188体育

1. 滨苍迟谤辞诲耻肠迟颈辞苍听听

The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) has been selected by NASA as its new flagship space astronomy mission, following on from missions like the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). A principal scientific goal of HWO is to search for Earth-like planets in our interstellar neighbourhood and to characterise their surfaces and/or atmospheres through direct spectroscopic observations in the search for evidence of life processes. This is to answer the question 鈥淎re We Alone?鈥�, one of the most exciting and fundamental in modern science. Even if no direct evidence for life is found, by surveying a sufficiently large population of objects, it will be possible to provide important constraints on the presence of life in the Galaxy. The results from this mission are expected to be profound.

Like HST and JWST, HWO will also be a general-purpose observatory able to provide revolutionary capability in many areas of astrophysics and planetary science. As with HST and JWST before, the timescale for the development, build and launch of HWO is measured in decades, with an expected launch in the early 2040s. HWO is currently planned to be a 6-8m aperture Ultraviolet, optical,鈥痑nd鈥痠nfrared (UVOIR) telescope. Mission development is now underway, led by NASA, with international participation. The project is entering a period where international partners will need to be identified and technologies evaluated.

The UK Space Agency sees a strong case for a lead role on HWO in terms of the potential scientific, economic, international and societal benefits. It has had a series of active engagements with the US and other potential partners with a view to making a UK-led instrument contribution that would build on UK heritage on exoplanet science and instrumentation, and experience leading the Mid InfraRed Instrument on JWST.

Two meetings, supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), have been held, to engage with the UK community and develop the academic and industry collaborations required to support a UK contribution. These workshops, focussing on understanding strengths and initiating discussions on a potential instrument contribution, have shown strong scientific and technical interest in HWO across the UK community. It is well understood that taking an active role at this level will enable UK researchers to shape and influence the mission in line with national interests.

To identify and advance potential UK contributions to HWO, the UK Space Agency鈥檚 Science & Exploration Bilateral Programme is announcing a targeted grant funding opportunity. This call aims to understand the feasibility of potential UK-led instrument concepts which could include, but are not limited to, a UV/Visible Imager or a Multi-object Spectrometer. Our current working assumption is that the Coronograph will be led by the United States, so the focus is likely to be on assessing the feasibility for the UK to lead, or co-lead, one of the other core instruments on HWO.

The funding provided through this call is intended to support proposals though a Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) review process, making use of facilities such as those at the University of Portsmouth or at Space Park Leicester (see contact details in section 3.3). There may be other suitable facilities and project teams will be free to choose the most appropriate for their proposal, arranging this work directly with them (however the UK Space Agency can support this interaction where required). This approach, involving external expertise/companies, will enable robust feasibility studies that can be confidently used to inform negotiations with NASA/ESA (and potentially other partners) on a potential UK role and to determine the best way forward. The principal objective is to explore options that offer the greatest benefits and strategically position the UK to secure a leading role in this flagship NASA mission.

2. Call details听听

The UK Space Agency can now put forward this grant funding call following approval of the Science & Exploration Bilateral Programme鈥檚 funding allocation for financial year 25/26. We are initially seeking submissions of Statements of Interests (SOI) which will undergo a preliminary sift by the UK Space Agency to ensure alignment with the principal objective of the call.听

SOIs passing that initial sift will provide insight to support upcoming European HWO discussions in Graz, Austria on 1st July as well as subsequent discussions at the HWO conference in Washington later that month. As such, all SOIs will need to be submitted to the UK Space Agency by 16 June 2025 to allow time for the initial sifting to take place prior to those crucial meetings.听听

Successful bidders from the sift will then be asked for more detail via Part 2 of the proposal to allow an independent review to take place. The guiding principles for evaluation of proposals will be science excellence/return alongside feasibility and affordability, as well as potential economic and societal benefits. This reflects the UK Government鈥檚 current focus on short-term economic growth and national security, as well as the desire to build stronger strategic international ties in support of these goals.听

Following this independent review of proposals, the UK Space Agency will then invite successful bidders to submit their applications for funding via the new UKRI Research Grants system (The Funding Service, TFS) for processing under the UK Space Agency/UKRI service level agreement, analogous to the process used for grants in support of ESA missions.听听

