International Space Exploration Coordination Group Research Articles

A molecular study of Italian ryegrass grown on Martian regolith simulant

In the last decade, the exploration of deep space has become the objective of the national space programs of many countries. The International Space Exploration Coordination Group has set a roadmap whose long-range strategy envisions the expansion of human presence in the solar system to progress with exploration and knowledge and to accelerate innovation. Crewed missions to Mars could be envisaged by 2040. In this scenario, finding ways to use the local resources for the provision of food, construction materials, propellants, pharmaceuticals is needed. Plants are important resources for deep space manned missions because they produce phytochemicals of pharmaceutical relevance, are sources of food and provide oxygen which is crucial in bioregenerative life support systems. Growth analysis and plant biomass yield have been previously evaluated on Martian regolith simulants; however, molecular approaches employing gene expression analysis and proteomics are still missing. The present work aims at filling this gap by providing molecular data on a representative member of the Poaceae, Lolium multiflorum Lam., grown on potting soil and a Martian regolith simulant (MMS-1). The molecular data were complemented with optical microscopy of root/leaf tissues and physico-chemical analyses. The results show that the plants grew for 2 weeks on regolith simulants. The leaves were bent downwards and chlorotic, the roots developed a lacunar aerenchyma and small brownish deposits containing Fe were observed. Gene expression analysis and proteomics revealed changes in transcripts related to the phenylpropanoid pathway, stress response, primary metabolism and proteins involved in translation and DNA methylation. Additionally, the growth of plants slightly but significantly modified the pH of the regolith simulants. The results here presented constitute a useful resource to get a comprehensive understanding of the major factors impacting the growth of plants on MMS-1.

Positioning and Velocity Performance Levels for a Lunar Lander using a Dedicated Lunar Communication and Navigation System

<h3>Abstract</h3> The interest in Moon exploration has grown substantially in the last few years, appointing the Moon as the first step toward deep space exploration. However, the current state-of-the-art approach for lunar landing does not always reach the required performance levels. This contribution presents a potential implementation of a dedicated lunar communication and navigation service (LCNS) and the performance levels achievable by a representative lunar lander mission that uses the LCNS. The expected positioning precision during the final descent and at the landing site is demonstrated here with a variance-covariance analysis starting from reasonable assumptions about the capabilities of a potential dedicated LCNS system. The performance in positioning and navigation achievable during a generic moon-landing phase significantly outperforms existing ground-based baseline solutions, enabling the stringent requirements from the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) to be met.

Pathways to Sustainability in Lunar Exploration Architectures

With an ever increasing geopolitical relevance of human lunar exploration, the world’s space agencies show an increasing interest in its implementation in the very near term. In August 2020 the International Space Exploration Coordination Group has published a supplement to its Global Exploration Roadmap that focuses on the envisioned future lunar architecture based on objectives of sustainability and benefit generation. Here we apply quantitative benefit assessment methods and a high-level parametric cost model to the architecture in order to analyze the effectiveness of two methods of increasing sustainability: in situ resource utilization and reusability. We find that both measures are effective, but require very different approaches to the investment strategy. Although the utilization of lunar resources achieves the lowest per-mission cost in the utilization phase, it requires significant upfront investments into the development of specific equipment and its transportation. Depending on the choice of model parameters, the return of investment in transporting additional equipment might be achieved only after more than 30 human missions in the utilization phase, even when neglecting the development cost of surface infrastructure. The investment in even partially reusable vehicles, however, is returned already after the first utilization mission, but it does not achieve the same performance in terms of lowering the cost of utilization missions if not combined with the use of lunar resources. We thus recommend space agencies to carefully consider the timing of investment into resource utilization with respect to the benefit it generates.

