Figure 1. Evolution of the Prodex budget since 1986
The Prodex Programme was created at a time when several ESA Member States were limited in the funding of experiments and instruments for ESA missions desired by universities and other scientific institutions. Furthermore, Prodex has the advantage of being able to expand ESA's sphere of operations since it is also available to non-Member States, thereby attracting the interest and support of other countries, especially those with which ESA has entered into cooperation agreements. The Prodex Programme Office fulfils the role of coordinating experiment development and awarding industrial contracts
In June 1986 the ESA Council adopted a resolution for the creation of the optional programme called Prodex (PROgramme de Développement d'EXperiences scientifiques). The concept for this programme was originated by the well known Swiss scientist Prof. Johannes Geiss, and the Head of the Swiss Delegation to Council, Dr. Peter Creola. The stimulus was based on the fact that within Switzerland, which did not have a national space agency, only very limited funding and no long-term commitment could be secured from the Swiss National Science Foundation for the development of space hardware. It was therefore conceived that an ESA experiment development programme, to which Switzerland could contribute, would have a twofold benefit. Firstly this type of programme would enable Swiss scientists to develop ESA-selected experiments, and secondly it would trigger other funding sources, thereby increasing the opportunities for participation in ESA scientific missions.
Not surprisingly, Switzerland was the first Member State to join the Prodex programme, on 8 October 1986. Subsequently, Ireland joined in August 1987, Belgium in June 1988, Norway in June 1989, Austria in June 1991 and Denmark in June 1994. The programme, open to the participation of non-Member States, has also been joined by Hungary, whose participation was unanimously approved by ESA Council in March 1996.
As outlined in the ESA Council Declaration of 1986, the main objectives of the Prodex Programme are:
To manage this programme, a small team, the 'Prodex Programme Office' staffed by the authors of this article, was established at ESA/ESTEC. Hierarchically, the Head of the Prodex Office reports directly to the Director of Scientific Programmes and, in parallel, interacts directly with the Delegations of the Participating States on all Prodex matters. ESA Council monitors and controls the execution of the Prodex Programme and approves the annual budget, which is summarised in Figure 1 and Table 1.
Figure 1. Evolution of the Prodex budget since 1986
Table 1 . Contribution to Prodex in MAU (million accounting units) per year / per country
The Implementing Rules, as approved by ESA Council, define the conditions governing the execution of the Prodex Programme and describe the means of interaction between the Participating States and ESA.
The Agency (ESA) is responsible for the evaluation and selection of the scientific instruments or experiments according to the rules and procedures in force. The Participating States shall inform the Agency of their agreement to finance within Prodex the proposals selected by the Agency. Once an instrument or experiment has been selected and its financing secured, the Agency concludes an arrangement with the institute or university concerned which defines the specific modalities needed to develop the respective instrument or experiment. It will, in particular, fix the total projected cost of the instrument or experiment which shall be spent in principle within the territory of the Participating State and will assure that no less than 50% of these projected costs will be spent through industrial contracts within the territory of the Participating State. The Agency will conclude and manage industrial contracts in cooperation with the respective institutes and universities. Upon request, the Agency will give scientific advice.
The contracts for the development of the selected instruments or experiments are awarded in accordance with the rules and procedures in force, but call for tenders are restricted to the industries of the Participating State that has decided to finance the corresponding instrument or experiment. Each Participating State shall provide the Agency, over a period of five years, with a financial envelope broken down into annual slices. Any surplus on each individual slice shall automatically be carried forward to the following year. Ten percent of each annual slice is reserved for covering the costs of the Agency, i.e. the running of the Prodex office. The updating of the annual slices will take into account the changes in economic conditions. Each Participating State may notify the Agency of increased financial envelopes and annual slices during the course of each year.
The Agency, acting on behalf of the Participating State, shall be the owner of the assets produced under Prodex for a period of 5 years after delivery. During that time, however, and by request of the Participating State, the assets funded by the Participating State will be put at the disposal, free of charge, to the selected institute or university. After a period of 5 years, this institute or university shall become the owner of the said instrument or experiment.
The Prodex Programme is an open programme. ESA Member States can become Participating States subscribing to the declaration and to the present rules in force provided that all other Participating States agree. Non-Member States may apply to take part in Prodex. In such cases the Director General shall submit the application to the Council, whose approval of it must be unanimous and arrived at in agreement with the Participating States, which shall unanimously determine the terms for participation by the acceding State.
The rules may be revised by unanimous decision of the Participating States. Any amendment shall be referred to the Council for approval.
Following the selection of the instrument or experiment, an 'Institute Agreement' is established. This agreement outlines the responsibilities of the institute concerned, describes the interaction with the Prodex Programme Office, and is used in the preparation and placement of any financial commitments made by the Agency (ESA) to the university or institute.
