[meteorite-list] Next Phase Reached in Definition of ESA's Mars Sample Return Mission

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat Apr 8 10:32:25 2006
Message-ID: <200604071606.k37G60s14401_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMJAGNFGLE_index_0.html

Next phase reached in definition of Mars Sample Return mission
European Space Agency
7 April 2006

ESA has taken a further step in preparing for participation in Mars
Sample Return (MSR), the landmark mission to return samples from the Red
Planet, with the announcement of the next phase of industrial activity.
 
The Phase A2 activity will address many critical issues and identify key
areas in which Europe can participate in this flagship of the Aurora
Programme.

The search for evidence of life outside the Earth is one of the
fundamental goals of space exploration, and has been one of the driving
forces behind the efforts to explore the planet Mars. This
investigation, key to unlocking the "big" question regarding life in the
universe, is increasing in pace and is already beginning to provide
answers. This is also one of the leading scientific threads of ESA's
Aurora Space Exploration Programme that was approved at the ESA Council
meeting at Ministerial level held in Berlin last December.
 
Currently four orbiting explorers are scanning the surface of Mars in
ever more detail, including Europe's own Mars Express, while on the Red
Planet itself two NASA rovers are due to be joined in 2013 by ESA's
ExoMars rover. The ExoMars mission will take Mars exploration and the
search for life to a new level, with an advanced set of life detection
instruments as well as the capability to drill into the Martian surface
to search for signs of life, a first for Mars. These missions, while
providing a wealth of data, are however somewhat limited in that they
must take the laboratory to Mars, facing restrictions on power, mass and
having to carry out scientific operations in a very harsh environment.
The obvious question then arises; why not bring Mars to the laboratory?
Hence, the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission.
 
The MSR mission has been recognised by European and International
scientists as one of the next major milestones in the exploration of the
Red Planet, and would represent a quantum leap in the study of possible
life there with scientists able to use the full range of Earth based
facilities and laboratories. This mission also represents a critical
step on the path to the ultimate goal of performing a human mission to
Mars, since it involves the full sequence of landing, operating,
launching from Mars and returning back to Earth. The technology
developments required to enable a MSR mission are also to some extent
common to future lunar exploration missions.

ESA recognises the importance of this mission in the frame of the
European Aurora Programme, and is now embarking on a twelve month Mars
Sample Return Systems Study. This work, which builds on a first study
step initiated in 2003, will prepare the way for Europe to play a key
role in an international MSR mission. Past ESA work has already defined
as a starting point an MSR mission launched in two parts. The first
consists of a Mars orbiter and an Earth return capsule, while the second
carries the surface lander and the Mars ascent vehicle which will launch
the sample into Mars orbit ready for return to Earth. The new "MSR Phase
A2 Systems Study", which will be undertaken by European industry in
close coordination with ESA, will be performed in two main steps.

The first step will address the remaining options still to be assessed
and choices to be made with respect to the overall mission design. This
includes the option of having the orbiter "capture" the sample container
in Mars orbit, or having the ascent vehicle perform a docking manoeuvre.
This trade-off, as with much of the work to be performed in this first
step, will draw upon the technology development and experience gained
during the initial phases of the Aurora Programme.

The refinement of the mission architecture will also include interaction
with international partners, in order to prepare for future cooperation
on the MSR mission. Additional work will also be performed to assess the
impact of features such as surface mobility on the MSR mission, i.e.
what is the cost of being able to move around and select specific
samples. Having refined the mission design, development paths will be
identified for each of the critical capabilities involved in the mission.

The second step of the Phase A2 work will identify within the capability
development paths, steps which might be accomplished through precursor
missions. Such missions would include the demonstration of critical
technologies associated with, for example, soft-precision landing. As an
outcome of this, a shortlist of candidate precursor mission concepts
will be made.
 
Both of these steps will be performed in close interaction with the
scientific community, in particular through science workshops both
covering the requirements and objectives of the MSR mission itself, but
also the possible scientific elements of potential precursor missions.
The details of these science workshops will be made available in the
near future.

Through the MSR Phase A2 System Study, Europe not only aims to play a
key role in this landmark mission, but is also pro-actively addressing
the necessary steps to take in order to achieve its ambitious goals.
These steps have already been initiated in the frame of ongoing
technology development within the Aurora Programme, and may be continued
through the possibility of intermediate precursor missions to both
demonstrate the technologies associated with Mars Sample Return, while
also advancing our scientific understanding of the Moon and Mars.

Further steps in the definition of a Mars Sample Return mission,
building upon the outcomes of the Phase A2 work, will be implemented in
the frame of the Exploration Core Programme the element within the
Aurora Programme which covers activities for the preparation of the
future exploration of the Moon and Mars, both robotically and ultimately
with humans.
 
For further information:
 
Piero Messina
Aurora Space Exploration Programme
Tel.: +33 6 87715126
Piero.messina_at_esa.int
Received on Fri 07 Apr 2006 12:05:59 PM PDT