Author Topic: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition  (Read 25348 times)

Offline Alpha_Centauri

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #40 on: 12/24/2017 09:14 pm »
A little late in updating this as it slipped my mind but I have the full list of 13 semi-finalists in the M5 competition. Turns out the previous rumours were slightly wrong, ENVISION did in fact make it and no Jupiter mission got through
Alpha_Centauri, can you tell me where this is posted?

Posted? Well confusingly there are a few different lists doing the rounds on the internet, but as I understand it this is an example of the correct one from a CNES presentation to the French Astrophysics and Astronomy Society in July (page 35);

http://sf2a.eu/semaine-sf2a/2017/presentations/S00/CNES_2017.pdf


The other lists going round mostly have 12, missing e-ASTROGAM.  However the e-ASTROGAM people certainly seem to believe they are still in it, here is a presentation from October at the 2nd e-ASTROGAM workshop in Munich (the last downselect was announced to the teams officially in June);

https://agenda.infn.it/getFile.py/access?sessionId=3&resId=0&materialId=0&confId=13913


I updated my post on the first page of the thread with a little more information.
« Last Edit: 12/24/2017 09:23 pm by Alpha_Centauri »

Offline redliox

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #41 on: 12/24/2017 09:24 pm »
Posted? Well confusingly there are a few different lists doing the rounds on the internet, but as I understand it this is an example of the correct one from a CNES presentation to the French Astrophysics and Astronomy Society in July (page 35);

http://sf2a.eu/semaine-sf2a/2017/presentations/S00/CNES_2017.pdf


Looks good but problem is it's all in French and no obvious option for translation.

-Correction, there are a few slides that are in English near the end including what I believe is the list 'kane was looking for.
« Last Edit: 12/24/2017 09:28 pm by redliox »
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Offline Alpha_Centauri

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #42 on: 12/24/2017 09:27 pm »
The page relevant to M5 (page 35) is mostly in English, probably copy-pasted from another presentation.
« Last Edit: 12/24/2017 09:28 pm by Alpha_Centauri »

Offline Star One

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #43 on: 12/24/2017 10:20 pm »
A little late in updating this as it slipped my mind but I have the full list of 13 semi-finalists in the M5 competition. Turns out the previous rumours were slightly wrong, ENVISION did in fact make it and no Jupiter mission got through;

HEAVY METAL: Exploring a magnetized metallic asteroid
HERA:  Saturn Entry Probe Mission
JANUS. Exploring the asymmetric magnetosphere
DEPHINE: Deimos and Phobos Interior Explorer
SELMA: Surface, Environment and Lunar Magnetic Anomalies
ENVISION: Understanding why our most Earth neighbor is so different
e-ASTROGAM: At the hearth of the extreme Universe
ESCAPE: European SpaceCraft for the study of Atmospheric Particle Escape
GALILEO Galilei (GG): a mission to test the founding pillar of General Relativity to 10-17
CASTALIA: A mission to a Main Belt Comet
THESEUS:  Transient High Energy Sky and Early Universe Surveyor
SPICA: Unveiling the obscured Universe
ALFVEN: A mission to study particle acceleration in strongly magnetized plasmas

Downselect to 3 finalists is I understand in February 2018 after a 6-month delay due to the funding issues at the last ministerial conference. There were complications with the M4 final selection which was due in November that has also caused delay, so I would expect that result any time now.
Thank you.  Been wondering when something would happen with this call.  Surprising number of solar system missions (which tend to be more complex than astronomy or astrophysics missions).  I think it would be hard for Heavy Metal or Dephine to be selected given the Psyche and MMX missions.  The proposed M5 missions would do additional science compared to the approved missions, but I doubt it would be enough more to make either selectable.

Totally agree with your point about Heavy Metal & Delphine as they should be easy eliminations being as they are already been done by other missions.

Offline vjkane

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #44 on: 12/25/2017 05:52 pm »
Totally agree with your point about Heavy Metal & Delphine as they should be easy eliminations being as they are already been done by other missions.

I'm actually curious about the timing of ESA's selection of these missions.  From their website, it appears it would have occurred after NASA's selection of the Psyche mission and JAXA's approval of the MMX mission.

Offline Star One

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #45 on: 12/25/2017 05:54 pm »
Totally agree with your point about Heavy Metal & Delphine as they should be easy eliminations being as they are already been done by other missions.

I'm actually curious about the timing of ESA's selection of these missions.  From their website, it appears it would have occurred after NASA's selection of the Psyche mission and JAXA's approval of the MMX mission.

That makes it a rather a curious choice in both cases.

Offline Alpha_Centauri

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #46 on: 12/25/2017 08:27 pm »
ESA has a two-stage process for selecting the finalists.

The first stage is the Technical and Programmatic review where it assess things like the cost of the mission, including technology development required, as well as if the development timeline fits ESA's schedule. This stage has nothing to do with the science, and its this stage that led to the downselect in June. As the science is not assessed, the fact there are missions that are now effectively duplicates is not taken into account. Because this downselect is effectively down to cost, a lot of the survivors are Earth Science missions, which for various reasons do not blow the cost cap. Heavy Metal and Dephine similarly survived because they did not blow the budget.

