For the past 20 years ESA has invested in the development of robot systems, in support of human spaceflight and exploration. A robot relies heavily on specific software, called robot controller software (RCS)? or robot operating system, that can provide? tight coordination of perception, reasoning and motion functions. In these years several tens of millions of Euros of RD and project budgets have been spent in developing RCS for various purposes. While this has allowed to progress space robot technology and projects, the approach used in the past is not sustainable.

Background and justification:

Several hundred mission scenarios were analysed with a high level of detail both at mission analysis and mass budget level, to properly identify robust and feasible solutions. Three of them make use of both staging and aero-braking to reduce the spacecraft wet mass (mass with fuel), and they all rely either on chemical propulsion or on a mixed system combining a chemical engine with two very powerful electrical thrusters (ARM engines).

Testing the validity of general relativity at cosmological and microscopic scales is a challenging open question. The impediment at cosmological scales is our lack of understanding of dark matter and dark energy. At microscopic scales, it is the unknown effect of gravity on quantum mechanics. Recently, space-based matter wave interferometers have been proposed as candidates for addressing certain aspects of both these problems.

After prolonged interplanetary trips, the human neuron-muscular-skeletal system suffers severe deconditioning and impairment of the corresponding functions. In particular, the loss of neuron-sensory control and motor skills can be problematic and shall be counteracted efficiently. Integrated countermeasure systems shall be developed to allow astronauts being fit as soon as possible after landing (be it on earth or at their destination, e.g. Moon/Mars).

The International Space Station (ISS) is slowly approaching the end of its mission. The European Space Agency (ESA) and its international partners are considering new mission targets for the future of human space exploration in the post-ISS era. Highest ranked on the list of potential targets are a return to the Moon, Near-Earth Objects or asteroids, the moons of Mars (Phobos, Deimos) and, as the ultimate target, the surface of Mars.

BIOMASS is a polarimetric P-band (435 MHz) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in a dawn-dusk low Earth orbit. Its principal objective is to measure biomass content and biomass change in all the Earth’s forests. The launch of BIOMASS is envisaged for around 2020, with the mission expected to last around five years.

Methane is formed as a product of air revitalisation onboard spacecraft (Sabatier reactor) and also within the MicroEcological Life Support System Alternative (MELiSSA). By its nature, the methane molecule represents a mass in carbon and hydrogen. As these two elements are core elements of organic chemistry, they deserve to be seriously studied for the closure of life support system cycles. Unfortunately, today methane is known to be an end-product of the said recycling processes.