Arctic Region: Safety, Navigation and Operations
Arctic Region: Safety, Navigation and Operations supports companies and collaborative teams developing space-enabled services to improve Arctic navigation, operational safety and incident response.
Funder: European Space Agency
Due Dates: September 5, 2026 (APQ opening) | November 5, 2026 (APQ deadline)
Funding Amounts: Proof-of-concept activity costs up to €600,000; pilot costs assessed case by case; ESA co-funding depends on participant profile and national approval
Summary: Supports space-enabled services for safer navigation, resilient operations and faster incident response in the Arctic.
Key Information: Bidding teams must be based in eligible participating countries and secure national authorisation for ESA funding; Greek proposals are not admissible.
Description
ESA’s Business Applications and Space Solutions (BASS) programme supports proof-of-concept studies and pilot projects developing commercially sustainable, space-enabled services for Arctic safety, navigation and operations. This non-competitive opportunity is one of three complementary Arctic Region sub-calls. It responds to melting sea ice, newly accessible shipping routes, increasing traffic and the hazards of operating in remote areas with limited infrastructure.
Priorities include ice monitoring, route optimisation, search and rescue, situational awareness and operational safety across maritime, air and land activities. Projects can use satellite Earth observation to monitor conditions and hazards, satellite communications to maintain resilient remote connectivity, and satellite navigation to provide positioning, navigation and timing. ESA seeks services grounded in genuine operational user needs, with clear commercial potential and demonstrable benefits.
