: High power/energy storage Payload Module and DeOrbit Payload Module. METASAT focuses on a design methodology based on Model-Based engineering jointly with the use of open architecture hardware. It will leverage existing software virtualisation layers (e.g., hypervisors), that already provide guarantees in terms of standards compliance, on top of high-performance computing platforms based on open hardware architectures. The focus of the project will be on the development of a toolchain to design software modules for this hardware/software layer. ASCEND addresses the installation of internet data centres in orbit, as large modular space infrastructures with robotic assembly, megawatt level space-based solar power, high throughput optical communications, low cost and reusable launchers. The goal is to demonstrate that placing future data centre capacity in orbit, using solar energy outside the earth’s atmosphere, will substantially lower the carbon footprint of digitalization. Space data centres could therefore become an active contributor to the EC Green Deal objective of carbon neutrality by 2050. SCHUMANN addresses two complementary developments: (1) a Functional Spacecraft Module consisting of a Refuelable Tank to be tested in a refueling experiment, meant to be used as a plug & play module for the In Orbit Demonstrator and leveraging previous SRC developments (2) a “Design and Development Specification for the Spacecraft Construction Kit” consisting of a specification and tools aimed at guiding and supporting module developers, to make their modules compatible and usable in a single ecosystem |
| HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01-11 | Future Space Ecosystem: on-orbit operations, preparation of orbital demonstration mission | EROSS IOD | EROSS IOD, is building upon the EROSS and EROSSplus H2020 projects (and other projects from the H2020 SRC on Space Robotics). The project aims to implement the phase B2/C of an orbital demonstration mission for On-Orbit Servicing and to mature the technologies to enable a go-to-market for future OOS missions. The specific objective is to enable the in-orbit demonstration of all the key capabilities: coordinated close rendezvous between two free flying spacecraft comparable in mass and inertia (a first in Europe) and autonomous robotic operations such as capture, refuelling and change of payload with a poly-articulated arm. |
| HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01-12 | Technologies and generic building blocks for Electrical Propulsion | ECOPROPU, DEEP-PPU | ECOPROPU builds on a H2020 space research project GaNOMIC (ended in 2021) and focuses mainly on breakthrough PPU technologies for HET (Hall-Effect Thrusters) at medium and high-power levels. DEEP-PPU builds on the modular approach initiated within H2020 GIESEPP-MP project and former GIESEPP project. It will to develop and introduce to the market a disruptive PPU for GITs (Gridded Ion Thrusters) with 40% mass and 35% volume reduction compared to existing market solutions, while reducing the cost of the unit by a factor of two. |
| HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01-13 | End-to-end Earth observation systems and associated services | SOPHOS, DOMINO-E, IIMEO | SOPHOS aims at improving the on-board processing capacity of earth observation small and nanosatellites to overcome the current limitations in computational power, miniaturisation, mass memory performance and data reliability. The project will focus on the production of on-board high-end data product for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems and will reach TRL6 for all the hardware and software developments. DOMINO-E aims at implementing multi-mission/multi-sensor federation layer for earth observation ground segment, contributing to overcome the current mono-mission architectures difficult to interface and to reduce the time between user requests and delivery of imagery products. The project, targeting TRL6, will pursue a modular approach and interface standardisation as key drivers to enable interoperability and seamless user access to the ground segments of the federation. DOMINO-E is linked to the French national project DOMINO-X, which exploits Cloud and Artificial Intelligence technologies, and the ESA GSTP project DOMINO-A, which develops the concept of hybrid EO with the inclusion of radar capabilities. IIMEO covers the development of an innovative observation payload for a future LEO constellation for the monitoring of transport infrastructures. The project targets to reduce to less than one hour the time from user request to delivery of the information elaborated by on-board hardware with AI techniques. IIMEO will develop hardware and software solutions up to TRL 6 to generate multi-sensor, SAR and optical, products with a spatial resolution of up to 50 cm. A pilot use case involving real-time railway infrastructure monitoring will be instrumental for the final demonstration of the end-to-end prototype. |
| Area 2Reinforce EU capacity to access and use space. | |||
| Call for proposals | Call Topic / Type of Action | Funded projects | Project description |
| HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01-22 | Low cost high thrust propulsion for European strategic space launchers – technologies maturation including ground tests | ENLIGHTEN | ENLIGHTEN will strive to increase the competitiveness of European High thrust engine by preparing a demonstrator of Green High Thrust Engine based on Liquid Hydrogen using the latest advances in additive manufacturing to reduce the cost and number of engine parts, Edge AI & machine learning algorithm to develop the first space engine Health Monitoring System in Europe necessary to implement reusability and New low cost subsystems in Engine ignition, nozzle extension, valves and integrated flexible lines. |
| HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01-23 | New space transportation solutions and services | SAFEST, EFESTO-2, EARS |
SAFEST’s objective of developing an Autonomous Flight Termination System (AFTS) from TRL3-4 to TRL5-6 maturity, includes the use of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) which is particularly novel. It is useful to implement on micro/small launchers and it will allow higher launch rate, more flexibility and lower cost and will not be linked to a specific launch site. This work builds on previous ESA projects and activities already performed by the consortium. The ambition is to implement it in a new MPSoC-based SW execution platform (sMart Integrated Avionics – MIA) that will bring increased performance and flexibility and reduced cost. EFESTO-2 follows from H2020 EFESTO and aims at increasing the European know-how and technology for Inflatable Heat Shields as a key solution for re-entry and landing, allowing for example the recovery and reuse of launcher stages. It aims at experimentally validating multidisciplinary technology with highly specialised numerical methods, including uncertainty, and proposes a demonstrator for validation purposes which will bring the TRL to 5-6 level. EARS proposes a novel concept to design and build a low-cost spacecraft capable of supporting a variety of small experiments in orbit and designed to operate and return to Earth autonomously to be reusable with limited refurbishment. |
| Area 3Evolution of services of the EU space programme components: Copernicus. | |||
| Call for proposals | Call Topic / Type of Action | Funded projects | Project description |
| HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01-41 | Copernicus Climate Change Service evolution | CERISE | CERISE aims to enhance the quality of the C3S reanalysis and seasonal forecast portfolio, with a focus on land-atmosphere coupling. It will support the evolution of C3S by improving the C3S climate reanalysis and seasonal prediction systems and products towards enhanced integrity and coherence of the C3S Earth system Essential Climate Variables. CERISE will develop new and innovative coupled land-atmosphere data assimilation approaches and land initialisation techniques to pave the way for the next generations of the C3S reanalysis and seasonal prediction systems. |
| HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01-42 | Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service evolution | CAMEO | CAMEO will enhance the quality and efficiency of the CAMS service, and help CAMS to better respond to policy needs such as air pollutant and greenhouse gases monitoring, the fulfilment of sustainable development goals, and sustainable and clean energy. CAMEO will help prepare CAMS for the uptake of forthcoming satellite data, including Sentinel-4, -5 and 3MI, and advance the aerosol and trace gas data assimilation methods and inversion capacity of the global and regional CAMS production systems. CAMEO will develop methods to provide uncertainty information for users of CAMS. |
| HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01-43 | Copernicus Security and Emergency Services evolution | CENTAUR | The objective of CENTAUR is to respond to societal challenges deriving from Climate Change threats by developing and demonstrating new service components for the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) and Copernicus Service in Support to EU External Action service (SEA). In the emergency domain, CENTAUR will address the flood-related threats to population, assets and infrastructures in urban areas. In the Security domain, CENTAUR will address water & food insecurity. |
| HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01-44 | Copernicus evolution for cross-services thematic domains | ACCIBERG, SDGs-EYES |
ACCIBERG will improve the quality of Copernicus sea ice and ocean products and their uncertainty estimates in CMEMS and C3S. It will also develop a new and improved iceberg forecasting service, based on Copernicus data, building upon state-of-the-art sea ice and ocean models, remote sensing algorithms, data assimilation and cloud computing. SDGs-EYES will boost the European capacity for monitoring the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) based on Copernicus data, building a portfolio of decision-making tools to monitor SDG indicators related to the environment. SDGs-EYES will establish an integrated scientific, technological and user engagement framework. SDGs-EYES will consider three interconnected SDGs, on climate (SDG13), ocean (SDG14) and land (SDG15), to demonstrate through four Pilots the Copernicus potential for monitoring six indicators: GHG emissions, temperature deviation, ocean acidification, marine eutrophication, forest cover change and soil erosion. |
| HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01-41 | Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service evolution | NECCTON | NECCTON’s objective is to enable CMEMS to deliver novel products that inform marine biodiversity conservation and food resources management, by fusing new data into innovative ecosystem models that integrate biological and abiotic components, habitats, and stressors of marine ecosystems. NECCTON will inter-link new models in the CMEMS systems, thus building novel capacities to simulate higher-trophic-levels, benthic habitats, pollutants, and deliver projections of climate change impacts. |
| HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01-42 | Copernicus Anthropogenic CO₂ Emissions Monitoring & Verification Support (MVS) capacity | CORSO | CORSO will deliver the capabilities at global and local scale to optimally use observations of co-emitted species using their emission ratios and uncertainties to better estimate anthropogenic CO2 emissions. CORSO will also assess the added-value of high-temporal resolution in-situ 14CO2 and APO observations in global and regional scale inversions and of satellite observations of soil moisture, LAI, SIF, and Biomass in the global CO2MVS system to better separate the impact of fossil fuel and biospheric fluxes on the atmospheric CO2 concentrations. |
| HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01-43 | Copernicus Land Monitoring Service evolution | EVOLAND | EvoLand will address eleven next-generation CLMS product candidates by integrating innovative approaches in data fusion, Machine Learning, continuous monitoring and biomass mapping, as well as through integration of novel EO and in-situ data. The ambition of EvoLand is thus to support the Entrusted Entities by dedicated research, providing tangible proof of the evolution potential of the CLMS in terms of improved information content, quality and timeliness, and enable well-informed and facts-based decision-making on the future of the CLMS. |
| Area 4Innovative space capabilities: SSA, GOVSATCOM, Quantum. | |||
| Call for proposals | Call Topic / Type of Action | Funded projects | Project description |
| HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01-62 | Quantum technologies for space gravimetry | CARIOQA-PMP | CARIOQA0-PMP’s main objectives are: 1) To develop an Engineering Model (EM) of the mission’s instrument at TRL 5 (subsystems include Physics Package, Laser System, Microwave Source and Ground Support Equipment). 2) To guarantee the adequacy of the hardware development with the future scientific needs, through analysis and simulation of potential mission scenarios for the Quantum Pathfinder Mission and future Post-Pathfinder scientific missions 3) To establish a technical and programmatic roadmap for Quantum Space Gravimetry Missions, to be shared and validated by European stakeholders |
| HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01-62 | Space Weather | FARBES, T-FORS, ARCAFF |
FARBES aims to develop a novel forecast tool allowing predictions that are of utility to satellite operators. The project will involve of the use of ground-based measurements of indicators in order to identify certain scenarios and make predictions on a few key event characteristics (time to most severe environment, most severe particle flux and time to end of event). Its innovative work will extend the state of the art, providing a new impetus to a domain of relevance to space weather effects and threats. Moreover, it positively builds on the outcomes and results of a number of relevant previous EU projects. T-FORS will provide both an estimation of the occurrence probability of medium-scale Travelling Ionospheric Disturbances (TIDs) and a forecast of occurrence and propagation of large-scale TIDs. The proposal includes a comprehensive architectural concept including the densification of the ground elements, new space missions and future adjustments to develop a real-time service. This planned service is complementary to ESA SSA SWE as it aims to provide a new product and this constitutes an innovative advancement with respect to the state of the art. ARCAFF aims to develop a beyond state-of-the-art flare forecasting system utilising end-to-end deep learning (DL) models to significantly improve upon traditional flare forecasting capabilities. |
| Area 5Space entrepreneurship ecosystems (including “New Space” and start-ups) and skills. | |||
| Call for proposals | Call Topic / Type of Action | Funded projects | Project description |
| HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01-72 | Education and skills for the EU space sector | ASTRAIOS | ASTRAIOS aims to provide an exhaustive view and understanding of the current and future offer of space curricula and courses in the EU-27, characterise the demand from European space industry in the next 10-15 years, and identify actionable ways towards the alignment of the European space sector’s curricula and qualification capabilities with skills required by the sector to foster innovation and increase EU competitiveness. The project will create an online catalogue database, new materials to promote space related jobs and careers, and educational material for the Copernicus and Galileo sectors. |
