Author Topic: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition  (Read 25340 times)

Offline vjkane

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ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« on: 01/08/2017 08:24 pm »
Proposals for ESA fifth medium class science mission have been submitted. I'm starting this thread to 1) collect a list of missions proposed and then 2) discuss the finalists following their announcement in June.

I know of three planetary missions that have been proposed:

HERA Saturn atmospheric probe
EnVision Venus mapper
Enceladus to Titan (E2T) multiple flyby orbiter

Schedule:

June 2017 finalists selected
2019 mission selected
2029 launch
« Last Edit: 02/04/2017 03:06 pm by Galactic Penguin SST »

Offline as58

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #1 on: 01/08/2017 08:44 pm »
AFAIK many (maybe most) of the M4 candidates were resubmitted for M5. Missions that I believe weren't submitted for M4:

SPICA (FIR observatory, mostly spectroscopy)
FLARE (NIR observatory for early universe research)

Offline Alpha_Centauri

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #2 on: 01/09/2017 06:53 am »
Below are proposals I know are definite, with links to clear public information;

Akon (Europa Penetrator)
https://europa.sciencesconf.org/data/pages/7_akon_jones_loi.pdf (PDF)

Alfven (Studying particle acceleration in Earth's aurora)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016EGUGA..1816890F
http://www.alfvenmission.org/news.php

ARAGO (UV-Vis spectropolarimetry observatory)
http://arago-mission.obspm.fr/index.php

CABIBBO (Charge-Parity violation and gravity)
---

Castalia (Main Belt comet probe)
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1709.03405.pdf (PDF)
https://sites.google.com/site/castaliathemission/

CASTAway (Main Belt telescopic survey)
https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1710/1710.10191.pdf (PDF)
https://sites.google.com/site/castawaymission/
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2017/pdf/2074.pdf (PDF)

CORE ("Cosmic Origins Explorer" - CMB survey)
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.04516.pdf (PDF)
https://agenda.infn.it/getFile.py/access?contribId=26&sessionId=0&resId=0&materialId=slides&confId=11736 (PDF)
http://www.inaf.it/it/sedi/sede-centrale-nuova/direzione-scientifica/ufficio-spazio/cmb-day/79_16_CORE_de_Bernardis_V01_CMBDay_V01.pdf (PDF)

CORE [Shame you picked a popular acronym...] ("Comet Rendezvous Explorer" - comet hopper)
---

DePhine ("The Deimos and Phobos Interior Explorer" - remote sensing of Deimos and Phobos)
http://elib.dlr.de/114571/1/EPSC2017-539-3.pdf (PDF)

E2T ("Explorer of Enceladus and Titan" - ELF-like flyby mission)
https://e2tmission.wordpress.com/

e-ASTROGAM (Gamma-ray observatory)
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1608.03739.pdf (PDF)
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1711.01265.pdf (PDF)
http://eastrogam.iaps.inaf.it/

EnVision (Venus SAR mapper)
https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1703/1703.09010.pdf (PDF)
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2016/pdf/1511.pdf (PDF)

ESCAPE ("European SpaceCraft for the study of Atmospheric Particle Escape" - I believe this may have previously been called "NOBEL", was "NITRO" in M4)
https://pnst.ias.u-psud.fr/sites/pnst/files/ESCAPE_summary%20and%20supporters.pdf (PDF)
http://cluster.irap.omp.eu/public/ESCAPE/ESCAPE_M5_Proposal_V1.1.pdf (PDF)

FIRSPEX ("Far-Infrared Spectroscopic Explorer" - FIR spectroscopic surveyor)
http://futuremission.wixsite.com/firspex

FLARE ("First Light And Reionization Explorer" - NIR spectroscopic surveyor)
https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1607/1607.06606.pdf (PDF)

Galileo Galilei (Equivalence principle test)
https://agenda.infn.it/getFile.py/access?contribId=31&sessionId=0&resId=0&materialId=slides&confId=11736 (PDF)

