ESA Science & Technology - Planning for a joint scientific space mission <br> An initiative of the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences

First Announcement

1st  Workshop
Planning for a joint scientific space mission
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) - European Space Agency (ESA)
Chengdu (China)
25-26 February 2014

http://sci.esa.int/esa-cas-workshop
http://jm.nssc.ac.cn

 
Updated 26 March 2014: The presentations are available for download from the programme page. The posters are available for download from the list of posters.

Updated 21 February 2014: The programme and the list of posters are updated. The list of participants is added.

Updated 21 February 2014: The "Participants Handbook" is available for download (pdf) from the right-hand menu, under documentation.

Updated 31 January 2014: Preliminary programme and list of posters online.

Updated 23 December 2013: Registration for 1st workshop is closed.

Updated 22 November 2013: Registration for 1st workshop is open; see below for details.

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Directorate of Science and Robotic Exploration (ESA-SRE) and the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) have agreed to explore the possibility of identifying a scientific mission which could be jointly implemented by ESA-SRE and the Chinese National Space Science Centre (NSSC) under the CAS.

Purpose and Goals

The goal is to jointly define such a mission through cooperation between the European and Chinese scientific communities.

Activities would follow a collaborative approach through all the phases of the mission: study, definition, implementation, operations and scientific exploitation.

ESA and CAS have agreed that the first step in this process is to promote the interaction between Chinese and European scientists who would be interested in responding to a joint call for proposals for such a mission.

ESA and CAS have agreed that the first step in this process is to promote the interaction between Chinese and European scientists who would be interested in responding to a joint call for proposals for such a mission.

The 1st Workshop will be hosted by NSSC in Chengdu (China) on 25-26 February 2014.

The goals of this workshop are to:

• Allow European and Chinese scientists to present ideas for cooperative missions, paving the way for potential partnerships.
• Provide to the community guidelines on the technical and programmatic constraints that need to be considered by potential proposers.

After this first workshop, scientists are encouraged to start discussions with potential counterparts, looking for potential shared interests towards a joint mission proposal.

The 2nd Workshop, to be organised by ESA-SRE in Europe (location to be decided) on 24-26 September 2014, will focus on:

• Presentations by joint European and Chinese teams on specific scientific objectives and early mission concepts to fulfil these objectives. These will allow ideas for potential joint missions to be further elaborated and scientific cooperation to be extended;
• Providing more detailed information on the technical and programmatic requirements that need to be fulfilled by the proposed missions and about the terms, conditions and planning for the forthcoming Call.

A few months after the 2nd Workshop ESA and NSSC would, if an agreement in this direction is reached between the two entitities, issue a joint Call for missions. The proposed missions would have to comply with a number of criteria (to be defined along the preparation process), such as:

• Proposals will have to be co-signed by two Co-PIs, one affiliated with an ESA Member State institution, the other with a Chinese institution;
• Proposals will have to explicitly demonstrate compliance with the joint mission profiles previously defined by ESA and NSSC (detailed definition of these profiles will be part of the proposal information package);
• Data policy will have to comply with ESA and NSSC rules;
• Joint scientific preparation and exploitation will be enforced: all stages (including the data exploitation) will have to be performed by joint teams. Data rights will have to be in all cases shared;
• Payload provision has to be open to both parties.

Format of the 1st workshop

The 1st workshop will be organised over 2 full days, 25 and 26 February 2014 in Chengdu.

Information about the 1st Workshop is posted on the dedicated ESA based web page http://sci.esa.int/esa-cas-workshop and http://jm.nssc.ac.cn.

The workshop will include three main elements:

1. Presentations from ESA and CAS to:
   • Introduce the respective frameworks for this joint initiative
   • Provide preliminary guidelines about the applicable technical and programmatic constraints
2. Invited talks from members of the Chinese and European scientific communities with the objective to:
   • Identify scientific themes that could be of interest to the Chinese and European scientific communities and could be implemented in response to the proposed Call.
   • - Discuss possible approaches for the implementation of a collaborative mission (possibly based on lesson learned from previous and/or current China-Europe collaborations);
3. Contributed talks (and posters, if needed) on scientific themes/missions proposed by members of the Chinese and European scientific communities.

Participation will be open to the international community and will require registration (see below).

Contributed Speakers

Sufficient time in the Workshop schedule will be allocated to contributed speakers and – if needed – to posters.

Interested scientists may submit an extended abstract (2 pages maximum) of their intended contribution for the 1st Workshop according to the instructions given below.

In addition, scientists interested in presenting a contribution should submit an extended abstract (2 pages maximum) in PDF format + a 1 page brief Curriculum Vitae (CV) in the same file. The extended abstract should include (at least) the following information:

1. Overview
2. Science objectives
3. Suggested payload
4. Mission concept
5. Potential areas of collaboration between the two communities
6. Heritage from previous studies/missions

Submissions of extended abstracts are accepted exclusively in electronic form, using the online submission form that is accessible below (the form opens in a new window).

