In the upcoming Announcement of Opportunity, economic operators are invited to propose either a Feasibility Study or a Demonstration Project addressing the theme of:
Cultural Heritage
KEY FOCUS AREAS
The cultural heritage as well as the natural heritage is increasingly threatened with destruction, not only by the traditional causes of decay, but also by changing social and economic conditions which aggravate the situation with even more formidable phenomena of damage or destruction. Deterioration or disappearance of any item of the cultural or natural heritage constitutes a harmful impoverishment of the heritage of all nations of the world. Protection of this heritage at the national level often remains incomplete, because of the scale of the resources which it requires and of the insufficient economic, scientific, and technological resources of the country where the property to be protected is situated.
The following scenarios have been identified as key focus areas:
- Cultural Heritage Fruition and Diffusion
- Cultural Heritage Preservation
VALUE OF SPACE
Space technologies can play an important role in conjunction with the deployment of novel technologies (e.g. AR/VR/immersive reality, UAV) in the fruition and diffusion as well as in the preservation of cultural heritage.
The proposed ideas must use satellite or space-based data as well as 5G technology.
• Satellite Communication: In case of UAV based operations, both command & control and payload data can be transferred exploiting SatCom, which can complement the terrestrial network or replace them in case of post-disaster scenario. SatCom can provide connectivity in those for example archaeological sites, where the terrestrial coverage is not reliable.
• Earth Observation: Earth Observation (EO) satellites can monitor the environment, weather and climate of the Earth. EO data can map terrain, produce detailed imagery, and detect minute changes to vegetation, structures and the atmosphere. Earth Observation can be exploited to identify and delineate the macro-changes induced on the landscape assets and on the historical centres.
• Satellite Navigation: Satellite Navigation enables positioning, geo-tagging of in-situ data.
WHAT WE LOOK FOR
We offer funding and support to companies, both for business case assessment and for the development of new, space-based services related cultural heritage Fruition and Diffusion and Cultural Heritage Preservation. Our offer includes:
• Technical & commercial guidance;
• Access to our network and partners;
• Use of the ESA brand for your service.
• zero-equity funding (see the table presented at the bottom of this page)
WHAT WE OFFER
We are looking for teams that have identified an attractive sustainable opportunity with real potential for engaging customers. Motivation, business experience and domain expertise are all important features. We want to hear about your sustainable ideas that involve either space technology or space data. For this call, companies residing in the following Member States will be eligible to apply: AT, BE, CH, CZ, DE, DK, FI, FR, GR, IE, IT, LU, NL, NO, PL, PT, RO, SE, UK. See also the information below on obtaining letters of support from National Delegations.
Closing date for the submission of the Outline Proposal: 13th January 2020.