ESA_Transparent Alloys Experiments onboard the International Space Station (TA2), Due: Mar 16, 2025

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ESA Announcement of Opportunity “Transparent Alloys Experiments onboard the International Space Station (TA2)” ‒ AO-2024-TA

INTRODUCTION

The European Space Agency’s “Science in Space Environment” (SciSpacE) element of the European Exploration Envelope (E3P) programme includes scientific activities on research platforms such as ground-based space analogues (e.g., bedrest studies, research on Antarctic stations, radiation facilities, drop tower, parabolic flights, sounding rockets), as well as onboard the International Space Station (ISS). SciSpacE activities cover the disciplines of Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Moon & Mars Sciences, with an emphasis on scientific excellence, space research- and exploration-relevance, innovation and timely delivery. Its research results will advance Europe’s knowledge base, support its economy and help prepare future human and robotic space exploration. In addition to gaining fundamental knowledge, the research carried out within ESA’s SciSpacE element is helping to deliver solutions to problems back on Earth; e.g., developing innovative materials to manufacture products, removing pollutants from water, improving engine efficiency, testing new medical techniques and support equipment for the elderly and disabled.

This Announcement of Opportunity (AO) is part of ESA’s Ready to Fly initiative, which anticipates the preparation of ISS flight experiments against the background of an upcoming decommissioning of the station and its research facilities, with various uncertainties associated to that. The essence of this initiative is that scientific investigations are solicited, selected and already developed for execution so that they can be readily implemented if and once the opportunity for this presents itself still.

This AO falls within the domain of solidification physics, and more in particular addresses the topic of microstructural evolution in crystalline materials during the liquid-solid (or reverse) transition. Subject of the Research Announcement is the Transparent Alloys facility onboard the ISS (TA-ISS). This facility has been successfully operated by ESA in the timeframe 2018–2024 for six experiment campaigns (typically lasting 8–10 weeks each) and comprising a total of fifteen Transparent Alloys Cartridges (TACs) containing various sample materials. The Ready to Fly initiative projects four additional TACs for probably one or two further experiment campaigns. The document at hand provides an overview of the research opportunity offered within this announcement and of the sequence of events starting from the submission of the research proposals to the selection, definition and implementation of the investigations.

OBJECTIVE OF THIS OPPORTUNITY

The objective of this opportunity is the selection of scientific investigations to cover a complement of four TACs that will serve as the second experiment series (TA2) for the TA facility onboard the ISS. This facility consists of a Bridgman furnace in which melting/solidification experiments can be done and observed in situ. The experiments use transparent organic substances that melt at near-ambient temperatures and serve as analogues for other crystalline and notably metallic alloys. Extending scientific knowledge in these areas is of pinnacle importance in further advancing the predictive capabilities of numerical modelling approaches for casting and solidification processes, which in turn are key to the manufacturing of almost all (metallic) industrial and consumer goods on Earth.

Specifics of this Announcement of Opportunity are as follows.

• The proposed experiments are to be conducted only with pre-existing and pre-qualified infrastructure/hardware and procedures. This includes the TA flight module (and its control and data management), selected cartridge designs and sample materials, and ground-based capabilities (such as the cartridge filling apparatus and TA ground module). Experiment proposals that go beyond these and possibly other current constraints will not be considered.
• In line with the spirit of the Ready to Fly initiative, there is no guarantee (but the firm intent) that the selected investigations will eventually be implemented. Also, science teams will need to provide high flexibility on their supporting activities both during the preparatory and operational phases of the investigations.
• In addition to established research teams and projects (ESA AO research projects), scientists that have not worked with TA-ISS before are encouraged to apply. Further, first-time Principal Investigators are encouraged to apply so as to foster a new generation of scientists to conduct research in the space environment.

THE FACILITY TARGETED WITH THIS OPPORTUNITY
The TA-ISS is a multi-user facility that provides directional and isothermal melting and solidification capabilities for transparent organic substances. The use of such substances – that are translucent in the liquid phase and opaque in the plastic/solid phase – as sample material enables an in-situ video-microscopy imaging of crystal formation and other morphological changes in dependence on solidification parameters, for instance. Eutectic (e.g., SCN-DC) as well as peritectic alloy systems (e.g., NPG-TRIS) exist. Performing such experiments in microgravity provides purely diffusive conditions (i.e., the absence of thermo-solutal convection that obscures the solidification mechanisms for experiments conducted in a gravity environment). The facility is used as an insert within NASA’s Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG), providing the utilities.

