ARIA Scoping Our Planet

Enduring Atmospheric Platforms RFP

Supports United Kingdom atmospheric platform research collaborations focused on resilient high-altitude communication infrastructure.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

Enduring Atmospheric Platforms is a 3.5-year research programme run by the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), led by Programme Director Rico Chandra under the Scoping Our Planet Opportunity Space initiative. The programme targets the technical de-risking of low-cost, long-endurance aircraft platforms capable of sustained high-altitude flight, with the goal of enabling scalable high-altitude communications infrastructure that could address significant gaps in Earth observation coverage and connectivity. ARIA's approach funds a portfolio of research teams working on different aspects of the aircraft and systems challenge simultaneously, accepting that some bets will fail in exchange for faster collective progress across the field.

This specific Request for Proposals, with a submission deadline of 22 May 2026, seeks organizations that can provide supporting infrastructure to the research teams ARIA has already funded under the programme — specifically segregated aerospace testing space, platform guidance systems, and validation services. Eligible applicants include UK-registered for-profit companies, nonprofits, universities, and research organizations; individuals may not apply. International applicants with complementary specialized capabilities are explicitly welcome where their participation serves UK-based research teams. TRL range is 3 to 7. Award sizes per accepted partner are determined post-evaluation based on proposed scope; no published minimum, maximum, or pool figure has been stated in the public RFP documentation.

Organizations responding to this RFP should frame their proposals around the specific support capabilities ARIA has requested — testing space access, guidance systems, and validation — rather than proposing new aircraft development. ARIA operates under a high-risk, high-autonomy funding model: successful partners will need to demonstrate operational readiness to support active research teams on a defined programme timeline, and the ability to work flexibly alongside multiple independent research groups pursuing different technical approaches.