The total budget available for this call in FY25/26 will not exceed 拢300,000 (to support one or multiple proposals) and all funds awarded will need to be spent before the end of March 2026. This is intended to support projects to continue development including a Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) review process. This will ensure robust feasibility studies that can be confidently used to inform negotiations with NASA/ESA and discussions with UK government and other potential international partners.听

Please note that only UK national organisations eligible for UKRI grants can receive funding through this call. We expect international partners to provide their own funding for joint missions of this kind. Bids cannot be led by industry, but industry may be included as a subcontractor. Grant funds will be paid to the academic lead only. You should also bear in mind the impact of current political issues, potential difficulties with export licenses and travel when selecting partners for missions.听

Please also note that the UKRI grant regulations specify that for any award made, the UK Space Agency contribution will be 80% Full Economic Costs (FEC), and the academic institution must cover the remaining 20%. We will not seek match funding in addition to this, and overheads are calculated according to UKRI鈥檚 standard grant regulations. The UK Space Agency and UKRI will only award grants to proposals judged to be of sufficient quality and the UK Space Agency reserves the right to re-issue the call in a revised form if required.听听

We welcome enquiries from potential bidders for clarification of any aspect of the call. Please send these to [email protected] and note that answers provided by the Agency will be published on the UK Space Agency gov.uk website to maintain a level playing field. We will ensure commercial confidentiality by removing any specific details and publish details on call processes only.

3. Submitting your proposal听

Bidders should complete and submit Part 1 (Statement of Interest) of the proposal template. Please note that only the lead institution should submit an application and proposals should be submitted to the Science & Exploration Bilateral Programme mailbox 鈥� [email protected].

Bidders must also provide a statement of acceptance of the standard UK Space Agency/UKRI Terms and Conditions (T&Cs), as defined in Reference Document 3 (see section 3.2 below). Note that these T&Cs are not open to negotiation and that in submitting this statement, you are accepting the T&Cs on behalf of your organisation.听听

Proposals should be contained in single PDF file, which must include your statement of acceptance of UK Space Agency/UKRI T&Cs. Please keep to specified template page limits as material outside of these limits may not be considered. You will receive an email acknowledging receipt. Submitted proposals will be treated in strict confidence and only shared within the UK Space Agency Space Science & Exploration teams and with designated proposal reviewers.听听

The UK Space Agency will conduct an initial sift of submitted Part 1 (Statement of Interest) proposals to ensure alignment with the principal objective of the call. Projects which pass this initial sift will be asked to then complete and submit Part 2 of the proposal template. The deadline for Part 1 proposal submission is 5pm 16 June 2025. Bidders will be advised of the submission deadline for Part 2 by the end of June.

3.1 Summary timeline听

Submit Part 1 (Statement of Interest)听

Submit your Statement of Interest using the template provided no later than 5pm, 16 June 2025.

This is a concise (~5/6 page) description of concept, team and high-level schedule/cost.

The UK Space Agency will complete an initial sift of SOI proposals in mid-June to inform the July discussions in Graz and Washington DC.

Submit Part 2

Proposals passing the initial sift will be notified by the end of June and asked to submit Part 2 of the proposal (the submission deadline for this will be confirmed by the end of June) to enable independent panel review.

Funding Provided

Based on this panel review a small number of successful applicants will receive funding to continue their concept development and put their proposals through a Concurrent Design Facility review process during FY 25/26.

3.2 Reference documents听

The following documents contain useful information relevant to this Call:听

• RD1 鈥� National Space Strategy听

• RD2 鈥� UK Space Agency Corporate Plan 2022-2025听

• RD3 鈥� 听

3.3 Key contacts听

For further information and formal enquiries please contact:听

• Science & Exploration Bilateral Programme mailbox听[email protected]

• William Trafford 鈥� Science and Exploration Bilateral Programme (SEBP) AO Coordinator听[email protected]听听

• Rob Sainsbury 鈥� SEBP Lead听[email protected]听听

• Caroline Harper 鈥� UK Space Agency Space Science Lead听[email protected]听

• University of Portsmouth CDF听[email protected]听听

• Space Park Leicester CDF听[email protected]