Technical programme

A7. SYMPOSIUM ON TECHNOLOGICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR FUTURE SPACE ASTRONOMY AND SOLAR-SYSTEM SCIENCE MISSIONS

In the current difficult economic situation resulting in serious uncertainties in the planning of future major (flagship) missions, space agencies also offer opportunities for small and medium-size missions in support of the scientific community. NASA is re-emphasising the Explorer and Discovery lines of medium- missions, JAXA is promoting a small mission programme and ESA has recently released a call for small missions, not to mention the programmes of other space agencies consisting mainly of such medium/small missions. In order to achieve a good balance between the various classes of missions (from small to large scale) and avoid unnecessary duplication worldwide of missions addressing the same science questions, it is of utmost importance to coordinate planning activities internationally at an early stage and promote international collaboration. Capitalising on the science and technology-driven road maps at worldwide level, such as the recently released COSPAR Astronomy Roadmap for the post 2015 decade, the broad objective of the symposium will be to promote the exchange of information and ideas related to new technologies for all the space astronomy and solar-system missions of the future. The symposium will consist of both invited talks and contributed papers. The programme will cover the major scientific priorities in space astronomy and solar-system research worldwide and prospects for future missions including space agency and academia updated plans and will also address associated technology needs for both instruments and platforms. In the initial session the prime scientific motivations and needs in different fields will be reviewed with the various types of missions required. This will be followed by invited and contributed talks on the space-agency long-term views on a mix of small, medium and large-scale missions, including updates on their science objectives. Sessions will include invited talks on the required technology plans and challenges for specifically small and large missions, while others will focus on different scientific topics identifying also in this case the required technological developments for future payloads. For each topic, ample time will be devoted to contributed talks on the related technology studies and developments within industry and research laboratories.