The TA facility consists of three main sub-units: the experiment unit (with a so-called Bridgman furnace assembly and the observation system), the control unit (with power supply and changeable hard disks for data storage), and the exchangeable cartridges (with the sample materials). The furnace assembly includes a hot clamp and a cold clamp with an adiabatic zone in between. The sample material can be first molten and the glass cartridge then pulled from the hot zone to the cold zone with solidification occurring in the adiabatic zone. Hot and cold clamp temperatures, as well as cartridge position and translation (pulling) speed are well-controlled and can be set/varied within wide limits. The solidification process is observed by either the Normal Observation Camera (NOC) or the High Angle Camera (HAC), with the high-resolution time-resolved imaging data being stored for later download. One experiment can consist of several melting-solidification runs. A run follows a pre-developed script and can be monitored from console on ground and remotely by the science teams, with limited intervention (e.g., for fine-tuning of optical parameters) possible during and between experiment runs.

The exchangeable sample cartridges consist of a central fused quartz window (overall width of 25 mm and overall length of 100 mm) clamped and sealed between two stainless steel end parts. The window section includes the flat, rectangular solidification volume in the central (observation) area and is interconnected at either side to expansion volumes (outside the field of view of the cameras). The latter can reversibly accommodate the thermal and phase-change volume changes of the sample material during heating and cooling (of up to 10 vol.%) by means of so-called volume-compensation straws. Cartridge materials are chemically resistant to the experiment alloys.

Two cartridge types will be available for the TA2 experiments, indicated as TAC–A and TAC–B. These were deployed successfully before for the METCOMP and the SETA experiments, respectively. Solidification volume has a width of 6 mm and a thickness of 1 mm for both types. Glass thickness on either side of the experiment alloy is higher for the TAC–A cartridge than for the TAC–B cartridge for it to be operated at higher temperatures. The downside of this is that the cartridge can only be used effectively with the NOC for observations perpendicular to the window and not with the HAC for oblique observations (the window being too thick to allow focussing).

The experiment materials for the ground and flight investigations are to be provided by the science teams with adequate quality. They are to be accompanied by a materials delivery certificate that specifies the alloy chemical compositions and describes their synthesis and handling. The materials will have to be shipped to ESA/industry in syringes. These syringes will then be used for filling the designated type of cartridge using the ground-filling station. For this, a syringe is mounted in the filling unit. The filling unit is positioned inside an oven, set to a temperature above the liquidus temperature of the experiment material. Prior to filling, vacuum is created in all valves, pipes and the cartridge and once the valves are opened the vacuum is filled with the experimental substance, which is guided to the cartridge. There is also the option of filling the cartridge with two (slightly) different material compositions, eventually providing for an axial gradient. Filled cartridges are placed in a cartridge box, flushed with dry air. The cartridge boxes are uploaded to the ISS in a foam-padded transportation bag.

Further information on the facility, the available cartridge types and acceptable experiment materials is given in the AO Information Package (document in attachment).

APPLICATION PROCESS

The scientific institution for which the coordinator of a proposal is working must be located in one of the ESA member or associated member states that contribute to the SciSpacE element of the E3P programme: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom. Scientists from other ESA Member States that do not contribute to the SciSpacE Programme and scientists from other European countries having a cooperation agreement with ESA are encouraged to enquire with their national space organisation about the conditions for their participation in proposals to ESA. Furthermore, applicants will need to confirm that they have informed their national agency/delegation before submitting their proposal. The Points of Contacts can be found in the Attachments section of this page.

Research proposals can be submitted to the OSIP platform. All information on this AO including a proposal template is also available from there. Please send your proposal by clicking “Submit Your Idea” and by filling in all sections of the submission form. You can also use this platform to ask questions if needed.

The submission deadline for this Research Announcement is February 15, 2025; 24:00 CET.

The Privacy Notice Consent Form is provided as an attachment at the end of the page. Signed and dated forms are to be uploaded in PDF format and named as "LastName_FirstName_PN_Consent".

