The ARTES Pioneer project Sapion is a public private partnership, implemented under the ARTES Partner programme, between ESA and UK small satellite provider Open Cosmos. Sapion is the first project to be implemented under the ARTES Pioneer programme aimed at supporting the establishment of European companies which serve as Space Mission Providers (SMP).
The Pioneer Sapion project will establish Open Cosmos as an SMP ready to offer its customers an affordable, timely and efficient service for the demonstration and validation of innovative technologies and applications through in-orbit proof of concept missions.
As part of the SMP service implementation within the Sapion project, Open Cosmos will optimise their Nanosatellite technologies and implement their Space Mission Provider service proposition. To this end, Open Cosmos will be supported by collaborations with partners and suppliers in order to offer a one-stop-shop service covering satellite operations, ground communications, mission support and customisation, payload and platform development, integration and testing, legal and regulatory support, launch acquisition, in-orbit demonstration campaign management and mission decommissioning.
The Sapion project will focus on the enhancement of the technologies needed to optimise the delivery of a cost effective demonstration mission, as well as carry out a demonstration mission to pilot for the first time the SMP service delivery to a selected customer. The first Sapion customer will provide the payload to Open Cosmos for integration, test, launch, in-orbit commission and subsequently carry out the payload and service validation campaign.
The Sapion project was launched in June 2017 and will continue for 30 months. This includes several months of evaluating the Open Cosmos SMP service through the execution of the in-orbit demonstration mission in collaboration with its first customers.
The Sapion project will establish Open Cosmos as and SMP ready to offer a key enabling service which will catalyse the innovation and maturation of space technologies for the benefit of European Industry.