Use of GNSS for lunar missions and plans for lunar in-orbit development

In the context of Deep Space Exploration as planned by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), the Moon represents a significant step to feed forward what could be done on Mars. Navigation is a key-technology to enable the cislunar and lunar volume discovery. The use of Earth Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals at Moon altitude has been extensively studied in the past, within and outside the European Space Agency (ESA). Namely, this interest has been reflected in “The Interoperable Global Navigation Satellite Systems Space Service Volume” booklet issued by the International Committee on GNSS (ICG) in 2018 (United Nations - Office for Outer Space Affairs, 2018). However, the main limitation on accurately performing this kind of analysis has always been the limited knowledge of the actual GNSS transmit antenna patterns outside the main lobe, i.e. side-lobes. ESA published the first patterns of GPS satellites using data collected in GIOVE-A (Unwin et al., 2013) and, more recently, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shared very detailed 3D patterns of all GPS Blocks (Donaldson et al., 2018). This allows both ESA and NASA to perform detailed analysis of the expected visibility of GNSS signals at moon altitude. In particular, NASA published visibility results using a GPS-only receiver in a Moon Transfer Orbit (MTO) demonstrating the potential of GPS-based navigation up to the Moon (considering signals above 22 dB-Hz with a 14dBi antenna) (Ashman, 2018).The present paper presents the results of numerical simulations for a Single-Frequency (SF) receiver in the Deep Space Gateway (DSG) orbit, which is an Earth-Moon L2 Halo orbit, using both Galileo and GPS, for which detailed 3D antenna patterns were used. It demonstrates the importance of considering the azimuthal asymmetry of the GNSS antenna patterns and the necessity of using an interoperable Galileo-GPS receiver at such altitudes. Additionally, a comparative analysis between the frequency bands E1/L1 and E5a/L5 is performed to select the one providing the best results. In conclusion, it shows that a high number of satellites is visible at Moon altitude using a receiver with a 14 dBi antenna and a 15 dB-Hz Carrier-to-Noise density ratio acquisition and tracking threshold. Finally, the second part of the paper provides ESA plans for In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) of the use of GNSS at Moon altitude, covering both CubeSat missions and the DSG.

Traverses for the ISECG-GER design reference mission for humans on the lunar surface

This study explores the Design Reference Mission (DRM) architecture developed by Hufenbach et al. (2015) as a prelude to the release of the 2018 Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) developed by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG). The focus of this study is the exploration of the south polar region of the Moon, a region that has not been visited by any human missions, yet exhibits a multitude of scientifically important locations – the investigation of which will address long standing questions in lunar research. This DRM architecture involves five landing sites (Malapert massif, South Pole/Shackleton crater, Schrödinger basin, Antoniadi crater, and the South Pole-Aitken basin center), to be visited in sequential years by crew, beginning in 2028. Two Lunar Electric Rovers (LER) are proposed to be tele-robotically operated between sites to rendez-vous with crew at the time of the next landing. With engineering parameters in mind we explore the feasibility of tele-robotic operation of these LERs between lunar landing sites, and identify potential high interest sampling locations en-route. Additionally, in-depth sample collection and return traverses are identified for each individual landing site across key geologic terrains that also detail crew Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA). Exploration at and between landing sites is designed to address a suite of National Research Council (2007) scientific concepts.

Develop Global Safety Synergies for Long-Range Human Space Exploration, with Focus on Launch Systems

ABSTRACT The agencies participating in the International space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) demonstrate a natural synergy for defining and implementing meaningful steps towards advanced human spaceflight. Within the exploration mission themes of the Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) [1], crew transportation and operation capabilities are driven by key requirements based on human and robotic mission partnership. They require an acceptable level of safety associated with the risks inherent to live, travel and work in space. This paper pursues the goal to investigate the safety orientations to be targeted by the space agencies, and addresses the main decision factors for implementing global safety rules regarding the space transportation vehicles.

Peak-ring structure and kinematics from a multi-disciplinary study of the Schrödinger impact basin.

The Schrödinger basin on the lunar farside is ∼320 km in diameter and the best-preserved peak-ring basin of its size in the Earth–Moon system. Here we present spectral and photogeologic analyses of data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument on the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) on the LRO spacecraft, which indicates the peak ring is composed of anorthositic, noritic and troctolitic lithologies that were juxtaposed by several cross-cutting faults during peak-ring formation. Hydrocode simulations indicate the lithologies were uplifted from depths up to 30 km, representing the crust of the lunar farside. Through combining geological and remote-sensing observations with numerical modelling, we show that a Displaced Structural Uplift model is best for peak rings, including that in the K–T Chicxulub impact crater on Earth. These results may help guide sample selection in lunar sample return missions that are being studied for the multi-agency International Space Exploration Coordination Group.

