Cosmic VisionCall for proposals; missions selectedCosmic Vision 2015–2025 is the current cycle of ESA's long-term plan for space science missions. The programme includes CHEOPS (CHaracterizing ExOPlanet Satellite), a small (S-class) mission for launch in 2017; Solar Orbiter and Euclid, two medium (M-class) missions with launch slots in the later part of this decade; and JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer), a large (L-class) mission for launch in the early 2020s. Building the programmeThe first call for Cosmic Vision missions was issued in March 2007, targeting two missions: one medium (M-class) and one large (L-class), for launch in 2017 and 2018. From the 50 proposals received, four M-class candidates (Euclid, PLATO, Marco Polo, and Cross Scale), a mission of opportunity (SPICA, led by JAXA) and three L-class candidates (IXO, Laplace and TandEM) were selected for assessment. The LISA mission, carried over from the Horizon 2000 Plus programme, was included as an L-class candidate. Early in 2009, the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 plan was updated to reflect the science programme funding availability, the technical progress of the studies, the mission technology readiness and the availability of international partners. The revised plan included the following changes:
The second call for Cosmic Vision missions was released in July 2010 with the goal of selecting a third M-class mission (M3) with a targeted launch date of 2024. From the 47 proposals submitted, 4 have been recommended by the ESA Advisory Structure and selected for assessment. The four candidate missions are EChO, LOFT, MarcoPolo-R, and STE-QUEST. A call for a small (S-class) missions in the Science Programme was issued in March 2012, advertising a single launch opportunity in 2017. The CHEOPS mission was selected for implementation from a total of 26 proposals received in response to the call. In March 2013, a Call for White Papers was issued asking the science community to propose science themes and associated questions that could be addressed by the next two large (L-class) missions, L2 and L3, which are currently planned for launch 2028 and 2034. M1 and M2 missionsSolar Orbiter (2017) and Euclid (2020) have been chosen as the two M-class missions, following the selection process described here. In October 2011, the Science Programme Committee (SPC) selected Solar Orbiter and Euclid as the Cosmic Vision M1 and M2 missions. During the selection process that led up to this decision (October 2007 to October 2011) the following missions were studied:
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| EChO (Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory; Cosmic Vision theme 1 - What are the conditions for planet formation and the emergence of life?) - a mission to investigate exoplanetary atmospheres, addressing the suitability of those planets for life and placing our Solar System in context. |
| LOFT (Large Observatory For X-ray Timing; Cosmic Vision theme 4 - How did the Universe originate and what is it made of?) - a mission to address fundamental questions about the motion of matter orbiting close to the event horizon of black holes and the state of matter in neutron stars, by detecting their very rapid changes in X-ray flux and spectral variability. |
| MarcoPolo-R (Cosmic Vision theme 2 - How does the Solar System work?) - a mission to return a sample of material from a primitive near-Earth asteroid for detailed analysis in ground-based laboratories. The scientific data would help to answer key questions about the processes that occurred during planet formation and the evolution of the rocks that were the building blocks of terrestrial planets. |
| PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars; Cosmic Vision theme 1 - What are the conditions for planet formation and the emergence of life?) – to open a new way in exoplanetary science, by providing a full statistical analysis of exoplanetary systems around stars that are bright and nearby enough to allow for simultaneous and/or later detailed studies of their host stars. In June 2012 a proposal for a revised PLATO consortium was submitted. The structure of the revised consortium is currently being reviewed to ensure the same level of programmatic maturity as for the M3 candidates selected in response to the 2010 Call for Missions. Following this confirmation, the mission would be considered for the M3 selection. |
| STE-QUEST (Space-Time Explorer and Quantum Equivalence Principle Space Test; Cosmic Vision theme 3 - What are the fundamental physical laws of the Universe?) - a mission to precisely measure the effects of gravity on time and matter. Its main objective would be to test the Principle of Equivalence, a fundamental assumption of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. |
L1 mission
The original L-class candidate missions were subject to a reformulation exercise to consider if any of the original mission concepts could be implemented as European-led missions.
JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) has been selected as the L1 mission from the candidates described here.
| JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer; Cosmic Vision theme 2 – How does the Solar System work?) – a mission to study the giant gaseous planet Jupiter and its moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto in unprecedented detail. JUICE was the result of the reformulation of the EJSM-Laplace mission. In May 2012, JUICE was selected by the SPC as the L1 mission, with a targeted launch date of 2022. |
| ATHENA (Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics; Cosmic Vision themes 3 and 4 – What are the fundamental physical laws of the Universe? / How did the Universe originate and what is it made of?) – a next-generation facility designed to address some of the most fundamental questions in contemporary astrophysics and cosmology by investigating black holes and matter under extreme conditions, the formation and evolution of galaxies, clusters and the large scale structure, and the lifecycles of matter and energy. ATHENA was the result of the reformulation of the IXO mission. In May 2012, ATHENA was not selected by the SPC to continue into the definition phase. |
| TandEM/TSSM (Titan and Enceladus Mission; Cosmic Vision theme 2 – How does the Solar System work?) – a mission to carry out an in-depth investigation of Titan, an Earth-like organic-rich world and the Saturn System, with special emphasis on Enceladus. In February 2009, TandEM/TSSM exited the Cosmic Vision programme when ESA and NASA chose EJSM-Laplace as the L-class outer Solar System mission candidate. |
| The three selected missions were joined by LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna), a mission intended to detect and observe gravitational waves from astronomical sources such as massive black holes and galactic binaries in a frequency range from 10-5 to 1 Hz. LISA was carried over from Horizon 2000 Plus. In the context of the reformulation exercise LISA became the New Gravitational wave Observatory (NGO). In May 2012, NGO was not selected by the SPC to continue into the definition phase. |
S1 mission
CHEOPS (CHaracterizing ExOPlanet Satellite) has been selected as the S1 mission.
| CHEOPS (CHaracterizing ExOPlanet Satellite; Cosmic Vision theme 1 - What are the conditions for planet formation and the emergence of life?) – a mission to characterize transiting exoplanets on known bright and nearby host stars. In October 2012, CHEOPS was selected by the SPC as the S1 mission, with a targeted launch date of 2017. |
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Selecting the themes |
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Current status of S-, M- and L-class missions |
