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The first issue of this document served as a starting point for an ESA-internal study in the Concurrent Design Facility (CDF). It was left unchanged for the industrial studies, but underwent a few updates driven both by the industrial studies and the payload-related studies.

In case of the selection of this mission for implementation, another update of the document may be required to reflect updates in the scientific progress during the time of the study, resulting in an Issue 2.

This is a Mission Requirements Document (MRD) to be used as an Applicable Document in the MarcoPolo-R industrial assessment study. The purpose of the MRD is to provide all high-level mission-level requirements (including spacecraft and payload, launcher, ground segment and operations) necessary to achieve the science goals detailed in [MarcoPolo-R Science Requirements Document (SRD)] for the MarcoPolo-R industrial system design studies running through 2012/2013.

It includes functional and performance requirements down to the sub-system level which can be defined at this stage. Later on in the course of the definition phase, it will result into two self-standing documents, i.e. the Mission Requirements Document and the System Requirements Document.

Recording and tracking of changes as well as giving a brief rationale is very important. The traceability of the requirements is paramount in order to make this document and its associated requirements easy to read and to understand at any stage of the mission assessment and possibly later definition phase, should this mission be selected.

This is issue 3.2 of the MRD. It has been updated after the baseline selection review in the course of the assessment phase. It will be reviewed as part of the assessment phase and will be updated following the Preliminary Requirement Review at the end of 2013.

The 39th meeting of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was held 14-22 July 2012 in Mysore, India.

This report to COSPAR on the scientific activities of the European Space Agency was written by members of the Directorate of Earth Observation, the Directorate of Human Spaceflight and Operations and the Directorate of Science and Robotic Exploration.

Contents:

• Foreword by Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General, ESA
• Earth Observation
  1. Introduction
  2. The Living Planet Programme
  3. The Earth Explorer Missions
  4. ERS and Envisat
• Human Spaceflight and Operations
  1. Introduction
  2. Overview: Columbus and ISS Facilities
  3. Funding Europe's ISS Research: ELIPS
  4. Research on the ISS
  5. Ongoing Research Using Other Platforms
  6. Projects under Development
• Science and Robotic Exploration
  1. Introduction
  2. Missions in Operation
  3. Missions in the Post-Operations and Archiving Phases
  4. Projects under Development
  5. Missions under Study

Reference: SRE-PA/2011.079

This document describes the proposed model payload of MarcoPolo-R, a sample return mission to a near-Earth asteroid (NEA), which is currently under assessment as a candidate mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Plan.

Made available online before print publication

MarcoPolo-R is a sample return mission to a primitive Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) proposed in collaboration with NASA. It will rendezvous with a primitive NEA, scientifically characterize it at multiple scales, and return a unique sample to Earth unaltered by the atmospheric entry process or terrestrial weathering. MarcoPolo-R will return bulk samples (up to 2 kg) from an organic-rich binary asteroid to Earth for laboratory analyses, allowing us to: explore the origin of planetary materials and initial stages of habitable planet formation; identify and characterize the organics and volatiles in a primitive asteroid; understand the unique geomorphology, dynamics and evolution of a binary NEA. This project is based on the previous Marco Polo mission study, which was selected for the Assessment Phase of the first round of Cosmic Vision. Its scientific rationale was highly ranked by ESA committees and it was not selected only because the estimated cost was higher than the allotted amount for an M class mission. The cost of MarcoPolo-R will be reduced to within the ESA medium mission budget by collaboration with APL (John Hopkins University) and JPL in the NASA program for coordination with ESA's Cosmic Vision Call. The baseline target is a binary asteroid (175706) 1996 FG3, which offers a very efficient operational and technical mission profile. A binary target also provides enhanced science return. The choice of this target will allow new investigations to be performed more easily than at a single object, and also enables investigations of the fascinating geology and geophysics of asteroids that are impossible at a single object. Several launch windows have been identified in the time-span 2020-2024.
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