Analyses of robotic traverses and sample sites in the Schrödinger basin for the HERACLES human-assisted sample return mission concept

The International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) developed an integrated Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) that outlines plans for human-assisted sample return from the lunar surface in ∼2024 and for human presence on the lunar surface in ∼2028. Previous studies have identified the Schrödinger basin, situated on the far side of the Moon, as a prime target for lunar science and exploration where a significant number of the scientific concepts reviewed by the National Research Council (NRC, 2007) can be addressed. In this study, two robotic mission traverses within the Schrödinger basin are proposed based on a 3year mission plan in support of the HERACLES human-assisted sample return mission concept. A comprehensive set of modern remote sensing data (LROC imagery, LOLA topography, M3 and Clementine spectral data) has been integrated to provide high-resolution coverage of the traverses and to facilitate identification of specific sample localities. We also present a preliminary Concept of Operations (ConOps) study based on a set of notional rover capabilities and instrumental payload. An extended robotic mission to the Schrödinger basin will allow for significant sample return opportunities from multiple distinct geologic terrains and will address multiple high-priority NRC (2007) scientific objectives. Both traverses will offer the first opportunity to (i) sample pyroclastic material from the lunar farside, (ii) sample Schrödinger impact melt and test the lunar cataclysm hypothesis, (iii) sample deep crustal lithologies in an uplifted peak ring and test the lunar magma ocean hypothesis and (iv) explore the top of an impact melt sheet, enhancing our ability to interpret Apollo samples. The shorter traverse will provide the first opportunity to sample farside mare deposits, whereas the longer traverse has significant potential to collect SPA impact melt, which can be used to constrain the basin-forming epoch. These robotic missions will revalidate existing lunar surface capabilities and pioneer new ones and, thus, provide important precursor results for subsequent human missions to the lunar surface.

ESA strategic planning for space exploration

The European Space Agency (ESA) is pursuing an independent strategic planning process for consolidating a destination driven (LEO, Moon, Mars) space exploration strategy. ESA's space exploration strategy is driven by the goals to maximise knowledge gain and to contribute to economic growth. International cooperation is a key pillar of ESA's strategy as it is considered both, an enabler for achieving common goals and a benefit, opening new perspective for addressing future challenges. The achievement of ESA's space exploration strategy is enabled through international partnerships. The interagency coordination process conducted within the framework of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) plays an important role in laying the foundations for future partnerships. It has achieved so far the development of a common vision for space exploration, a common plan for implementing the vision in the form of the Global Exploration Roadmap, as well as a common approach for articulating the value of global space exploration. ESA has been a strong promoter and supporter of the interagency coordination process conducted within ISECG and thanks to its unique expertise in international cooperation the Agency has contributed to its success.

Developing the global exploration roadmap: An example using the humans to the lunar surface theme

The development of the Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) by 12 space agencies participating in the International Space Exploration Coordination Group broadly outlines a pathway to send humans beyond low Earth orbit for the first time since Apollo. Three themes have emerged: Exploration of a Near-Earth Asteroid, Extended Duration Crew Missions, and Humans to the Lunar Surface. The lack of detail within each of these themes could mean that realizing the goals of the GER would be significantly delayed. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that many of the details needed to fully define and evaluate these themes in terms of scientific rationale, economic viability, and technical feasibility already exist and need to be mapped to the GER. Here, we use the Humans to the Lunar Surface theme as an example to illustrate how this process could work. By mapping documents from a variety of international stakeholders, this process can be used to cement buy-in from the current partners and attract new ones to this effort.

What role for Europe within a future global space exploration approach?

