ESA Cosmic Vision 2015-2025: The Solar System (Forwarded)

ESA News
http://www.esa.int

30 Jan 2006

Cosmic Vision 2015-2025: The Solar System

Theme 2 -- How does the Solar System work?

The search for the origins of life set out in the first of the four themes
for Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 must begin in our own Solar System.
Understanding how the Sun behaves over a range of timescales, how the
planets can be shielded from its radiative and plasma output, why the nine
Solar System planets are so different from one another, and what the small
bodies such as comets and asteroids can tell us about our origins -- these
are only a few aspects of the question.

The generic circumstances under which planets are habitable are unknown,
but must depend on the radiative output and magnetic activity of the
neighbouring star, on the behaviour of the space environment surrounding
the planets, on the material from which the planets originally accreted,
and so on.

2.1 From the Sun to the edge of the Solar System

The Sun dominates the Solar System. Its radiation provides the means to
sustain life, but its continuous and occasionally violent activity
provides the means to destroy it. Both are critically important areas to
be studied. Only in the Solar System can we establish the zero-order
truths concerning the Sun, its all-important magnetic field and the
interaction of the solar wind with the planetary environments, which can
then be extended to planetary systems elsewhere in the Universe.

Goal

Study the plasma and magnetic field environment of the Sun, the Earth, the
Jovian system (as a Solar System in miniature), and out to the heliopause
where the solar wind meets the interstellar medium

Concepts

1. The Solar System, pervaded by the solar plasma and magnetic field,
provides a range of laboratories to study the interactions of planets with
the solar wind

2. Understanding the origin of the Sun's magnetic field requires
observations of the field at the visible surface around the poles

3. In situ observation of the heliopause would provide 'ground truth'
measurements of the interstellar medium

Mission Scenarios

1. Earth magnetospheric swarm
2. Jupiter exploration programme
3. Solar polar orbiter
4. Interstellar heliopause probe

2.2 Gaseous giants and their moons

In addition to the Sun and the interplanetary medium, the Solar System
comprises the planets, their satellites, small bodies such as comets and
asteroids, and dust. How this possibly unique environment arose and how it
has evolved are scientific questions of the highest importance. Answering
it involves the detailed study of all of these objects. In respect of the
major planets and their moons, ESA has already taken major initiatives
with the Huygens probe to Titan, the SMART-1 mission to the Moon, Mars
Express, Venus Express and the BepiColombo mission being prepared for
Mercury. To continue its prominent role, ESA needs to choose carefully
further aspects of planetary science to pursue in the Cosmic Vision
2015-2025 timeframe. The main goal should now be an in-depth exploration
of one of the giant planets in the outer Solar System, of which Jupiter is
the most accessible.

Goal

Study Jupiter in situ, its atmosphere and internal structure

Study Europan surface in situ

Concepts

1. Giant planets with their rings, diverse satellites and complex
environments constitute systems that play a key role in the evolution of
planetary systems

Mission Scenarios

1. Jupiter exploration programme
2. Jupiter probes
3. Europa lander

2.3 Asteroids and other small bodies

As the primitive, leftover building blocks of planet formation, small
bodies of the Solar System offer clues to the chemical mixture from which
the planets formed. They hold unique information on the initial conditions
and early history of the solar nebula, and their study is essential to
understanding the processes by which interstellar material becomes new
planetary systems with the possibility of bearing life.

Goal

Obtain direct laboratory information by analysing samples from a
near-Earth asteroid

Concepts

1. As building blocks in the Solar System, the most primitive small bodies
give clues to the chemical mixture and initial conditions from which the
planets formed in the early solar nebula

Mission Scenarios

1. Near-Earth object sample return

For further information please contact:

See also Cosmic Vision 2015-2025: Planets and Life,
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/obj...objectid=38646

RELATED PUBLICATIONS

* ESA BR-247: Cosmic Vision - Space Science for Europe 2015-2025
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/obj...objectid=38542