This project, renamed ACROSS (Asteroid Collaborative Research by Occultation Systematic Survey), aimed at considerably improving the predictability of stellar occultations by small and difficult targets such as the Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs). In particular, it focused on the binary asteroid 65803 Didymos, target of the DART (NASA) and Hera (ESA) missions, and other NEAs: either secondary targets of Hera, or NEAs whose orbit is accurate enough. Stellar occultations are an unbeatable approach to:

For long-term studies, numerical simulations are at the center of predicting the space debris environment of the upcoming decades. In the scope of the study, the authors present the architecture and proof-of-concept results for a numerical simulation capable of modeling the long-term debris evolution over decades with a deterministic conjunction tracking model in contrast to typically employed Monte Carlo methods. For the simulation, an efficient propagator in modern C++ accounting for Earth’s gravitational anomalies, solar radiation pressure, and atmospheric drag was developed.

Space Based Solar Power concepts promise the generation of large amounts of renewable power by launching vast Solar Power Satellites (SPS) into space and beaming the power back to rectennas on Earth. Due to diffraction physics, large scale arrays delivering 2GW of power to the ground will be on the order of a kilometre in length and have masses between 2,000 and 10,000 tonnes. As of January 2020, the amount of debris orbiting the Earth exceeded 8,000 metric tonnes. A decommissioned SPS would therefore have the potential to create a step change in the mass of debris humanity has created.

The main objective of this activity was to develop and demonstrate new techniques which are expected to improve the current state-of-the-art Space Weather forecasting techniques and products related to Space Weather effects for Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) systems in the Arctic, with particular attention to the Greenland area. For this purpose, the activity investigated and tested innovative methods for monitoring and predicting Space Weather impacts on PNT in interested area.

The BIOINSPACED project was initiated to find bio-inspired solutions for space debris removal because the identification, orbital alignment, capture and removal of uncooperative bodies in space is incredibly complex and no fully functioning method is available to date. Biology and its evolved mechanisms often provide specialized concepts that show great transferability to technical systems.

The objective of the Space Weather impact on Arctic Navigation (SWAN) project has been to
develop and demonstrate new techniques, which are expected to improve on the current
state-of-the-art space weather forecasting techniques and products related to space weather
effects for Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) systems in the Arctic, with particular
attention to the Greenland area.

Increased radiation levels, as a result of space weather, has been recognised as an important risk for spacecraft and launcher operations. Recently threshold levels of solar energetic particle (SEP) flux and solar activity have been considered as a baseline criteria for launches. After the launch of Gaia in 2013, the transfer included manoeuvres reliant upon the AOCS star trackers, operating in interplanetary space and whose reliability could be seriously impacted by radiation storms known as Solar Particle Events (SPEs).

Collision avoidance is part of routine operations today. Detailed re-entry predictions and assessment of on-ground risks are regularly performed for high interest objects such as payloads of ESA or its member states. Both activities rely on uncertainty information, which has to be propagated along the trajectory and mapped to quantities which are not state vectors, e.g. collision plane and on-ground location. Current approaches rely on either Monte Carlo methods (with few runs) or propagation of covariance assuming a simple model of the dynamics, in particular of the air drag perturbation.

This work has primarily focused on establishing scenarios where inflatable devices could be the most useful. Given that these missions rely on aerodynamic drag that results in (potentially significant) heating, the authors have sought to find solutions to minimize heat fluxes acting on the device surface, and especially keeping it within the limits of flexible/foldable TPS materials for the aerocapture scenario.