The second, current stage is when the science assessment is made as well as issues of programmatic balance. Here is where the prospective science return will be decided.
« Last Edit: 12/25/2017 10:34 pm by Alpha_Centauri »

Offline redliox

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #47 on: 12/26/2017 02:29 am »
"Let the trails lead where they may, I will follow."
-Tigatron

Offline as58

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #48 on: 12/27/2017 08:52 pm »

Posted? Well confusingly there are a few different lists doing the rounds on the internet, but as I understand it this is an example of the correct one from a CNES presentation to the French Astrophysics and Astronomy Society in July (page 35);

http://sf2a.eu/semaine-sf2a/2017/presentations/S00/CNES_2017.pdf

The presentation also says that M6 has been cancelled due to budget cuts and cost overruns (Bepi Colombo and Solar Orbiter are mentioned).

Offline vjkane

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #49 on: 05/07/2018 03:40 pm »
Finalists for the M5 competition announced

Note the final selection will be in 2021 (a three year study period!).  I saw a recent ESA chart showing a tentative M5 launch in the early 2030s; don't know if this was definitive or not.

Release:

The three candidates, the Transient High Energy Sky and Early Universe Surveyor (Theseus), the SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (Spica), and the EnVision mission to Venus were selected from 25 proposals put forward by the scientific community.

Theseus, Spica and EnVision will be studied in parallel and a final decision is expected in 2021.

"I am impressed about the quality and breadth of the missions proposed for M5. Each of the selected proposals has high scientific value, and would ensure a continuation of Europe's expertise in the fields of planetary science, astrophysics and cosmology" says Günther Hasinger, ESA Director of Science.
How did the Universe begin and what is it made of?

Theseus is a novel mission to monitor transient events in the high-energy Universe across the whole sky and over the entirety of cosmic history. In particular, it promises to make a complete census of gamma-ray bursts from the Universe's first billion years, to help shed light on the life cycle of the first stars.

Gamma-ray bursts can be released during a supernova, or as a dying star collapses after such an explosion to form a neutron star or black hole, for example. Theseus would provide real-time triggers and accurate locations of such high-energy events, which could also be followed up by other space- or ground-based facilities operating at complementary wavelengths.

In addition, Theseus would also be able to follow up on gravitational wave observations by locating and identifying radiation from sources spotted by other detectors.
How did the first stars and galaxies form?

Understanding the origin and evolution of galaxies, stars, planets and life itself is a fundamental objective of astronomy. These topics can be explored with a sensitive infrared survey, peering through the clouds of dust that typically obscure the sites of star birth.

Spica, a joint European-Japanese project that offers significant improvement in far-infrared spectroscopic and survey capabilities over NASA's Spitzer and ESA's Herschel space observatories, would ensure continuing advances can be made in this field. It would also complement the capabilities of existing and foreseen major observatories, such as the ground-based Atacama Large Millimetre/submillmetre Array and the space-based Webb telescope.
Why did Earth and Venus evolve so differently?

Venus is often considered as Earth's evil twin. Despite being roughly the same size and neighbours in the inner Solar System, the two planets have evolved very differently: Venus has experienced a catastrophic runaway greenhouse effect and today is enshrouded with a thick toxic atmosphere.

EnVision follows on from ESA's highly successful Venus Express that focused primarily on atmospheric research. Planned to be implemented with NASA participation, next-generation EnVision would determine the nature and current state of geological activity on Venus and its relationship with the atmosphere, to better understand the different evolutionary pathways of the two planets.

It would map the surface and obtain detailed radar images, improving on those obtained by NASA's Magellan in the 1990s to provide greater insight into the geological evolution of the surface.

The next years will provide a detailed technical and scientific definition of the three concepts, before one mission is selected to fill the fifth medium-class opportunity in ESA's Cosmic Vision plan.

Solar Orbiter, Euclid, PLATO and ARIEL have already been selected as medium-class missions to be launched during the next decade.

Offline redliox

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #50 on: 05/10/2018 07:41 am »
EnVision would be grand to see happen since all the Venus visits could be used.
"Let the trails lead where they may, I will follow."
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Offline Dizzy_RHESSI

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #51 on: 10/19/2020 04:13 pm »
Some news from last week:

Quote
SPICA no longer candidate for ESA's M5 mission selection

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS/JAXA) have announced their decision to no longer consider the infrared space observatory, SPICA, as a candidate for the upcoming selection as ESA's 5th medium-class mission in its Cosmic Vision Programme (M5).

https://sci.esa.int/web/cosmic-vision/-/spica-no-longer-candidate-for-esa-s-m5-mission-selection

The official reason cited was cost and complexity. There is some grumbling on twitter that this announcement came while the Phase A study was still ongoing.

Offline SciNews

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #52 on: 11/24/2020 11:44 am »
SPICA Collaboration: "The European Space Agency has cancelled the ESA Medium Class M5 mission candidate SPICA (the SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics) just a few months before the Mission Selection Review (MSR) process begins. The nature of this cancellation leaves us with no confidence in the decision-making processes at the highest levels of the European Space Agency (ESA)."
https://spicarebelalliance.com
Nature Correspondence - Explain ESA’s last-minute ditching of new space telescope
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03288-z

Offline Alpha_Centauri

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #53 on: 06/10/2021 10:51 am »
It's Envision.

https://twitter.com/esascience/status/1402925778354987008


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57416589
Quote
You wait ages for a mission to Venus and then three come along at once.

The European Space Agency has just selected a probe called Envision to go study the second planet from the Sun.
« Last Edit: 06/10/2021 11:03 am by Alpha_Centauri »

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