The Innovative Propulsion Cross Cutting Initiative (IP-CCI) follows past and ongoing cross cutting initiatives at ESA by focusing on particular topics of interest in breakthrough technologies, taking into account the needs of user programmes and industry and exploiting the potential of propulsion technologies across the complete R&D life cycle.
Innovative Propulsion, by definition, shall:
Bring significant positive benefit in terms of mass, performance, cost and flexibility.
Be at low TRL yet enough (>TRL2) to be engineered and demonstrated in a medium term.
Enable new missions or applications.
Facilitate the creation of new markets.
Enhance reliability and competitiveness.
The objectives of the IP–CCI are:
To identify and support the strategic interest of ESA member states, industry and academia.
To stimulate the propulsion ecosystem of the ESA member states.
To increase the technology readiness, implement IOV/IOD missions, foster the research, development and testing capabilities and demonstrate the applications and services.
To provide an increased visibility of innovative propulsion activities for space.
Objective of the Workshops
The workshops are organized by the Propulsion, Aerothermodynamics, and Flight Vehicles Engineering Division of ESA under the coordination of:
Davina Di Cara
Dirk Schneider
Thomas Searle
Victor Fernandez Villace
Eva-Marie Dupuy
The workshops will serve to the collection of future vision, needs and requirements for the development of Innovative Propulsion systems and technologies in order to consolidate the ESA Innovative Propulsion roadmap. The workshops constitute the forum where the participants will voice their interests and contributions towards the Innovative Propulsion topics.
The workshops are open to industries (suppliers & users), research institutes/centres and National Agencies from ESA Member States.
Each workshop is organised around a particular topic. The participants can apply to any workshop of their interest. The list of workshops and corresponding chairs is provided below, whereas each topic is introduced briefly in the programme.
| # | Topic | Chair | Co-chair |
| 1 | High Efficiency Atmospheric-Breathing Electric Propulsion | E. Bosh Borras | L. Walpot |
| 2 | Advanced Airbreathing Propulsion | D. Perigo | J. Steelant |
| 3 | Rotating and Pulse Detonation Propulsion | S. Hyde | C. Jéger |
| 4 | Water Propulsion | A. Herbertz | D. Di Cara |
| 5 | Long Term Storability and Operation of Hydrogen Peroxide | C. Hunter | F. Valencia |
| 6 | Innovative Aerodynamic Surfaces | L. Walpot | S. Schuster |
| 7 | Long-term In-space Cryogenic Propulsion and ISRU Propellants | S. Hyde | D. Perigo |
| 8 | Space Tethers | E. Bosh Borras | D. Di Cara |
| 9 | Beamed Energy Propulsion | A. Herbertz | N. Arcis |
| 10 | Nuclear Electric Propulsion (*) | N. Arcis | J. Steelant |
| 11 | Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (*) | A. Herbertz | C. Jéger |
| 12 | Metallic Propellant for Chemical Propulsion | M. Ford | L. Delsupexhe |
| 13 | Advanced High Altitude Platform Systems (aHAPS) | O. Cohen | C. Jéger |
| 14 | Innovative Propulsion on Non-Terrestrial Bodies | M. Ford | J. Steelant |
(*) The workshops on Nuclear Electric and Nuclear Thermal Propulsion are deferred to a TBD date owing to the ongoing ESA CDF and Phase 0/A studies, the outcomes of which will help determining the technology gaps, needs and priorities. Nonetheless, the interested participants are encouraged to already apply and submit their responses to the corresponding topical questions posted through the registration form.
