Request for information: In-Orbit Demonstration Payloads / Technologies

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    "title": "Request for information: In-Orbit Demonstration Payloads / Technologies",
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    "description": "The Office of the Chief Engineer (OCE), within the Space Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Group, are a team within the UK Space Agency supporting the portfolio of projects and programmes across the wider Agency primarily through technical assurance and research & development activities. This involves investigation of potential new activities that help achieve the aims and objectives of the UK Government’s space strategy. The OCE are currently investigating the need for government intervention to support in-orbit demonstration (IOD) activities for emerging payloads and technologies. This Request for Information (RFI) has been published to better develop our understanding. \nThe UK Space Agency would like to understand from space payload and technology providers if there are any payloads/technologies that are currently being developed which would benefit from an IOD opportunity. The Agency would also like to understand the potential benefits unlocked by demonstrating the payload / technology in orbit, and the current perceived barriers experienced in bringing these payloads / technologies to market. The Agency would then like to understand if and how government are best placed to support unlocking the opportunities of bringing these payloads / technologies to market. \nThis RFI will inform the OCE’s approach to future IOD opportunities, deepen our understanding of the current pipeline of payloads and technologies being developed that would most benefit from IOD opportunities and help the Agency develop the most appropriate intervention.  \nOur aims – what we want to achieve \nThe aims of this Request for Information are: \n- To understand space payloads and technologies currently being developed in the UK which may benefit from In-Orbit Demonstration; \n- To understand the technical requirements of those payloads and technologies; \n- To understand the barriers experienced in bringing these payloads and technologies to market; \n- To understand the perceived opportunity unlocked by demonstrating the organisation’s payload or technology in orbit that would not otherwise be realised by demonstration and validation through ground testing; \n- To understand how government could support addressing these barriers and unlocking future opportunities by demonstrating your payload or technology in orbit. \nIn addition to this RFI and to further support our programmatic thought process on any potential interventions, the UK Space Agency will be hosting an in-person workshop based on the responses to this RFI as well as other related topics that we feel require industry's input. This workshop will bring together industry and enable us to gain insights from organisations whose payloads and technologies may benefit from In-Orbit Demonstration. \nTo register your interest in attending a workshop, please complete the Organisation & Contact Information section within the RFI and mark your interest in follow-up in Question 8. \nFurther details, including the workshop date, agenda and venue, will be provided in due course. Participants will initially be selected on a first-come-first-serve basis to organisations deemed relevant by the UK Space Agency. The outcomes of the Workshop, including any findings, recommendations, and summary outputs, will be made available to attendees and open to wider industry upon request. \nHow the information provided will be used and treated \n Responses received will be used alongside wider available information to guide the UK Space Agency’s considerations on future activities to support in-orbit technology demonstrations. \nAll information provided may be considered by the UK Space Agency and other government departments for use in policy development. In providing the information requested in this document the respondent confirms that they are giving written consent that the information provided may be shared with other departments, agencies, public bodies, and subsidiaries owned by the above, and their advisors. Where information is shared within government, it will be anonymised and will not identify any specific individual or organisation who provided it.  \nInformation provided in response to this Request for Information, including personal information, may be disclosed in accordance with any applicable law (including the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004), by order of a court or as required by any body or inquiry which has the power to compel disclosure. \nThe RFI participation process, including how to send responses, appears in the section directly after the questionnaire, below. If the respondent wants the information provided to be treated as confidential, they are asked to please inform us. No commercially sensitive information will be shared outside of government. Please be aware that we cannot guarantee confidentiality in all circumstances. For any questions about this process, please email: UKSA.commercial@dsit.gov.uk  \nWe will process any personal data included in the responses for this Request for Information in accordance with all applicable data protection laws. Our privacy notice is available in the section below titled “PRIVACY NOTICE”.  \nThe information gathered will not be used beyond the stated purpose without explicit permission. \nRFI Terms \nThis RFI is not related to any ongoing or future funding calls from the UK Space Agency. \nThe UK Space Agency does not commit to cover any cost incurred in the preparation or submission of any response to the RFI.  \nResponding or failing to respond to this RFI will not preclude the respondents from participating in any future UK Space Agency calls or requests for information or other opportunities.  \nThe deadline for responses is 23:59 BST, 23 September 2026. \nIf more time is needed to provide a response or if there are additional questions about the process, please contact UKSA.commercial@dsit.gov.uk with “In-Orbit Demonstration Payload / Technology RFI” as the subject line. \nAn email confirmation of receipt from the UK Space Agency will be sent within a one-week period to the designated point of contact. \nThe UK Space Agency reserves the right to follow-up and ask clarification questions on any responses.",
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        "description": "RFI questions and guidance \nThe RFI survey is split into sections: \nOrganisation & Contract Information \nPayload / Technology Information \nIOD Outlook, Benefits, Government Intervention \nTechnical \nPrivacy Notice \nPlease complete the survey on Microsoft Forms, linked here:  \n https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/U5dhEUhEPX\nThe guidance provided also accompanies the associated question within the Microsoft Forms survey. If you require a Word version of this request for information please contact UKSA.commercial@DSIT.gov.uk\nIn each section, please feel free to include as much relevant information as you like (responses limited to 4000 characters). All questions require a free-text response unless otherwise specified. \nNote that questions denoted with an asterix, *, are mandatory. \nPlease provide answers including indications of where answers are actual or anticipated or where the information requested is currently unknown (for example subject to ongoing development). \nYou are welcome to submit additional responses for each payload / technology of interest. In this instance, please feel free to leave questions in Section 3 blank unless there is specific feedback related to that particular payload / technology. \nPRIVACY NOTICE \nIn the course of responding to this request for information, you have provided information about yourself (‘personal data’). We (the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST)) are the ‘data controller’ for this information, which means we decide how to use it and are responsible for looking after it.  \nThe type of personal information we collect  \nWe will collect and process the following personal data: \nPersonal identifiers (name and contact details). \nHow we will use your data \nWe will use your data to understand the origin of your submission – see “How the information provided will be used and treated” in the RFI document for more information. \nThe lawful basis for processing your personal data under Article 6 of the UK GDPR is: Legitimate interests. As such, we will only use your data for the purposes for which we collected it or one that is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your data for an unrelated purpose, we will seek your consent separately to use it for that new purpose. \nWho has access to your data? \nAccess to your data held by BIST will be limited to staff within the department who need to view it as part of their work in carrying out the purposes described above. \nYour personal data will not be shared outside of the department. Where information from the responses is shared wider, it will be anonymised. \nRetaining your data \nWe will retain your personal data for no longer than one year. Anonymised and non-personal data may be kept for up to four years for statistical purposes. \nWhere we store and use your data \nYour personal data will be processed in the UK within secure UK government systems which use the Government Microsoft 365 environment hosted in UK-based data centres. As your personal data will be stored on our IT infrastructure it will be shared with our data processors Microsoft and Amazon Web Services and may be transferred and stored securely outside the UK. Where that is the case, it will be subject to equivalent legal protection through an adequacy decision, the use of Standard Contractual Clauses or a UK International Data Transfer Agreement. We will not make additional copies of personal data to store outside of this environment. \nTo exercise your rights please contact the Data Protection Officer using the contact details below. \nHow to contact us \nIf you have any questions or concerns about our use of your personal information or are unhappy with the way we have handled your personal data, please write to the department’s Data Protection Officer in the first instance using the contact details below. \nDSIT Data Protection Officer, \nDepartment for Science, Innovation and Technology, \n22-26 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2EG. \nEmail: dataprotection@dsit.gov.uk  \nIf you consider that your personal data has been misused or mishandled, you may make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an UK independent regulator. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: \nInformation Commissioner’s Office \nWycliffe House \nWater Lane \nWilmslow, Cheshire \nSK9 5AF \nHelpline number: 0303 123 1113  \nICO website: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/"
