PS25128: UKSAC25_0044 - Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) 2025-26 Studies

This lot contains one study, though UKSA reserves the right to award multiple variants to multiple bidders in the event sufficient high quality bids are received:

Lot 1.1: Analysis of the data from EISCAT Beampark Campaign

Total Contract Value: Up to £25,000 (inclusive of VAT)

Total Contract Duration: 6 months

Characterisation of the Small Debris Space Environment remains an ongoing critical challenge for addressing space sustainability. NSpOC has previously funded a 24 hour beampark campaign using the EISCAT UHF radar system with the raw data analysed through an ESA contract. At the recent IADC, it was discussed that shorter follow up beamparks targeting specific fragmentation events would also be very beneficial. As a result of this, NSpOC has arranged for a further 24 hours of time but split up over 6 x 4 hr sessions targeting the recent CZ-6A fragmentation. The campaigns target 200-2000 km with a 75E pointing direction. We require a supplier to analyse the raw data to pull out detections and use the circular orbit assumption to extract an orbital inclination and altitude and make an assessment of object size based on the signal strength.

Lot 2: Environment and Database - This lot contains three studies. Bidders may bid for and be awarded one or more studies within Lot 2. For the avoidance of doubt, it is not necessary to bid for all three studies to be eligible to participate. UKSA reserves the right to award multiple contracts in the event of budget availability and sufficient high-quality proposals.

The scope of Working Group 2 (Environment and Database) is the characterisation and modelling of meteoroid and debris around the Earth and storage and access of the data by electronic means, including meteoroid and debris models, short and long-term evolution, collision prediction and risk assessment.

1. Lot 2.1: Assess the utility of existing metrics and develop new metrics for space environment

Total Contract Value: Up to £50,000 (inclusive of VAT)

Total Contract Duration: 6 months

Various metrics have been proposed to understand the status of the space environment. Some of these focus individual missions and can be aggregated across all objects to quantify the entire environment, and some measure underlying properties of the environment. Further work is required to develop metrics that can be used to look at the environment as a whole.

2. Lot 2.2: Develop software and tools to assess the environment

Total Contract Value: Up to £50,000 (inclusive of VAT)

Total Contract Duration: 6 months

The UK wants to establish further capability to model the long-term evolution of the space environment and contribute to international efforts to understand safety and sustainability in the space environment.

3. Lot 2.3: Timelines for End of Life (EOL) disposal

Total Contract Value: Up to £50,000 (inclusive of VAT)

Total Contract Duration: 6 months

A quantitative assessment of risk and approaches to orbit design is desired which seeks to establish principles which minimise risk and improve sustainability of the missions. The outputs of the study should be used to suggest potential end-of-life mission design principles which improve sustainability while minimising risk to operator systems operating in the environment.

Lot 3: This lot contains two studies. Bidders may bid for and be awarded one or more studies within Lot 3. For the avoidance of doubt, it is not necessary to bid for both studies to be eligible to participate. UKSA reserves the right to award multiple contracts in the event of budget availability and sufficient high-quality proposals.

The scope of Working Group 3 (Protection) comprises the design and technology of shielding against meteoroids and space debris and the associated test methods which include test facility and procedure, hypervelocity impact data and simulation software.

1. Lot 3.1: Critical Space Debris Threshold - Vulnerability

Total Contract Value: Up to £25,000 (inclusive of VAT)

Total Contract Duration: 6 months

The likelihood of spacecraft failure presented in national and international space debris mitigation standards requirements is based on the size of space debris that will be encountered during the mission. Spacecraft failure is quantified in terms of the probability of loss of collision avoidance manoeuvre capability or the probability of loss of post mission disposal capability. However, a thorough understanding of the relationship between space debris size and probability of spacecraft failure is currently lacking. Working Group 3 within the IADC is now addressing this topic via a dedicated study to develop impact vulnerability-based thresholds that can be used in the future as simplified metrics.

2. Lot 3.2: Critical Space Debris Threshold - Fragmentation

Total Contract Value: Up to £50,000 (inclusive of VAT)

Total Contract Duration: 6 months

The likelihood of catastrophic break-up of spacecraft due to a space debris impact presented in national and international space debris mitigation standards is based on assumptions on the size or energy of the space debris involved in the impact. In practice, the employed definition of "catastrophic" to justify the "critical" threshold of the space debris involved is often qualitative and limited by the availability of the state-of-the-art research. Working Group 3 within the IADC is now addressing this topic by initiating a study to characterise fragments released in hypervelocity collisions that can be used in future for deriving fragmentation severity.

Lot 4: This lot contains two studies. Bidders may bid for and be awarded one or more studies within Lot 4. For the avoidance of doubt, it is not necessary to bid for both studies to be eligible to participate. UKSA reserves the right to award multiple contracts in the event of budget availability and sufficient high-quality proposals.

To support on-going research support is sought on the following:

1. Lot 4.1: Lunar Debris Mitigation Guidelines - further work on disposal options

Total Contract Value: Up to £25,000 (inclusive of VAT)

Total Contract Duration: 6 months

The UK Space Agency is keen to support efforts to develop recommendations for the sustainable use of Cislunar space. This study will seek to identify key research gaps and further develop the work carried out in the previous studies to feed directly into the IADC Working Group and other international forums (UN COPUOS and Artemis Accords). The outputs of this study may also be used by the UK Space Agency and wider UK Government to inform new regulatory policy for future UK-licensed lunar missions.

2. Lot 4.2: Assessment of technologies driving post-mission disposal reliability

Total Contract Value: Up to £25,000 (inclusive of VAT)

Total Contract Duration: 6 months

Investigate the technologies that underpin reliable post-mission disposal operations, considering those that achieve compliance to one or more of the post-mission disposal guidelines within the IADC Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines. Develop and populate a catalogue to capture key information on each technology and critically evaluate the most promising solutions across cases for single-spacecraft missions and large constellations.