Avionics and GNC for Future Space Transportation (FIRST!)

FIRST! stands for ‘’Future Innovation Research in Space Transportation’’, and is an initiative of the ESA STS Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP). In line with the decisions from the ESA Ministerial Council Meeting 2022, FIRST! designates a series of FLPP procurements in open competition, aiming at fostering disruptive technologies in Space Transportation and accelerating their de-risking through rapid prototyping and testing. The primary objective is to detect, select, and demonstrate technologies with the potential to transform their respective fields.

In pursuit of these goals a new FIRST! campaign has been launched, focusing this time on key technologies in the domain of avionics and Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC). Marking the inaugural phase of this new campaign, a call for ideas has just been launched on the ESA’s Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP) and will be open until 11 March.