Newsgroup: it.scienza.astronomia
Titolo: [Fwd: ESA Aurora's roadmap to Mars (Forwarded)]


Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Pasadena CA
Newsgroups: sci.space.news
Followup-To: sci.space.policy
ESA News
http://www.esa.int
19 December 2003
Aurora's roadmap to Mars
Now that Mars Express has successfully released Beagle 2 on its way to 
Mars the next step in Europe's exciting journey to Mars will be 
completed on Christmas Day, with the arrival of ESA's Mars Express 
orbiter, and the delivery of the Beagle 2 lander to the planet's dusty 
plains.
Over several years, Mars Express will survey the entire planet in 
unprecedented detail, mapping the surface, probing for underground water 
and analysing the thin, carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere. Down below, the 
miniaturised instruments on Beagle 2 will search for signs of primitive 
life and cast some light on the environmental hazards to humans.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, ESA's Aurora Programme is already looking 
several decades ahead to a time when humans will leave their footprints 
in the red sands of Mars.
ESA scientists and engineers, supported by the European scientific and
industrial communities, have been working to put together a 
comprehensive plan for the robotic and human exploraration of the solar 
system, and notably of the Moon and Mars. This plan will greatly benefit 
from the expertise and knowledge that is being gained from the Europe's 
pioneering Mars Express mission.
Aurora's long-term plan
The latest version of this ambitious roadmap was presented at the third 
Aurora Working Meeting in Cologne in November. This long-term plan, 
which has been endorsed by Aurora's Exploration Programme Advisory 
Committee (EPAC), recently received the blessing of the Aurora Board of 
Participants.
Aurora's long-term plan stems from two strands: the current human 
spaceflight experience in low Earth orbit (LEO) and the development of 
robotic planetary exploration. The former is to be continued and 
enhanced so that human spaceflight can be extended beyond LEO. The 
latter will be pursued throughout the Aurora Programme with the aim of 
extending capabilities towards larger spacecraft suitable for the human 
exploration of the solar system. The intertwined development of 
capabilities in the two strands will eventually result in Europe being 
able to play a key role in a future international human mission to Mars.
The early robotic missions will build on the capabilities and 
discoveries of Mars Express and Smart-1 in order to acquire the 
scientific knowledge and technological expertise necessary to pursue 
more advanced missions. Meanwhile, ground-based studies (e.g. Concordia 
station in Antarctica) and experiments or demonstrations on the 
International Space Station will pave the way for in-flight 
demonstrations of human spaceflight technologies.
These are some of the highlights of the current Aurora roadmap:
* 2007: an entry vehicle demonstrator mission to validate and 
demonstrate high-speed re-entry technology.
* 2009: ExoMars, an exobiology mission to send a rover to Mars in order 
to search for traces of life -- past or present -- and characterise the 
nature of the surface environment.
* 2011/2014: Mars sample return, a split mission to bring back to Earth 
the first samples of Martian material.
* 2014: Human mission technologies demonstrator(s) to validate 
technologies for orbital assembly and docking, life support and human 
habitation.
* 2018: a technology precursor mission to demonstrate 
aerobraking/aerocapture, solar electric propulsion and soft landing 
(formerly envisaged as a smaller Arrow-class mission to be launched in 2010)
* 2024: a human mission to the Moon to demonstrate key life support and
habitation technologies, as well as aspects of crew performance and 
adaptation and in situ resources utilisation technologies.
* 2026: an automatic mission to Mars to test the main phases of a human 
mission to Mars.
* 2030/2033: a split mission that will culminate in the first human 
landing on Mars.
"This plan is based on inputs from industry and previous working 
meetings, as well as deliberations with the Aurora Exploration Programme 
Advisory Committee," said Dietrich Vennemann, head of the Aurora 
long-term planning team.
"It is a living document, not carved in stone, as the redefinition of 
the aerocapture demonstration mission demonstrates, " he added. "This 
means that the timeline will be updated regularly in order to take 
account of results generated within the programme.
"This is Europe's roadmap, and its implementation will take into account
co-operation with international partners. We see this objective as an 
ambition for humanity," he explained. "Aurora is Europe's opportunity to 
fulfil this ambition."
Related news
* Mars Express releases Beagle 2
 