Heavy Metal (Psyche probe)
http://www.irfu.se/Heavy_Metal/
http://www.irfu.se/Heavy_Metal/Heavy_Metal_M5_Proposal.pdf? (PDF)

Hera (Saturn entry probe)
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1510.07685.pdf (PDF)
http://hera.lam.fr/

Icarus (Twin solar probes to study the corona)
http://icarus-mission.com/

JANUS ("Exploring the asymmetric magnetosphere" - observation of Earth's magnetosphere, evolution of M4's RAVENS)

JEM ("Joint Europa Mission" -  ESA Europa orbiter/carrier for NASA lander+European instruments)
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/opag/meetings/feb2017/presentations/Blanc.pdf (PDF)
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2017/pdf/2654.pdf (PDF)
https://europa.sciencesconf.org/data/pages/6_1_Blanc_Mission_concept_and_overview.pptx (PPTX) https://europa.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/3

MarcoPolo-M5 (Asteroid sample return)
http://stem.open.ac.uk/research-project/marcopolo/ / http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2017/pdf/2667.pdf (PDF)

SELMA ("Surface, Environment, and Lunar Magnetic Anomalies" - Moon probe)
http://impact.colorado.edu/dap/abstracts/stas_barabash.pdf (PDF)

SPICA ("Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics"- M/FIR spectroscopic observatory)
http://spica-mission.org/index.html

Theia (Extreme astrometric observatory for DM/exoplanets/compact objects)
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1707.01348.pdf (PDF)
https://tu-dresden.de/bu/umwelt/geo/ipg/astro/ressourcen/dateien/staff/publications_zschocke/Theia.pdf?lang=en (PDF)

THESEUS ("Transient High Energy Sky and Early Universe Surveyor")
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1710.04638.pdf (PDF)
https://agenda.infn.it/getFile.py/access?contribId=129&sessionId=6&resId=0&materialId=slides&confId=11102 (PDF)
http://www.isdc.unige.ch/theseus/images/meetings/20171005/PreS/amati.pdf (PDF)

I'm sure that is not a complete list, for instance some M4 proposals are missing which I know were planning to submit.

EDIT: added new info
« Last Edit: 12/25/2017 12:08 pm by Alpha_Centauri »

Offline as58

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #3 on: 01/09/2017 07:40 am »
CMB CORE was already submitted for M4, so it should have priority for the acronym ;)

There's still a COrE website from M3 era: http://www.core-mission.org/, and also a much more recent white paper on arxiv describing the latest version: https://arxiv.org/abs/1612.08270

I think the official SPICA website is http://spica-mission.org/index.html
« Last Edit: 01/09/2017 06:29 pm by as58 »

Offline Alpha_Centauri

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #4 on: 01/09/2017 07:56 am »
And M3, though with a little "r" that time.  It's a rookie mistake.  :P

Thanks, I'll update.
« Last Edit: 01/09/2017 10:03 am by Alpha_Centauri »

Online redliox

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #5 on: 01/09/2017 05:18 pm »
If the Heavy Metal Psyche probe flies, it will make the Discovery Psyche probe look woefully under-powered.  Here's their list of proposed instruments:

Quote
Optical Imager (NAC)

Wide Angle Camera (WAC)

Infrared Imager/Spectrometer (IR)

UV Spectrograph (UVS)

(Sub-)Surface Radar

Magnetometer (MAG)

Plasma Spectrometer Package

Electric field and Cold Plasma

Radio Science Experiment

That's 8 compared to Psyche's 3!  Crazy!  If that wasn't enough their page goes on to mention including a cubesat with their mission.  Ambitious to say the least, although I'd assume ESA would view such ambition as skeptically as their American counterparts would in mission evaluation.
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Offline JH

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #6 on: 01/09/2017 06:12 pm »
Part of the difference is that instruments are contributed by institutions for ESA missions, rather than being included in the cost cap.

