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The activity 'Small Satellite Missions to Mars (S2M2)' is an early-phase architecture study of a potential low-cost mission to Mars as further step in the Mars exploration roadmap developed by ESA.

A potential implementation from industry’s point of view was assessed, applying the strict design-to-cost philosophy by fostering strong reuse of an available OHB platform. Trade-offs were performed for assessing a low-cost mission profile targeting the programmatic constraints that were input to this study.

As on Earth, space debris should not only be seen as a threat. Instead, the value of waste as a recycled good should be understood. On Earth, this potential is already fully recognised. The German recycling industry alone generates more revenue than the entire European space industry. Nevertheless, this treasure was never lifted in space.

Previous ESA Studies, such as the LUNA study 'Artificial Analogue Concepts for Preparing Robotics and Human Exploration on the Moon' identified gaps in European infrastructures to simulate surface operations with lunar soil (simulant) in a vacuum. There exist several vacuum chambers or terrain models such as the coming EAC LUNA facility which can be used for testing equipment either in a vacuum or on a simulated lunar terrain, but not both.

The focus of this study was the system-level assessment of potential small mission architectures that could operate at Mars in the 2030s, after or potentially in parallel with MSR mission.

In particular two cases were evaluated:

• Mission 1: Mars Communications Constellation (MCC), for supporting assets on the surface and providing science
• Mission 2: Mars Science Orbiter (MSO), a science-driven mission, remote sensing