NOTE: each PDF file must be less than 50 MB and must not be locked/protected.

Submission deadline: 20 December 2013, 12:00 CET (noon)/19:00 (Beijing Time)

Selection of extended abstracts

The submitted extended abstracts will be scrutinized by the Programme Organising Committee (POC) of the Workshop and assigned as oral or poster presentations. The Authors shall be informed about the POC decisions by 10 January 2014.

Information about the boundary conditions for the candidate missions

To ensure that the Call will result in feasible, cost-constrained mission concepts that could be implemented within the pre-defined programmatic constraints, only candidate mission concepts that comply with the boundary conditions being defined by ESA and CAS will be considered. For further details, please see the separate web page: 'boundary conditions for the candidate missions', linked also in the right-hand manu.

Timeline and deadlines

Contact 

European participants can contact Luigi Colangeli (Luigi.Colangeliesa.int) for further information.

Chinese participants can contact Lilin Sun (sunllnssc.ac.cn) for further information.

Information about the boundary conditions for the candidate missions

To ensure that the Call will result in feasible, cost-constrained mission concepts that could be implemented within the pre-defined programmatic constraints, only candidate mission concepts that comply with the boundary conditions being defined by ESA and CAS will be considered.

Detailed information about constraints will be progressively defined in the coming months and will be consolidated by the time of the "Call for missions".

The size of the contribution from ESA is envisaged to be comparable to that of a "Small Mission" in the Science Programme, with a similar sized contribution from the CAS.

As it is usual for ESA science missions, the ESA Member States are assumed to provide (partly or fully) the European contribution to the payload elements.

The mission’s science objectives could be in astronomy, solar system science or fundamental physics.

For planning purposes a launch in 2021 is envisaged.

The Call, once issued, will only solicit proposals that can be implemented within the constraints of the joint mission profiles defined by ESA and NSSC. Compliance to the constraints deriving from the joint mission profiles will be strictly enforced during the evaluation of the proposals.

Preliminary technical guidelines

• Spacecraft launch mass <= 250kg;
• Payload mass < = 60kg;
• Payload power 50 watt average (typical);
• The use of an optional propulsion module can be envisaged for orbit transfer, subject to compatibility with selected launcher;
• Launcher: Long March 2C/2D, with or without upper stage, if applicable as passenger; Vega if applicable as passenger; or Soyuz as passenger;
• Operational lifetime of satellite 2-3 years.

Preliminary programmatic constraints

• The proposed mission should be self-standing and not an element of a larger mission;
• Moon and Mars exploration missions will excluded from the call as they are covered by the Exploration Programmes in Europe and in China;
• Technology readiness requirements: TRL6/7 preferable, TRL5 acceptable, by the time of the call;
• Space segment development schedule below ~3.5-4 years
• The space segment will have to be ITAR-free, and compatible with the applicable space debris regulations.

Practical information for the first workshop

The workshop will take place in Chengdu (Sichuan province). Lufthansa, British Airways and KLM have direct flights from Europe to Chengdu. It is of course also possible to fly via Beijing or Hong-Kong (as well as other locations).

Hotel

The Workshop will take place at the Green Land Hotel:
Green Land Hotel - Sichuan
99 Zhonglieci West Street
Qingyang District
Chengdu, Sichuan Province

 Hotel website: http://www.greenlandhotelchengdu.com/index.htm

A price per night of 320 RMB has been negotiated for conference participants – this rate can be obtained either by reserving directly with the hotel (by phone at +86 28 86628899) or by requesting NSSC to help with the reservation (please email Song Tingting, sttnssc.ac.cn, mentioning the workshop).

Visa

In order to obtain the necessary visa to enter China, please send an e-mail with your personal and passport data to Ms Lan (lanlinssc.ac.cn) with copy to Mr Xu (xuyongjiannssc.ac.cn). You will then receive an invitation letter which you can then use for your visa application at your local Chinese Embassy. It is important that you file your visa application well in time. Once all the forms have been received properly the Chinese Embassy typically needs 4-5 working days to process the visa. Note that Chinese embassies will be closed for the Chinese New Year’s celebration on 3-7 February 2014.

Programme

The workshop presentations are available in pdf format and can be downloaded by clicking on the titles of the talks in the programme below. Some presentations are also available as a slideshow, in which case a second link (.pps or .ppsx) is provided after the title.

To download all presentations from a single session as one zip file, you can use the links provided in each session header.
 