Offline as58

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #7 on: 01/09/2017 06:12 pm »
That's 8 compared to Psyche's 3!  Crazy!  If that wasn't enough their page goes on to mention including a cubesat with their mission.  Ambitious to say the least, although I'd assume ESA would view such ambition as skeptically as their American counterparts would in mission evaluation.

instruments are not included in cost cap, so why not load all of them in one mission...

(Though there may be some problems with such things as power and mass margins.)

Offline Alpha_Centauri

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #8 on: 01/20/2017 07:12 pm »
Turns out previous finalist LOFT did not submit, they are focusing on working with China on eXTP;

https://personal.sron.nl/~jeanz/
http://www.isdc.unige.ch/extp/the-extp-payload.html

Offline as58

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #9 on: 01/21/2017 07:16 am »
I wonder if unsuccessful M4 finalists will be considered for M5 as was done with PLATO (lost M2 selection against Euclid, won M3). M4 decision is supposed to happen around the same time as the selection of M5 finalists.

Offline Alpha_Centauri

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #10 on: 01/21/2017 12:04 pm »
As I understand it the PLATO situation was a special case.  When PLATO failed to be selected for M1/M2 it was specifically decided it would be retained to compete in a future selection;

http://sci.esa.int/cosmic-vision/49385-dark-and-bright-esa-chooses-next-two-science-missions/

I suspect this was done to ensure the exoplanet community didn't give up proposing so ESA wouldn't be left without the choice. As far as I know there was no similar statement after the M4 selection.
« Last Edit: 01/21/2017 12:12 pm by Alpha_Centauri »

Offline as58

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #11 on: 01/21/2017 12:27 pm »
As I understand it the PLATO situation was a special case.  When PLATO failed to be selected for M1/M2 it was specifically decided it would be retained to compete in a future selection;

http://sci.esa.int/cosmic-vision/49385-dark-and-bright-esa-chooses-next-two-science-missions/

I suspect this was done to ensure the exoplanet community didn't give up proposing so ESA wouldn't be left without the choice. As far as I know there was no similar statement after the M4 selection.

I know some X-ray astronomers and I'm getting the feeling that the high-energy community is becoming as desperate as exoplanet people were a few years ago. There's Athena, but it's still more than a decade away.

Offline Alpha_Centauri

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #12 on: 01/21/2017 04:20 pm »
Well that's ESA's decision based on their strategic needs. Besides, X-rays has XIPE in M4 and even if an X-ray mission was selected for M5 it isn't going to launch any sooner than Athena.  At least X-rays has a flagship!

Offline as58

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #13 on: 01/21/2017 05:31 pm »
I would expect a lot of missions getting eliminated by technical/cost evaluation. Some of the proposed missions don't look very M-class to me (though maybe they have plans for significant contributions from NASA/JAXA/Chinese/Russians/someone else).

Offline Star One

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M5 Competition
« Reply #14 on: 01/21/2017 08:47 pm »
Will not the cost of the forthcoming orbital gravitational wave observatory impact all these kind selections?
« Last Edit: 01/21/2017 09:08 pm by Star One »

Offline as58

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #15 on: 01/21/2017 10:30 pm »
Will not the cost of the forthcoming orbital gravitational wave observatory impact all these kind selections?

Why would L3 mission that is almost two decades from launch have any effect here? I'm also not sure why you think a gravitational wave mission would be especially costly (more so than any other large-class mission). ExoMars stuff, on the other hand, could have an effect if they go ahead with plans to divert money from science budget.

Offline Star One

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #16 on: 01/21/2017 10:38 pm »
Will not the cost of the forthcoming orbital gravitational wave observatory impact all these kind selections?

Why would L3 mission that is almost two decades from launch have any effect here? I'm also not sure why you think a gravitational wave mission would be especially costly (more so than any other large-class mission). ExoMars stuff, on the other hand, could have an effect if they go ahead with plans to divert money from science budget.

I don't know where you're getting that time scale from being as they've been indicating that they want to bring forward as soon as possible the mission I thought to the late 2020s.

Offline Quagga

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #17 on: 01/22/2017 07:33 am »
I don't know where you're getting that time scale from being as they've been indicating that they want to bring forward as soon as possible the mission I thought to the late 2020s.