Special Conditions

DATA RIGHTS

The general data policy of ESA’s Directorate for Human and Robotic Exploration Programmes (HRE) will apply to all data resulting from the experiments in the context of this Research Announcement. Specifically, ESA shall be the owner of all the Raw and Calibrated Data directly resulting from experiments implemented in the context of this opportunity, ESA shall thus be entitled to use (i.e., disseminate, valorise, preserve) the Raw and Calibrated Data resulting from the Experiments for its own purposes in the field of space research and technology and their space applications. ESA will grant the science team an exclusive right of prior access to the raw and calibrated data. The duration of the exclusive right (“Period of Prior Access”) shall be twelve (12) months from the provision by ESA of the data to the Investigator in a form suitable for analysis. This provision by ESA includes all the agreed science deliverables upon the completion of the science acquisition process, resulting from the execution phase. After this exclusivity period – unless otherwise agreed upon – data will be made publicly accessible and available.

Results of the investigations shall be made available by the scientific teams to the scientific community through publication in appropriate journals or other established channels as soon as practicable and consistent with good scientific practice. In the event such reports or publications are copyrighted, ESA shall have a royalty-free right under the copyright to reproduce, distribute, and use such copyrighted work for their purposes.

Upon completing the investigations, data from the experiments will be collected in the Human and Robotic Exploration Data Archive (HREDA) for long-term data preservation and dissemination purposes.

Evaluation Criteria

EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS

Evaluation of the submitted proposals will be done by independent peer review. The criteria that will be applied for scientific merit and research-platform relevance evaluation of the proposals are as follows.

Science Merit

• Significance (50%): Does the proposed study address an important problem or challenge indicated within AO? Is there a clear, well- grounded and elaborated scientific justification and motivation provided in the proposal? Does the proposed research lead to an advance which is incremental or paradigm shifting?

• Approach (35%): Are the conceptual framework, design, methods, and analyses adequately developed, well integrated, and appropriate to the aims of the project? Will the experiment yield statistically robust results and if not, is it justified? Does the applicant acknowledge scientific risks and suggest mitigation? Has a data management plan been provided? Is the requested platform mandatory for the proposed study, or can other (laboratory) means be used before using this platform?

• Knowledge translation (15%): Will the results of the research provide a benefit to Earth or for space exploration? Will the results (or other aspects related to the experiment) have a sustained impact on research in the future?

• Personnel and Environment (Pass/fail): Are there sufficient and appropriate personnel dedicated to the project?

Each proposal will receive a scientific merit score between 0 and 100 points. The proposals will receive one of the following marks: outstanding (100‒91 points), excellent (90‒81 points), very good (80‒71 points), good (70‒61 points), fair (60‒51 points), inadequate (50‒0 points). Only proposals receiving a scientific merit score of “very good” or higher (score of 71 or higher) will proceed in the evaluation process. Furthermore, a minimum score of “good” or higher (score of 61 or higher) is needed for each sub-criterion. This is to ensure the selection of proposals that are balanced and scoring well across all sub-criteria composing the overall score.

Research Platform Relevance

Can the objectives and protocol be achieved within the capabilities and constraints of the ISS platform and TA facility? Is the requested platform mandatory for this proposed study? Can other laboratory means be used without/before going to this platform? Given the limited availability and constraints of this platform, it is important that only experiments which cannot be done on ground use these platforms. Therefore, if a proposal cannot demonstrate a clear need for the chosen research platform, it will not be recommended for selection.

After the peer-review evaluation, proposals with a relevance and science-merit score above the thresholds considered for selection will be subjected by ESA to a detailed technical feasibility review. The objectives of this review are: (1) to assess the compatibility of the proposed project objectives and requirements with ISS capabilities, (2) to assess the suitability/feasibility of the proposal to be executed with the pre-existing and pre-qualified infrastructure/hardware and procedures, (3) to identify and rank the areas of technical risk or uncertainty, and (4) to perform a preliminary assessment of resources required for implementation and operation of the proposed project. It should be noted that there may be cases where proposals that pass the science-merit threshold are not selected as they are considered unfeasible from the technical or resource-requirement standpoint. In these cases, the rationale for not selecting these proposals will be clearly identified.