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    "title": "Request for information: In-Orbit Demonstration Payloads / Technologies",
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    "description": "he Office of the Chief Engineer (OCE), within the Space Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Group, are a team within the UK Space Agency supporting the portfolio of projects and programmes across the wider Agency primarily through technical assurance and research & development activities. This involves investigation of potential new activities that help achieve the aims and objectives of the UK Government’s space strategy. The OCE are currently investigating the need for government intervention to support in-orbit demonstration (IOD) activities for emerging payloads and technologies. This Request for Information (RFI) has been published to better develop our understanding. \nThe UK Space Agency would like to understand from space payload and technology providers if there are any payloads/technologies that are currently being developed which would benefit from an IOD opportunity. The Agency would also like to understand the potential benefits unlocked by demonstrating the payload / technology in orbit, and the current perceived barriers experienced in bringing these payloads / technologies to market. The Agency would then like to understand if and how government are best placed to support unlocking the opportunities of bringing these payloads / technologies to market. \nThis RFI will inform the OCE’s approach to future IOD opportunities, deepen our understanding of the current pipeline of payloads and technologies being developed that would most benefit from IOD opportunities and help the Agency develop the most appropriate intervention.  \nOur aims – what we want to achieve \nThe aims of this Request for Information are: \nTo understand space payloads and technologies currently being developed in the UK which may benefit from In-Orbit Demonstration; \nTo understand the technical requirements of those payloads and technologies; \nTo understand the barriers experienced in bringing these payloads and technologies to market; \nTo understand the perceived opportunity unlocked by demonstrating the organisation’s payload or technology in orbit that would not otherwise be realised by demonstration and validation through ground testing; \nTo understand how government could support addressing these barriers and unlocking future opportunities by demonstrating your payload or technology in orbit. \nIn addition to this RFI and to further support our programmatic thought process on any potential interventions, the UK Space Agency will be hosting an in-person workshop based on the responses to this RFI as well as other related topics that we feel require industry's input. This workshop will bring together industry and enable us to gain insights from organisations whose payloads and technologies may benefit from In-Orbit Demonstration. \nTo register your interest in attending a workshop, please complete the Organisation & Contact Information section within the RFI and mark your interest in follow-up in Question 8. \nFurther details, including the workshop date, agenda and venue, will be provided in due course. Participants will initially be selected on a first-come-first-serve basis to organisations deemed relevant by the UK Space Agency. The outcomes of the Workshop, including any findings, recommendations, and summary outputs, will be made available to attendees and open to wider industry upon request. \nHow the information provided will be used and treated \nResponses received will be used alongside wider available information to guide the UK Space Agency’s considerations on future activities to support in-orbit technology demonstrations. \nAll information provided may be considered by the UK Space Agency and other government departments for use in policy development. In providing the information requested in this document the respondent confirms that they are giving written consent that the information provided may be shared with other departments, agencies, public bodies, and subsidiaries owned by the above, and their advisors. Where information is shared within government, it will be anonymised and will not identify any specific individual or organisation who provided it.  \nInformation provided in response to this Request for Information, including personal information, may be disclosed in accordance with any applicable law (including the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004), by order of a court or as required by any body or inquiry which has the power to compel disclosure. \nThe RFI participation process, including how to send responses, appears in the section directly after the questionnaire, below. If the respondent wants the information provided to be treated as confidential, they are asked to please inform us. No commercially sensitive information will be shared outside of government. Please be aware that we cannot guarantee confidentiality in all circumstances. For any questions about this process, please email: UKSA.commercial@dsit.gov.uk  \nWe will process any personal data included in the responses for this Request for Information in accordance with all applicable data protection laws. Our privacy notice is available in the section below titled “PRIVACY NOTICE”.  \nThe information gathered will not be used beyond the stated purpose without explicit permission. \nRFI Terms \nThis RFI is not related to any ongoing or future funding calls from the UK Space Agency. \nThe UK Space Agency does not commit to cover any cost incurred in the preparation or submission of any response to the RFI.  \nResponding or failing to respond to this RFI will not preclude the respondents from participating in any future UK Space Agency calls or requests for information or other opportunities.  \nThe deadline for responses is 23:59 BST, 22 September 2026. \nIf more time is needed to provide a response or if there are additional questions about the process, please contact UKSA.commercial@dsit.gov.uk with “In-Orbit Demonstration Payload / Technology RFI” as the subject line. \nAn email confirmation of receipt from the UK Space Agency will be sent within a one-week period to the designated point of contact. \nThe UK Space Agency reserves the right to follow-up and ask clarification questions on any responses.",
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        "description": "RFI questions and guidance \nThe RFI survey is split into sections: \nOrganisation & Contract Information \nPayload / Technology Information \nIOD Outlook, Benefits, Government Intervention \nTechnical \nPrivacy Notice \nPlease complete the survey on Microsoft Forms, linked here:  \n https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/U5dhEUhEPX\nThe guidance provided also accompanies the associated question within the Microsoft Forms survey. If you require a Word version of this request for information please contact UKSA.commercial@DSIT.gov.uk\nIn each section, please feel free to include as much relevant information as you like (responses limited to 4000 characters). All questions require a free-text response unless otherwise specified. \nNote that questions denoted with an asterix, *, are mandatory. \nPlease provide answers including indications of where answers are actual or anticipated or where the information requested is currently unknown (for example subject to ongoing development). \nYou are welcome to submit additional responses for each payload / technology of interest. In this instance, please feel free to leave questions in Section 3 blank unless there is specific feedback related to that particular payload / technology. \nPRIVACY NOTICE \nIn the course of responding to this request for information, you have provided information about yourself (‘personal data’). We (the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST)) are the ‘data controller’ for this information, which means we decide how to use it and are responsible for looking after it.  \nThe type of personal information we collect  \nWe will collect and process the following personal data: \nPersonal identifiers (name and contact details). \nHow we will use your data \nWe will use your data to understand the origin of your submission – see “How the information provided will be used and treated” in the RFI document for more information. \nThe lawful basis for processing your personal data under Article 6 of the UK GDPR is: Legitimate interests. As such, we will only use your data for the purposes for which we collected it or one that is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your data for an unrelated purpose, we will seek your consent separately to use it for that new purpose. \nWho has access to your data? \nAccess to your data held by BIST will be limited to staff within the department who need to view it as part of their work in carrying out the purposes described above. \nYour personal data will not be shared outside of the department. Where information from the responses is shared wider, it will be anonymised. \nRetaining your data \nWe will retain your personal data for no longer than one year. Anonymised and non-personal data may be kept for up to four years for statistical purposes. \nWhere we store and use your data \nYour personal data will be processed in the UK within secure UK government systems which use the Government Microsoft 365 environment hosted in UK-based data centres. As your personal data will be stored on our IT infrastructure it will be shared with our data processors Microsoft and Amazon Web Services and may be transferred and stored securely outside the UK. Where that is the case, it will be subject to equivalent legal protection through an adequacy decision, the use of Standard Contractual Clauses or a UK International Data Transfer Agreement. We will not make additional copies of personal data to store outside of this environment. \nTo exercise your rights please contact the Data Protection Officer using the contact details below. \nHow to contact us \nIf you have any questions or concerns about our use of your personal information or are unhappy with the way we have handled your personal data, please write to the department’s Data Protection Officer in the first instance using the contact details below. \nDSIT Data Protection Officer, \nDepartment for Science, Innovation and Technology, \n22-26 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2EG. \nEmail: dataprotection@dsit.gov.uk  \nIf you consider that your personal data has been misused or mishandled, you may make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an UK independent regulator. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: \nInformation Commissioner’s Office \nWycliffe House \nWater Lane \nWilmslow, Cheshire \nSK9 5AF \nHelpline number: 0303 123 1113  \nICO website: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/"
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}