Directly from ESA's website:
"Planned launch date for L3: 2034"

http://sci.esa.int/cosmic-vision/42369-l-class-timeline/

Offline as58

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #18 on: 01/23/2017 10:14 pm »
Are there any rumours about the results of the technical screening? If the process follows roughly the same time line as M4, the initial culling should happen soon.

Offline Kaputnik

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #19 on: 02/02/2017 07:28 am »
Some info about the E2T mission from thr Planetary Society: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/van-kane/20170201-explorer-of-enceladus-and-titan.html

Proposed launch is interesting- piggyback a ride to GTO with a comsat, and then SEP from there.
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Offline Blackstar

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #20 on: 02/04/2017 12:43 pm »
I think this thread should be renamed for clarity. It should be something like "ESA's M5 Space Science Mission Competition" or something. "M5" alone is pretty obscure.

Offline Alpha_Centauri

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #21 on: 02/04/2017 01:31 pm »
I have added a new website and doc. for MarcoPolo to my list, they are targeting D-type 1993 HA. Here's a study that was done on it; https://arxiv.org/abs/1610.00896

Offline as58

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Re: M5 Competition
« Reply #22 on: 02/04/2017 02:29 pm »
I think this thread should be renamed for clarity. It should be something like "ESA's M5 Space Science Mission Competition" or something. "M5" alone is pretty obscure.

This isn't about BMWs?

Some slightly more serious content: Call documents etc. are available at https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/call-for-m5-missions
« Last Edit: 02/04/2017 02:32 pm by as58 »

Offline Blackstar

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #23 on: 02/04/2017 07:11 pm »
This isn't about BMWs?

I'm such a Trekkie that the only thing that comes to mind is the M5 computer.

Online zubenelgenubi

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #24 on: 02/04/2017 09:40 pm »
This isn't about BMWs?

I'm such a Trekkie that the only thing that comes to mind is the M5 computer.
Thanks for the thread name clarification.  I agree with Blackstar.

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Offline Blackstar

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #25 on: 02/05/2017 03:31 am »
(For pursuit on another thread here, if any--Is the difference between Trekkie and Trekker still important (to the fan community)?  Or is the distinction passé?)

Geeks rule the culture now, so it doesn't matter.

Offline Alpha_Centauri

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #26 on: 02/05/2017 09:29 pm »
Just spotted this, looks like the technical screening (basically "will it blow the budget?") has happened;

https://twitter.com/StephenSerjeant/status/827189117763084288
Quote
Rumoured to have survived @esa M5 cut: AKON ALFVEN CASTALIA E-ASTROGAM ESCAPE GALILEO-GALILEI HEAVY-METAL HERA SELMA SPICA THEIA THESEUS

https://twitter.com/StephenSerjeant/status/827189324856905728
Quote
Also rumoured to have survived @esa M5 cut are a phobos/deimos mission and a Jupiter mission but not sure I have the names right.

Not got anything on the Phobos mission but I assume it is a reboot of Phodex which was proposed for M4, vaguley remember seeing mention of them proposing; http://elib.dlr.de/101388/1/Abstract_Wickhusen_K.pdf (pdf)


P.S.  I wish ESA would formally announce this stuff.
« Last Edit: 02/05/2017 10:32 pm by Alpha_Centauri »

Offline as58

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #27 on: 02/05/2017 10:29 pm »
Maybe the reasoning for not revealing unsuccessful proposals is the same as in Discovery: to reduce the possibility of someone else scooping the idea. ESA usually doesn't do a very good job keeping the list secret, though, and in any case most proposers are open about their plans to submit.

I had heard rumours that the technical cut was 'imminent'. A bit surprised about CORE (if it's the CMB mission, not the comet stuff) not making it.

Offline Alpha_Centauri

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #28 on: 02/05/2017 10:59 pm »
Yeah wasn't asking for technical details, just any kind of official statement on what has passed selection. They posted which letters of intent had been received for S1; http://sci.esa.int/cosmic-vision/50265-received-letters-of-intent/. As you say it is a bit silly since anyone who is interested will find out from rumour anyway, not least because plenty of the missions present their concepts at conferences.

