What was once science fiction is becoming reality. Many around the globe expected the 21st century to be one of space travel and planetary exploitation. However, the political and economical drivers needed to nurture and drive such advancements have been lacking since the end of the Apollo programme, shifting the focus of space endeavours from interplanetary to Earth bound and allowing for developments in Earth observation, telecommunication and navigation.
In the past decade, several national and international space programmes have been showing increased interest in planetary exploration. The United States, Europe, Japan, China, Russia and India have been planning and/or executing a number of robotic planetary missions. In addition, the United States has announced its plans to return to the Moon, and Europe has endorsed the Aurora programme with the ultimate goal of a manned mission to Mars by 2033.
Despite this renewed drive behind space exploration, the contrast with respect to the Apollo era is that the space organisations and nations involved are aiming to achieve their goals within limited financial budgets and at carefully calculated risks. This results in a ‘step by step’ approach allowing for the required technologies to be tested and demonstrated during programmes that include several technology demonstrating missions. The European Aurora programme is a good example of this approach, where each of its missions builds on proven technologies and aims to demonstrate new ones. Its first mission, ExoMars, builds on ESA’s experience gained on Mars Express, and focuses on demonstrating advanced rover technology, aided by NASA’s experience gained during the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) missions.
The above example also demonstrates another feature of today’s exploration programmes: International Cooperation. Driven by the need for cost effectiveness and risk reduction, national and international space agencies are seeking cooperation and enabling the exchange of knowledge, expertise and resources. NASA’s Mars lander mission, Phoenix, will be assisted during its descent and entry by ESA’s Mars Express orbiter for data relay, while ESA’s ExoMars mission baseline relies on NASA’s MRO for data relay. Such cooperation also extends to the scientific output of the various missions.
We believe that cost effectiveness, risk reduction and international cooperation, are key to maintaining the momentum of the exploration programmes and to their success. This requires advanced technologies to be implemented, not only on the space segments, but also on the ground segments, allowing for reduction of costs during the design, test and validation, and operational phases of the missions. Risk reduction and cooperation are assisted by standardisation, efficient interfaces and knowledge management, and effective training.
VEGA is playing a key role in the definition and implementation of standards and interfaces allowing for interoperability between space agencies and supporting our capabilities in Ground Segment design. Training solutions have been instrumental for ESA’s most challenging missions, with continued developments to ensure they meet the requirements for the forthcoming challenging exploration missions. Enterprise Architecture Modelling enables dynamic knowledge management and efficient planning, and provides consultancy to clients’ programmes and investments.
In addition to NASA’s vision to return to the moon, ESA’s Aurora programme, the European national lunar mission studies (Germany, UK, Italy, France), and the exploration activities of Japan, China, Russia and India, there are several entrepreneurial activities developing technologies to enable access to space for mankind. Almost four decades since the first landing on the moon, today we seem to be reminded of Tsiolkovsky’s words again: "The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but mankind cannot stay in the cradle forever."
Having played a key role in all ESA’s interplanetary missions, VEGA today builds on its rich experience for its support to the national and international exploration initiatives. Why? Because in addition to our technical and consultancy expertise, we are driven by our enthusiasm for space and our passion for exploration.
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