BELGIAN SPACE TECHNOLOGIES CALL 2026 NAVISP ELEMENT 2

ADVANCING BELGIAN INNOVATION IN POSITIONING, NAVIGATION AND TIMING TECHNOLOGIES

The Belgian Defence, BELSPO (Belgian Science Policy Office) and the European Space Agency (ESA) invite Belgian companies and research organisations to submit project proposals under the Belgian Space Technologies Call 2026 – NAVISP Element 2.

This call is organised within ESA’s Navigation Innovation and Support Programme (NAVISP) and aims to support the development of innovative Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) technologies. NAVISP Element 2 seeks to strengthen the short- and long-term competitiveness of European industry in global PNT markets while fostering the development of resilient and autonomous navigation capabilities for future space systems.

SCOPE OF CALL

For this edition, Belgian Defence particularly encourages proposals addressing one of the following priority areas.

Ultra-Stable Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs)

Development of space-qualified Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) capable of providing reliable and autonomous attitude, velocity and orbit determination in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO), even during prolonged degradation or complete loss of external references such as:

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals;
Star trackers;
Inter-satellite navigation updates.

Celestial Navigation for Resilient Space PNT

Development of passive celestial-navigation solutions capable of providing alternative orbit determination through onboard measurements and processing.
The proposed technologies should enable autonomous spacecraft operations when GNSS services, radio-frequency links, inter-satellite communications or ground infrastructure become unavailable, degraded or compromised.

WHO CAN APPLY ?

Applicants must be legal entities established in Belgium.

Eligible participants include:

Large enterprises;
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs);
Start-ups;
Research centres;
Universities and higher education institutions (as project partners).

Projects involving cooperation with organisations from other NAVISP participating states are welcome, provided that the Belgian-funded activities are carried out in Belgium.

Applicants must be registered in ESA-STAR before contract award. As the registration process may take time, participants are strongly encouraged to initiate their registration as early as possible.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Step 1 – Outline Proposal Submission

Interested applicants must submit an Outline Proposal through ESA’s Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP).

Following submission, applicants may benefit from technical discussions with the NAVISP team to refine their proposal.

Important: ESA and Belgian Defence reserve the right not to engage in technical discussions with applicants whose Outline Proposal is submitted less than 20 days before the submission deadline.

Step 2 – Pre-selection

Outline Proposals will be jointly assessed by Belgian Defence and ESA.

Selected applicants will receive detailed feedback, including comments, recommendations and points requiring particular attention in the preparation of the Full Proposal.

Applicants who are not retained will be formally informed of the outcome of the evaluation process.

Step 3 – Full Proposal Submission

Applicants invited to proceed to the next stage must submit a Full Proposal through ESA-STAR.

Following the pre-selection phase, Belgian Defence will issue an Authorisation of Funding (AoF) for selected activities. This document formally authorises ESA to proceed with the contractual process, subject to a positive evaluation of the Full Proposal.

Applicants are encouraged to carefully review the AoF, as it contains important information regarding the contractual and funding conditions applicable to the project.

TIMELINE

Important documents

Call PNT ESA

Funding Conditions

NAVISP Element 2 projects are co-funded by industry and ESA.
The ESA contribution typically ranges between €500,000 and €3 million per project.

IRSD-KHID-RHID