Also a bit surprised by EnVision.  As for sample return/MarcoPolo it looks like ESA is essentially saying it needs to be an L-class, or at least an optional program like the ESA/Roscosmos Phobos sample return concept.
« Last Edit: 02/05/2017 11:05 pm by Alpha_Centauri »

Offline as58

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #29 on: 02/06/2017 11:39 am »
Also a bit surprised by EnVision.  As for sample return/MarcoPolo it looks like ESA is essentially saying it needs to be an L-class, or at least an optional program like the ESA/Roscosmos Phobos sample return concept.

I think some version of MarcoPolo has been a candidate in all five M-class calls. So yeah, it may be time to try another approach...

Offline ThomEM

Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #30 on: 03/28/2017 02:41 pm »
Yeah wasn't asking for technical details, just any kind of official statement on what has passed selection. They posted which letters of intent had been received for S1; http://sci.esa.int/cosmic-vision/50265-received-letters-of-intent/.

Those are old from 2012.

Offline Alpha_Centauri

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #31 on: 03/28/2017 04:16 pm »
And?  Yes the S1 selection was a few years ago now, that does not stop them doing something similar with the M-class selections.

Offline as58

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #32 on: 03/28/2017 05:22 pm »
If I remember correctly, the list of proposals/LoIs used to be public for the first calls of CV (at least L1 and M1/M2 I think). Some of the proposed missions were ambitious, to put it mildly.

I've also seen lists of proposed missions for later calls (M4 for example), but it's never been clear to me if they were really supposed to be public...

edit: Related to M5: the proposal for EnVision, which apparently didn't make it through the pre-selection, appeared on arxiv in the latest posting. https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.09010
« Last Edit: 03/28/2017 05:24 pm by as58 »

Online redliox

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #33 on: 03/28/2017 06:41 pm »
edit: Related to M5: the proposal for EnVision, which apparently didn't make it through the pre-selection, appeared on arxiv in the latest posting. https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.09010

I remember seeing that bit of news about it.  Does this mean a Venus mission is among the candidates?
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Offline as58

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #34 on: 04/25/2017 06:27 pm »
Oh dear. I just noticed this on twitter (https://twitter.com/LeighFletcher/status/856539079722377216)

Quote
But some painful ESA suggestions of sacrifices to meet budgetary reality in the M class prog. M4&M5 selections pushed into future #EGU17

edit: The presentation from EGU meeting can be seen at (starting around 2:06:00). If I understood correctly, they want get M3 (Plato) formally accepted in June and then continue with M4 selection, which should be done in the autumn. Only after that they're going to proceed with M5, which probably means that the short list won't be selected until next year.

Another thing I learned was that Solar Orbiter launch is now expected in February 2019 (delayed from October 2018).
« Last Edit: 04/25/2017 09:44 pm by as58 »

Offline Alpha_Centauri

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Offline Alpha_Centauri

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #36 on: 12/24/2017 02:43 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 now set for February 2018 after a 6-month delay due to the funding issues at the last ministerial conference. It was meant to be December but there were complications with the M4 final selection which was due in November that has also caused delay to M5, so now we have a date I would expect the M4 result any time now.
« Last Edit: 12/24/2017 09:26 pm by Alpha_Centauri »

Offline vjkane

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #37 on: 12/24/2017 03:08 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.

Offline vjkane

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #38 on: 12/24/2017 08:14 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?

Online redliox

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Re: ESA M5 Science Mission Competition
« Reply #39 on: 12/24/2017 09:04 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?

I'm curious too.

Looks like a promising mixup of missions.  Saturn and Deimos/Phobos appear to have made the list amid asteroid, comet, and solar/physics probes.  I definitely want to hear more about them, with of course emphasis on the first 2 I mentioned (HERA and DEPHINE respectively).
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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 »

Online 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 »

Online 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.

Online 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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