The European Operations Framework EOF
The European Operations Framework activity, short EOF shall provide a platform to discuss and deliver guidelines and technical solutions as recommendations for regulation & licensing authorities and standardization bodies, in the context of commercial on-orbit operations ensuring an improved implementation and exploitation for European technology & products.
The “product” of the EOF is a document containing definitions, a handbook part and guidelines for all community stakeholders and other relevant entities in form of recommendations. The definitions and the handbook are released by the PERASPERA-consortium and the European Commission, by whom the activities are funded within the HORIZON programme. The initial set of recommendations has been subject to the 3rd EOF workshop held on 28-29 September 2022 in Cologne, Germany.
That workshop started with an international day containing updates about Japanese, American & European sector activities of On-Orbit Services. Expert working groups gathered together to define & discuss recommendations and to agree on a further issue of the European Operations Framework document.
On day one, the 45 international participants on site and more than 100 people online (via PEXIP & Quickchannel) were provided with a status update from various relevant organizations (including the European Commission, JAXA, CONFERS, ESA) on the subject of on-orbit servicing, including detailed insights into technology development, standardization and also in legal & regulatory aspects. The workshop was accompanied by a technology exhibition including the “Walking Manipulator” known from the MOSAR project and its modular satellite concept (SpaceApps), the robotic arms VISPA (AIRBUS) & TINA (DLR) and the possibility of taking a virtual reality tour at the International Space Station ISS with reference to the PERIOD project. The working results produced by the community on the second day are now being transferred to an update of the EOF document “Handbook & Guidelines” and are to be released by the 7 participating space agencies for transmission to the European Commission by the end of 2022.
The PERASPERA-X team is looking forward to continuation of the community work.
Documents:
- EOF_abstract EOF_V2.0
- EOF_V2.0 Guidelines & Handbook
- P4 – The European Operations Framework (EOF) and the EOF Guidelines for On-Orbit Services
If you are interested in joining the EOF activities, please do not hesitate to contact the PERASPERA-X team through the German Space Agency @DLR via spacerobotics[at]dlr.de