| Area 6Targeted and strategic actions supporting the EU space sector. | |||
| Call for proposals | Call Topic / Type of Action | Funded projects | Project description |
| HORIZON-CL4-2021-SPACE-01-81 | Space technologies for European non-dependence and competitiveness | Cochisa, HEARTS, SAGAN |
COCHISA addresses “RF components”. Scalable multi-channel radiation-hard beamforming core-chips operating in X-band (10 GHz) as well as Ka-band (28 GHz) will be developed. The project does not only focus on the IC itself, but also a cost-effective plastic non-hermetic MMIC packaging process supporting space applications by robust encapsulation. HEARTS addresses “Very high energy ion accelerators for component, shielding and radiobiology characterization It aims to provide high-energy (>100MeV/n) heavy ion accelerator access to space users, in order to mimic the effects of Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) at ground level, and thus fulfilling the needs of microelectronics qualification and shielding & radiobiology experiments. HEARTS features CERN and GSI as accelerator infrastructure partners. SAGAN addresses “Discrete Power Devices”. It will establish a non-dependent supply chain for GaN Transistors (design, manufacturing, processing, and qualification testing) for GaN transistors that are suitable for space applications. |
| HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01-81 | Space technologies for European non-dependence and competitiveness | FOCUSING, ISBA, SCOPS, SGAN-Next |
FOCUSING addresses “High challenges for PCBs and SMT (Surface Mount Technologies)” and will develop and validate state-of-the-art building blocks to demonstrate the reliability of the High Density Interconnect (HDI) technologies and processes developed. The consortium will build a fully European competitive, sustainable and independent supply chain based on state-of-the-art laminates and cutting-edge HDI PCB manufacturing technology focused on advanced Space applications. ISBA addresses “Thermal insulation systems based on aerogels for Space” and will develop a disruptive technology through seven different applications in the space sector, based on aerogels or xerogels which will be used as a new thermal insulation solution in order to make it competitive, clean, compact, easier to produce and assembly. SCOPS addresses “Integrated circuits for power applications” and will design and evaluate the performance in space environment of Application Specific Integrated Circuit, named SCOPS (Scalable Controller fOr Power Sources), to control several power supply phases in parallel, using non-dependent supply chain. SGAN-Next addresses “Space qualified RF GaN components and demonstrators” and will develop a fully European GaN on SiC foundry process and demonstrate outstanding performance at high frequency beyond Q-band, through the design of efficient and robust SSPA, LNA and switch devices for flexible LEO/GEO payloads. |
| HORIZON-CL4-2022-SPACE-01-82 | Space science and exploration technologies | ALCYONE, LUWEX, SENAV, MiLi, MAUVE,DUSTER |
ALCYONE develops a lab-on-chip device with integrated thin-film sensors and actuators that will implement an extremely compact cell-incubator capable to sample the status of the cell culture during a space mission using real-time monitoring techniques based on bioluminescence. LUWEX aims to develop, integrate and validate lunar water extraction and purification technologies for in-situ propellant and consumables production for future space exploration missions. SENAV will implement spacecraft autonomous operation, utilising the target body as a navigation reference. This brings a novel requirement for the incorporation of a higher-than-before grade of knowledge about the target, based on a-priori data and on measurements collected during the mission. MiLi proposes to reach TRL 3 for key technologies to enable the construction of a lighter and less power miniaturized LIDAR for Mars atmospheric research. MAUVE will build a ready-to-launch Cubesat (MAUVE) optimised for the observation of stars in the Ultra Violet (UV) spectral window. The objective of DUSTER is to develop an instrument for in situ analysis of dust-like particles and their transport in the context of planetary and small body exploration missions. |
Info day
As the 2023 call will open in December, an information session for Space research applicants will be organised by HaDEA on 13 December from 9:00-12:45 CET.
The European Commission will explain the background of the work programme topics and how to handle certain specificities of the programme. Stay tuned!
Background info
Two calls for proposals under Horizon Europe – Cluster 4: Space Research opened on 2 November 2021 and closed on 16 February 2022.
HaDEA received a total of 135 applications for the 2 calls, of which 131 were evaluated.
Following the evaluations carried out by independent experts, 45 projects will begin their research after signing grant agreements with the European Commission.
Source: European Commission I HADEA (https://bit.ly/3eXyMuq)