The main goals of the DPEM project was [RD1] "to set the foundations for the development of a comprehensive suite of near surface dusty plasma environment models applicable in particular (but not only) to airless bodies of interest for future exploration missions such as asteroids, the Moon, Phobos and Deimos, etc … These models shall allow the definition of charged dust environment specifications to assess the effects of dusty plasmas on near surface or surface exploration units (spacecraft, payload, lander, astronaut) in a surface-spacecraft-dust environment system."

Space capsule crew injury protection from landing forces originated from research originally conducted into fast jet ejection. There, the primary focus was on the protection of the pilot’s spine from over-compression and led to the one-dimensional Dynamic Response Index (DRI) for assessing the spinal injury potential of measured acceleration pulses.

Public awareness of the urgent need for mitigating the environmental impacts of human activities is ever growing. This results in a more and more stringent public environmental legislation and an increasing public pressure. In this context, the European Space Agency (ESA), as a public sector intergovernmental organisation, wants to put the environmental concern as a priority in all its activities, as expressed in its Framework Policy on Sustainable Development.