Currently extensive mission preparation / mission customisation ("missionisation") activities are required for each specific launch trajectory. This approach is costly and each launch can take place only within a narrow set of conditions (e.g. wind) risking postponement, increasing cost even further. Using a more aircraft like approach with guidance and control preparation according to flight envelope not per trajectory, while increasing operational availability and safety early in the development process is essential to achieve the benefits of recurrent space transportation flight.

Supersonic Retro Propulsion (SRP) is a technique to augment the deceleration capabilities of launchers boosters returning from space. SRP involves upstream-pointing thrusters that supplement (and, potentially, increase) the body?s aerodynamic drag to ensure a sufficient velocity reduction.

A new approach to produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere is proposed, linking two emerging technologies: non-thermal plasmas and ion-conducting membranes. Microwave plasma sources lead to high conversion rates and enable plasma ignition with light and compact solid-state generators. The unique pressure and temperature conditions on Mars are favourable for plasma CO2 decomposition, and the experiments and simulations carried out anticipate a competitive oxygen production per mass and volume of hardware in a future prototype.

A clustered rocket engine is made up of smaller, easier to manufacture thrusters that can be controlled individually instead of a single, more expensive combustion chamber: thrust vector control (TVC) can be achieved via differential throttling, reducing the need for heavy gimbals and actuators.The proposed activity targets the development of TVC methodologies that are able to effectively cope with independent throttling capability as well as handle failures in one of the cluster?s engines.

Key challenges for solar fuel technologies to become viable and widely deployed are their durability and cost. These challenges directly relate to the semiconductor-electrolyte (SE) interface inherent to traditional photoelectrochemical (PEC) approaches and to the low energy density of solar radiation (~1000 W/m2) and its stochastic and cyclic nature, requiring large processing areas with idle waiting time (i.e. low capacity factors).

The project MESG: Moon Energy Storage and Generation, funded by ESA (Contract Nr. 4000119561/17/F/MOS), demonstrated the feasibility of using processed lunar regolith simulant to store heat and, while releasing it, to produce electricity. The possibility to use adequately processed (compacted and eventually doped) lunar regolith for this purpose is a key development on the path to make sustainable long-term lunar habitation a reality.