ESA’s Science Programme Committee (SPC) has confirmed the continued operations of ten scientific missions within the Agency’s fleet.
After a complete evaluate of their scientific deserves and technical standing, the SPC has confirmed the continued operations of the missions led by ESA’s Science Programme: Cluster, Gaia, INTEGRAL, Mars Express and XMM-Newton. The SPC additionally confirmed the Agency’s contributions to the prolonged operations of CHEOPS, Hinode, Hubble, IRIS, and SOHO.
The resolution was taken in the course of the SPC assembly in Antwerp, Belgium, on 7 March.
Like earlier extension rounds, the assembly thought-about two intervals: a primary affirmation or extension interval, for 2023–2026, and a second interval (2027–2029) when a mission is taken into account for indicative extension[1,2].
ESA’s science missions have distinctive capabilities and are prolific of their scientific output. The Space Science Advisory Committee discovered all of the missions thought-about to have compelling science circumstances justifying a continuation of the operations in the course of the 2023-2029 interval. The SPC confirmed their continued operations, with a collection of resolutions particular to the scenario and context of every particular person mission.
Gaia will exhaust its chilly fuel propellant (elementary to hold out its precision pointing) within the second quarter of 2025 and can subsequently transition to submit-operations from mid-2025 onwards. Following the SPC resolution to increase the Multilateral Agreement regarding Gaia information processing, the submit-operations section will likely be accomplished by 31 December 2030, making certain the fourth after which last (fifth) information launch.
The operations of XMM-Newton, ESA’s flagship x-ray observatory, are prolonged till December 2026, and indicatively till finish of 2029.
The extension of three ESA-led missions, Cluster, Integral and Mars Express, all of which have been operational since over 20 years, had been in jeopardy financially, as two new main missions (JUICE and Euclid) will likely be becoming a member of the fleet of missions in operations this yr. For all three missions, ESA acquired sturdy and nicely-justified requests from the scientific neighborhood to increase the missions. ESA’s scientific advisory construction (the Astronomy Working Group, the Solar System Exploration Working Group, and the Space Science Advisory Committee) reviewed the science circumstances and supported additional restricted extensions. Thanks to some vital programmatic dangers (associated to JUICE and Euclid) having lately been retired, the SPC agreed to increase these three missions for a restricted period of time, utilizing a part of the Programme contingency within the years 2023-2025.
The Cluster scientific mission is prolonged till September 2024, when one of many 4 satellites will re-enter the Earth environment. Two years of submit-operations and monitoring of the spacecraft will comply with, till re-entry of the final spacecraft in September 2026.
INTEGRAL science operations are prolonged till 31 December 2024, enabling help of the fourth worldwide marketing campaign of joint observations of gravitational waves by the community of devices LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA, presently deliberate to start out in May 2023 and lasting for 18 months. This will likely be adopted by two years of submit-operations and monitoring of the spacecraft till re-entry in February 2029.
The science operations of Mars Express are prolonged till finish of 2026 and the SPC additionally authorised the indicative extension of Mars Express from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2028, enabling help to the JAXA-led Mars Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. This will likely be adopted by two years of submit-operations; the extension to 2028 will likely be reviewed in 2025/2026, after MMX launch and arrival at Mars.
Regarding the contributions of ESA’s Science Programme to missions operated by companions, the SPC has authorised the extension to 2026 and indicative extensions to 2029 of Hinode, Hubble, IRIS, and Cheops.
The contribution to SOHO can also be confirmed all through 2025, after which it is going to seemingly be phased out (following the launch of a subsequent-era photo voltaic mission), so it’s assumed to transition to a two-yr submit-operations section beginning on 1 January 2026.
While the nominal operations of Solar Orbiter, BepiColombo and JWST end in 2026 or 2027, a call on their extension is taken into account untimely given the current begin of their predominant operations and so it’s deferred to the subsequent cycle.
[1] Starting in 2022, the process for mission extensions foresees that the SPC will deliberate on extensions of missions in operations each three years and deal with all missions whose authorised operations finish inside the following six years. [2] All extensions are contingent on ongoing commitments and confirmations from nationwide contributors and companions.For additional data, please contact:
Markus Kissler Patig
Head of the Science and Operations Department (SCI-S)
Directorate of Science
European Space Agency
Email: Markus.Kissler-Patig
esa.int
