The areas of R&I, which needs to be addressed to tackle the above-mentioned expected outcomes are:

• the development of novel techniques and manufacturing technologies for deployable antennas. This shall include efforts in the development of low-cost (e.g. re-usable and commercial off-the-shelf) and short manufacturing-time reflector moulds that are also compatible with larger diameters, at or above 5 meters;
• the replacement of materials needed from outside the Union by developing novel materials and surfaces to ensure equivalent current performance or improved levels in terms of losses, depolarization, bandwidth, efficiency of reflector antennas. That includes paving the way for high data rate transmission by means of antennas operating in frequency bands higher to Ka-Band up to Q/V-Band as well as developing and testing novel materials for demonstrating quality and performance up to technology readiness level 4;
• the identification of methods to retrieve the useful materials or components from end-of-life antennas for reuse in the assembly or manufacturing of new hardware on orbit;
• the definition of concepts for on-orbit assembly of large antennas or re-use of antennas from end-of-life satellites on new assets and the evaluation of trade-offs of various architectures relevant for Earth Observation, Telecom. This shall include the process verification steps (e.g., with support of simulations) related to the assembly process, assuring the necessary level of quality and performance.

Proposal should address all areas.

Proposals under this topic should explore synergies and be complementary to already funded actions in the context of technology development at component level as well as developments in the scope of the co-Programmed European Partnership on Globally Competitive Space Systems (‘Space Partnership’). In particular, it is expected that projects make use of existing European technologies and/or building blocks at component level contributing to European non-dependence and strengthen competitiveness.