An 'Institute Agreement' lays down the following rules:
Figure 2 is a schematic of the interaction between the institutes, industry and the Prodex Programme Office.
Figure 2. The principal lines of interaction within Prodex
Following the selection of an experiment by one of the Agency's Programme Boards (SPC, PB-EO, PB-MG, etc.), the Delegation of the supporting country informs the Prodex Programme Office of its agreement to finance the experiment from its contribution to the Prodex budget. Subsequently, the Programme Office prepares the 'Institute Agreement' and invites those responsible for the experiment to prepare a financial plan which, after approval by the respective Delegation, governs the development of the experiment.
Once the statement of work and specifications are prepared by the institute, they are reviewed by ESA staff, i.e. representatives of the Prodex Office, the contract officer, a representative of the project for which the experiment has been selected and technical experts, as required. The experiment representative participates in this review process.
The industrial procurement process follows normal ESA rules and regulations. Once a contractor is selected, the technical management of the industrial development activities is shared with the experiment representative. Progress meetings and reviews are attended by all interested parties (as per the review process), with the exception of the contract officer who attends only in cases of contractual disputes. Once industrial development is completed, the experiment representative is invited to accept the final hardware product.
The annual budget of the Prodex Programme is established based on the financial envelope provided by the Participating States. This follows the normal ESA budget structure. Care is being taken to ensure that at least 90% of the annual slice of funding is used for external expenditure on experiment development, thereby keeping the internal ESA costs to an absolute minimum. To provide as much flexibility as possible in the Prodex Programme, it has been agreed that any surplus from the annual slice will automatically be carried forward to the following years.
To allow the various institutes to benefit from ESA's standing procurement agreements with suppliers, large pieces of equipment are purchased by ESA and delivered to the institute.
The financial expenditures are controlled by the Prodex Programme Office and presented to the Delegations on a regular basis. During these meetings, the Delegations are also informed of technical progress made. Each Delegation has full visibility of expenditures made from its contribution to the Prodex budget.
The Delegations of the Participating States also meet on an annual basis to discuss issues of mutual interest, including any necessary updates to the Implementing Rules, new members and so forth.
The first experiment financed by the Prodex Programme, a diffusion cell culture chamber for the Space Biology Group of the ETH in Zurich, flew as a mid-deck experiment on the Space Shuttle in 1987. This was soon followed by the contributions that Swiss, Belgian and Irish experimenters provided to the EIT (Fig. 3), CELIAS (Fig. 4), VIRGO, UVCS and COSTEP experiments for the SOHO mission.
Figure 3. The Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) for the SOHO mission (courtesy of Spacebel and Centre Spatial de Liège)
Figure 4. The entrance system of the CELIAS experiment for the SOHO mission (courtesy of Contraves and University of Bern)
Developments in the Prodex Programme are not limited to experiments for missions in the Science Programme, but are also included in Microgravity and Earth Observation Programmes. Examples of experiments for these programmes are:
Figure 5. The Polarisation Measurement Device of Envisat's Sciamachy instrument (courtesy of OIP and the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy)
Figure 6. The space Bioreactor flown twice on the Space Shuttle (courtesy of Mécanex, IMT and the ETH Space Biology Group
Figure 7. ERS-1 image of the Viking Bank in the North Sea acquired on 10 August 1995 . It is a section of a low-resolution (100 m) image produced for near real-time delivery to the pollution control authorities. The bright points in the image are oil rigs. The black areas emanating from them are probably waste water or drilling fluid (courtesy of TSS and ESRIN)
The Prodex Programme has become very popular within the Participating States and their scientists are appreciative of the support that the programme provides. Additionally, funding for experiments is not limited to those selected for ESA missions but is also available for missions co-funded by ESA and other missions for which ESA's scientific interest has been recognised by the respective Programme Board or by Council.
Industry has also found the Prodex Programme to be a profitable experience. One of the programme's most helpful achievements has been to facilitate dialogue and cooperation between universities and private industry. The resulting synergy of knowledge helps in optimising the application of new techniques and in building industry's competitiveness, both in space-related and non-space-related activities.
The institutes and industries currently involved in Prodex Programme activities are listed in Table 2.
Table 2. Institutes and industries currently involved in Prodex activities
Due to its flexible, open-minded and pragmatic approach, the Prodex Programme has become an ideal tool for allowing potential future Member States to become more familiar with ESA procedures and practices. This is of particular interest for countries with whom ESA has signed Cooperation Agreements, such as Greece, Poland, Portugal and Rumania. In particular, Hungary has recognised the benefit of this unique opportunity by seeking to become a Participating State member in the Prodex Programme, a request that the ESA Council has unanimously accepted.
ESA Bulletin Nr. 91