Europe is present in robotic exploration though the European Space Agency׳s mandatory space science program and the optional Aurora program. In addition some member states are also involved in projects of non-European space faring countries through bilateral co-operations. Europe is also present in human exploration through the ISS utilization program. ESA and some of its member states participate in the activities of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), a club of 14 space agencies working for the elaboration of a global exploration roadmap. Finally, ESA and the European Union have initiated a political approach with the setting up of an international forum so as to elaborate a commonly agreed vision on space exploration at political level.However the role of Europe in such a global strategy is not well defined yet; Europe has to build its own vision and to precise the role it intends to play in a future global space exploration venture. We try in this paper to sketch what could be such a European vision, taking into account the European capabilities and priorities, and also the foreseeable economic situation. With limited resources, Europe cannot be present everywhere. In the field of robotic exploration Europe has the capabilities to implement first class projects where it is the major partner. In the field of human exploration, Europe needs to join a co-operation where it has to accept to be a minor partner while its contributions should benefit from the legacy of the previous European achievementsThe role of the EU, as a political entity, can be determinant; the high level political forum initiated by ESA and EU can be the nucleus of a global strategy. Also the space part of the new UE R&D program Horizon 2020 can support the European effort by focusing on the technological activities which have been highlighted as key areas for exploration and which may yield applications for the citizen. A key role for EU could be to foster the technology transfers in either way between space and non-space utilizations.

Outlook of possible European contributions to future exploration scenarios and architectures

Building upon the important experience acquired with the development of the International Space Station, the major spacefaring countries are working within the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) at the definition of a coordinated framework for expanding the human presence beyond the Low Earth Orbit, the Global Exploration Roadmap (GER). The GER defines a long-range strategy for global exploration and include three major elements.•Common goals of ISECG participating agencies for space exploration.•Notional mission scenarios which are technically feasible and programmatically implementable. Two mission scenarios were defined in the 1st iteration of the GER: the “Asteroid Next” and the “Moon Next” mission scenarios.•Identification of near-term opportunities for coordination and cooperation related to e.g. the development of technologies, the implementation of robotic missions to destination of interest for closing strategic knowledge gaps which need to be addressed prior to human missions as well as the utilization of ISS for demonstration of exploration enabling capabilities.In 2009 two studies have been awarded by ESA to Industrial Teams led by Thales Alenia Space—Italy and by Astrium—Germany to define, analyze and assess optional European scenarios for future human spaceflight and exploration activities, and to derive the required capabilities for the investigated timeframe until the year 2033. Work on the European scenarios has been aligned with and informed by the international work on the GER.A conceptual design of different Building Block Elements, representing critical contributions to international Design Reference Missions (DRM's) included in the ISECG GER, has been performed and analyzed with respect to programmatic risks, budgets and required technologies. Key driving requirements for the analyzed Building Block elements have been derived from the international DRM's included in the GER.The interim outcomes of the human exploration scenario study will be presented, identifying opportunities for European Contributions to an international exploration undertaking.

Considerations on private human access to space from an institutional point of view

Private human access to space as discussed in this article addresses two market segments: suborbital flight and crew flights to Low Earth Orbit. The role of entrepreneurs, the technical complexity, the customers, the market conditions as well as the time to market in these two segments differ significantly. Space agencies take currently a very different approach towards private human access to space in both segments. Analysing the outcome of broader inter-agency deliberations on the future of human spaceflight and exploration, performed e.g. in the framework of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group, enables to derive some common general views on this topic. Various documents developed by inter-agency working groups recognise the general strategic importance for enabling private human access to space for ensuring a sustainable future of human spaceflight, although the specific definition of private human access and approaches vary.ESA has performed some reflections on this subject throughout the last 5 years. While it gained through these reflections a good understanding on the opportunities and implications resulting from the development of capabilities and markets for Private Human Access, limited concrete activities have been initiated in relation to this topic as of today.

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Human-Robot Cooperation in Near-Term Exploration Scenarios

