Aurora Programme
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The Aurora Programme of the European Space Agency is an ambitious long term undertaking of manned and unmanned exploration of the Solar system, and particularly Mars, with the Moon being possible intermediate step.
As previously envisaged, the strategy called for a human expedition to Mars by 2030. Member states commit to participation for five-year periods (the first is 2005-2009), after which they can change their level of participation or pull out entirely.
As of today, only the ExoMars robotic mission has been formally approved.
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[edit] Missions
The first decade is planned to focus on robotic missions.
[edit] Flagship missions
So-called Flagship missions planned as part of Aurora include (as of September 30, 2005):
- ExoMars, consisting of an unmanned orbiter and rover, launching in 2013
- a joint unmanned Mars Sample Return mission with NASA, delayed until at least 2016
[edit] Arrow missions
Arrow missions are technology demonstrator missions focused on developing a certain technology needed for the Flagship missions. Approved Arrow missions so far (as of January 30, 2003):
- Earth re-entry vehicle/capsule, a step in the preparations for the Mars Sample Return mission.
- Mars aerocapture demonstrator, to further develop the technologies for using a planet's atmosphere to brake into orbit. (This particular mission seems to have been revised into an expanded mission to demonstrate "aerobraking/aerocapture, solar electric propulsion and soft landing" to be launched in 2018. Compare [1] and [2]).
[edit] Roadmap
The proposed Aurora roadmap (as of September 30, 2005. This roadmap can, and most likely will go through revisions):
- 2007 – Earth re-entry vehicle/capsule
- 2011 – ExoMars, a Mars rover. The scientific objectives include exobiological studies as well as study of the surface of Mars.
- 2014 – Human mission technologies demonstrator(s) to validate technologies for orbital assembly and docking, life support and human habitation
- 2016 – Mars Sample Return mission with NASA
- 2018 – A technology demonstrator for aerobraking/aerocapture, solar electric propulsion and soft landing (formerly envisaged as a smaller Arrow-class mission to be launched in 2010)
- 2024 – Human mission to the Moon
- 2026 – Automatic mission to Mars
- 2030/2033 – First human mission to Mars, as a split mission
Only ExoMars has been formally approved during the December 2005 Ministerial conference, which will postpone to a later date or cancel altogether the Earth re-entry vehicle/capsule, which was proposed for 2007.
The human part of the program has been challenged by the main ESA contributors (France, Germany and Italy), making it quite possible that the whole Aurora Programme will be refocused on robotic-only exploration of Mars.