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMSSY274OD_index_0.html
* Christmas on Mars: be there with ESA
 
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM06Q274OD_index_0.html
* ESA's first step towards Mars Sample Return
 
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Aurora/SEMQH0XLDMD_0.html
* "Aurora is the door to the future," says ESA's next Director General
 
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMH4PWO4HD_index_0.html
Aurora
 
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Aurora/index.html
* More about Aurora
 
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Aurora/SEMZOS39ZAD_0.html
* Flagship missions
 
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Aurora/SEM1NVZKQAD_0.html
* Arrow missions
 
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Aurora/SEM9JVZKQAD_0.html
* Aurora roadmap poster (pdf)
 
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/aurora.pdf
Europe goes to Mars
 
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/index.html
IMAGE CAPTIONS:
[Image 1:
http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMXZY274OD_index_1.html
]
Draft design of the human modules for Mars exploration currently being 
studied in the ESA/ESTEC Concurrent Design Facility in the framework of 
the Aurora long-term plan
Credits: Liquifer, Viena, Austria
[Image 2:
http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMXZY274OD_index_1.html#subhead1
]
Artist's impression of the ExoMars rover with its exobiology payload
Credits: ESA
[Image 3:
http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMXZY274OD_index_1.html#subhead2
]
The Concordia station, a new scientific base being built in Antarctica 
by IPEV - the French Polar Institute, and PNRA, the Italian Antarctic 
Programme.
Credits: IPEV
-- 
Manuele Rampazzo - infinito (at) mclink (dot) it
Da 10122 giorni contribuisco al Progresso Umano?

 grazie :-)
    ma come si fa ad astenersi dal commentare la solita parodia di una
astronautica paraplegica che paraplegicamente manda con alterne fortune
oggetti su Marte e che utilizza gli episodici successi per continuare a
fregare mega $$$$$ di finanziamento che non ci condurranno da nessuna
parte......
che comincino a porre un avamposto umano sulla Luna invece di pianificare
impossibili e pericolosissime (per chi ci va) esplorazioni di Marte con la
propulsione a trombetta !
Sveglia gonzi altrimenti si arriverą all'anno 3000 con questi giochetti!
Conclusione per gli indispettiti ipocriti che se non plonkeranno raglieranno
contro:
"......se dici la veritą preparati un cavallo..."
E.Laureti

 Ah, che roadmap adottano altre agenzie spaziali?
Nessuna.

 E dunque, sotto con le sonde!
In effetti penso che potrebbe essere sì il caso di aumentare il 
quantitativo di sonde e simili, anche se invece sembra che stia 
accadendo l'esatto contrario...
Sul fatto che, invece, si debba escludere la possibilità d'esplorazione 
umana... mah :-) sarà che da piccolo, come penso quasi tutto qui, 
sognavo di diventare astronauta, ma credo che la mancanza di voli umani 
possa far perdere quella vena se vuoi "romantica" relativa 
all'esplorazione spaziale, che altrimenti sembrerebbe ai più molto arida 
e fondamentalmente riservata solo ai pochi eletti che ne riescono a 
capire i risultati scientifici.
Forse, quindi, anziché pianificare esplorazioni per così dire 
"pubblicitarie", gli enti dovrebbero intanto progettare di mettere 
radici sul nostro spazioporto ideale, la Luna :-) Marte magari a quel 
punto potrebbe anche aspettare un 10-20 anni in più...
Comunque mi sembra che questa sia una discussione ormai vecchiotta, no? :-)
Ciao,
Manu


Gli enti governativi non arriveranno mai su Marte. E non torneranno
sulla Luna per restarci. Questo e' sicuro.
Per vedere dei normalissimi uomini fare gli astronauti nello spazio,
sulla Luna o su Marte, bisognera' iniziare a pensare alle societa'
private. 
Solo i privati potranno liberare l'umanita' dalla culla che ormai ci
tiene prigiorieri.
Aprite gli occhi e guardatevi intorno. Qualcosa si muove....