ESA L2 and L3 large mission Options

[Paolo]

ESA has published a series of "white paper" studies on its next two large missions (L2 and L3), to be launched during the 2020s. pick your favorite!
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/do...fobjectid=52029

I doubt a planetary mission will be selected for either mission, since L1 is the JUICE Jupiter-Ganymede orbiter, but you never know...

[Holder of the Tw...]

This is a 120 MB download, with 587 pages, so depending on your speed it might take awhile. Nice document, though.

Personally, I'd vote for all of them. Not sure I'd want the job of whittling this list down to two.

[dtolman]

I spent some time reading this during lunch, and for your viewing pleasure here is the first half summarized. Many of the missions seem well thought out with detailed mission information. A few read like something an undergrad wrote up in his spare time and hand wave the mission part away entirely. If anyone wants, I can write up the second half later.

pg 9 - Lunar Science as a Window into the Early History of the Solar System
(i) a mission based around multiple penetrators for the characterisation of lunar polar volatiles and (ii) a sample return mission to address the lunar impact chronology and records of the near-Earth Solar System environment preserved in regolith deposits. (lander may include rover, and dark side mission)

pg 20 - Exploring Planetary Origins and Environments in the Infrared
Infrared Space Telescope at L2 or L4/5 with either a 5 m off-axis design, or distributed spatial interferometer array of smaller 1 m dishes. In both cases the goal is imaging spectroscopy at low/moderate (R~10^3) resolution over an arcmin FOV; and heterodyne-­‐level resolution (R>10^6) in selected mid--IR and far--IR bands.

pg 49 - In situ exploration of the giant planets and an entry probe concept for Saturn
Atmospheric probe delivered by a carrier (carrier can be orbiter, flyby, or a dumb delivery vehicle) to Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune.
Seems kind of vague to me -only the entry probe is thought out

pg 69 - Neptune and Triton: Essential Pieces of the Solar System Puzzle
Neptune Orbiter with multiple Triton passes. Mission components are based off previous designs (galileo and Cassini for orbiter, all instruments will be derived from pre-existing instruments on Mars Express, Cassini, JUICE, Rosetta, etc). Two planetary transfer examples are shown - 2028 launch, 2043 arrival and 2041 launch, 2056 arrival.

pg 89 - Venus: Key to understanding the evolution of terrestrial planets
we propose a strawman mission based on a combination of an in situ balloon platform, a radar-equipped orbiter, and (optionally) a descent probe

pg 109 - INSIDER - Interior of Primordial Asteroids and the Origins of Earths Water
Orbiter with lander, multiple asteroid targets for single mission

pg 127 - In situ Investigations of the Local Interstellar Medium
Nuclear powered interstellar probe. Goal is to get to 200 AU in 25-30 years, multiple possible propulsion systems (solar sail, nuclear-ion, etc)

pg 147 - The Exploration of Titan with an Orbiter and a Lake-Probe
Space-craft and lake-probe. Very few details on actual mission architecture, besides need for RTGs for lander. 2028-2034 launch.

pg 167 - Astrometry for Dynamics
A Gaia-like mission with improved onboard instruments/equipment (author apologizes for few details as he was on vacation when he received call for papers )

pg 175 - Europe returns to Venus
Venusian UAV or Balloon mission with Orbiter

pg 195 - Fundamental Processes in Solar Eruptive Events
Space based observatory. Author proposes using updated SEE2020 concept with sample instruments listed

pg 215 - European Ultraviolet-Visible Observatory: Building galaxies, stars, planets and the
ingredients for life among the stars
optical telescope with 4-8m depending on scope/cost, leveraging technology improvements since HST and larger mirror for all scenarios.

pg 235 - The science goals and mission concept for a future exploration of Titan and
Enceladus
Saturn-Titan Orbiter and Titan Balloon - smaller scale then TSSM and no NASA partnership needed

pg 255 - The Gravitational Universe
3 drag-free spacecraft forming a triangular constellation with arm lengths of one million km and laser interferometry between “free-falling” test masses.

pg 275 - SOLARIS: SOLAR sail Investigation of the Sun
Two solar sail craft with 35-50 kg of instruments each

pg 283 - Science from the Farside of the Moon
an instrumented relay satellite to be inserted into a halo orbit about the Earth-Moon L2 Lagrange point, and several identical spacecraft that make soft landings on the lunar surface.