This paper will present a model for collaborative space exploration through effective and efficient cooperation of humans and robots — an extension to the Cooperation of Humans and Robots Model (CHARM) developed by the Human-Robotic Cooperation (HRC) team at the International Space University’s 2011 Space Studies Program held in Graz, Austria. The HRC team integrated international, intercultural, and interdisciplinary perspectives to develop a decision-making model (the CHARM model) capable of selecting a mission scenario which best utilizes humans and robotics in order to accomplish a given objective. Human and robotic capabilities differ, with each offering their own benefits and drawbacks. Robots are reliable and accurate, and can operate in hostile environments — all attributes well-suited for space exploration. However, when faced with new scenarios and unexpected events, robots pale in comparison with the intuition and creativity of humans. Future space exploration will have to intelligently balance the flexibility and ingenuity of humans with robust and sophisticated robotic systems. Based on various space agency goals and the 2011 International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) Roadmap, this paper selects an exploration objective for the timeframe between 2015 and 2030, and drafts different scenarios to accomplish this objective. Each scenario uses different degrees of human-robot interaction. CHARM is applied to select an optimal mix of human and robotics in order to accomplish the selected objective. CHARM uses an interdisciplinary approach, scoring attributes including technical, scientific, life sciences, political, social, financial, and legal perspectives. In this iteration of CHARM, an Analytical Hierarchy Process is used to assign weighting values to each attribute and the respective categories. The weights are complemented with those collected by survey of a panel of international experts in space exploration mission planning. The results demonstrate that CHARM can be used to select missions efficiently and rationally, thereby reducing both mission costs and risks, making space exploration more feasible and long-term space exploration sustainable. To quantify output confidence in the CHARM scenario selection, a Monte Carlo probabilistic simulation is used to analyze the uncertainty in attribute weighting, introduced by the inclusion of numerous weight value input sources.

Integrating advanced mobility into lunar surface exploration

With growing knowledge of the lunar surface environment from recent robotic missions, further assessment of human lunar infrastructures and operational aspects for surface exploration become possible. This is of particular interest for the integration of advanced mobility assets, where path planning, balanced energy provision and consumption as well as communication coverage grow in importance with the excursion distance. The existing modeling and simulation tools for the lunar surface environment have therefore been revisited and extended to incorporate aspects of mobile exploration. An extended analysis of the lunar topographic models from past and ongoing lunar orbital missions has resulted in the creation of a tool to calculate and visualize slope angles in selected lunar regions. This allows for the identification of traversable terrain with respect to the mobile system capabilities. In a next step, it is combined with the analysis of the solar illumination conditions throughout this terrain to inform system energy budgets in terms of electrical power availability and thermal control requirements. The combination of the traversability analysis together with a time distributed energy budget assessment then allows for a path planning and optimization for long range lunar surface mobility assets, including manned excursions as well as un-crewed relocation activities. The above mentioned tools are used for a conceptual analysis of the international lunar reference architecture, developed in the frame of the International Architecture Working Group (IAWG) of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG). Its systems capabilities are evaluated together with the planned surface exploration range and paths in order to analyze feasibility of the architecture and to identify potential areas of optimization with respect to time-based and location-based integration of activities.

Gravitational biology and space life sciences: Current status and implications for the Indian space programme

This paper is an introduction to gravitational and space life sciences and a summary of key achievements in the field. Current global research is focused on understanding the effects of gravity/microgravity onmicrobes, cells, plants, animals and humans. It is now established that many plants and animals can progress through several generations in microgravity. Astrobiology is emerging as an exciting field promoting research in biospherics and fabrication of controlled environmental life support systems. India is one of the 14-nation International Space Exploration Coordination Group (2007) that hopes that someday humans may live and work on other planets within the Solar System. The vision statement of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) includes planetary exploration and human spaceflight. While a leader in several fields of space science, India is yet to initiate serious research in gravitational and life sciences. Suggestions are made here for establishing a full-fledged Indian space life sciences programme.

ISS program, Russian involvement

The development of the Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) by 12 space agencies participating in the International Space Exploration Coordination Group broadly outlines a pathway to send humans beyond low Earth orbit for the first time since Apollo. Three themes have emerged: Exploration of a Near-Earth Asteroid, Extended Duration Crew Missions, and Humans to the Lunar Surface. The lack of detail within each of these themes could mean that realizing the goals of the GER would be significantly delayed. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that many of the details needed to fully define and evaluate these themes in terms of scientific rationale, economic viability, and technical feasibility already exist and need to be mapped to the GER. Here, we use the Humans to the Lunar Surface theme as an example to illustrate how this process could work. By mapping documents from a variety of international stakeholders, this process can be used to cement buy-in from the current partners and attract new ones to this effort.