Programme for 1st workshop, 25-26 February 2014

DAY 1: February 25, 2014
INTRODUCTION Chairman: Ji Wu, NSSC, CAS Download all [zip, 20 MB]
Time	Subject	Contributor
09:00-09:10	Opening Speech	Ji Wu, NSSC, CAS, China
09:10-09:25	Overall Introduction	Fabio Favata, ESA
09:25-09:50	Technical Constraints Introduction	Frédéric Safa, ESA
09:50-10:10	Invited Speech    [.ppsx]	Luigi Piro, INAF, Italy
10:10-10:15	Discussion
10:15-10:35	Invited Speech	Weiqun Gan, PMO, CAS, China
10:35-10:40	Discussion
10:40-11:00	Coffee Break
11:00-11:20	Invited Speech	Chi Wang, NSSC, CAS, China
11:20-11:25	Discussion
11:25-11:45	Invited Speech	John Zarnecki, The Open University, UK
11:45-11:50	Discussion
11:50-13:00	Lunch
13:00-14:00	Poster Session
SESSION I: Space Astronomy Chairman: Luigi Colangeli, ESA Download all [zip, 80 MB]
Time	Subject	Contributor
14:00-14:10	Welcome Speech	Jinghua Cao, CAS, China
14:10-14:20	Welcome Speech	Alvaro Giménez, ESA
14:20-14:35	X-Ray Imaging Light Polarimetry Explorer	Enrico Costa, IAPS-INAF, Italy
14:35-14:40	Discussion
14:40-14:55	Einstein Probe - Exploring The Dynamic X-Ray Universe    [.pps]	Weimin Yuan, NAOC, China
14:55-15:00	Discussion
15:00-15:15	Lobster X-ray Telescope Science	Julian Osborne, University of Leicester, UK
15:15-15:20	Discussion
15:20-15:35	GAME: Grb and All-sky Monitor Experiment	Marco Feroci, INAF, Italy
15:35-15:40	Discussion
15:40-15:55	PANGU: A High Resolution Gamma-Ray Space Telescope	Xin Wu, University of Geneva, Switzerland
15:55-16:00	Discussion
16:00-16:20	Group Photo and Coffee Break
16:20-16:35	A Concept of Dark Age Interferometric Array (DAIA)	Ding Chen/Jingye Yan, NSSC, CAS, China
16:35-16:40	Discussion
16:40-16:55	Low Frequency Space Imaging Radio Observatory (LF-SRO)	Willem Baan, SHAO, CAS, China
16:55-17:00	Discussion
17:00-17:15	Cosmology and Molecule Explorer (COME)	Di Li, NAOC, China
17:15-17:20	Discussion
17:20-17:35	Space Very Long Wavelength Array	Maohai Huang, NAOC, China
17:35-17:40	Discussion
17:40-17:55	μAstrometry	Alexis Brandeker, Stockholm University, Sweden
17:55-18:00	Discussion
18:00-18:15	Searching for Habitable Planets: Bright Star Survey Telescopes (BSST)	Jilin Zhou, Nanjing University, China
18:15-18:20	Discussion
DAY 2: February 26, 2014
SESSION I: Space Astronomy Chairman: Shuangnan Zhang, IHEP CAS Download all [zip, 30 MB]
Time	Subject	Contributor
09:00-09:15	SIRIUS - Stellar & ISM Research via In-orbit Ultraviolet Spectroscopy	Martin Barstow, University of Leicester, UK
09:15-09:20	Discussion
09:20-09:35	Joint UV Survey Telescope: Exploring Time-domain Astronomy and Deep Universe	Stephane Basa, LAM/CNRS, France
09:35-09:40	Discussion
09:40-09:55	UV Emission Mapping for Intergalactic Medium & Nearby Galaxies	Li Ji, PMO, CAS, China
09:55-10:00	Discussion
10:00-10:15	The Far Infrared Spectroscopic Explorer (FIRSPEX)	Dimitra Rigopoulou, RAL Space/ Oxford University, UK
10:15-10:20	Discussion
10:20-10:35	The MESSIER Mission: Unveiling The Low Surface Brightness Universe	David Valls-Gabaud, Observatoire de Paris, France
10:35-10:40	Discussion
10:40-11:00	Coffee Break
SESSION II: Solar Physics Chairman: Arvind Parmar, ESA Download all [zip, 18 MB]
11:00-11:15	Magnetic Activity of the Solar Corona (MASC)    [.pps]	Frédéric Auchère, Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, France
11:15-11:20	Discussion
11:20-11:35	Solar Energetic Emission and Particles Explorer	Siming Liu, PMO, CAS, China
11:35-11:40	Discussion
11:40-11:55	SWUSV: a Microsatellite Mission for Space Weather and Ultraviolet Solar Variability	Luc Damé, LATMOS/IPSL/CNRS/UVSQ, France
11:55-12:00	Discussion
12:00-13:00	Lunch
13:00-14:00	Poster Session
SESSION III: Space Physics Chairman: Chi Wang, NSSC CAS Download all [zip, 8 MB]
14:00-14:15	REal-time Sun-earth Connections Observatory (RESCO): A Potential Heliophysics Mission at L5	Ying Liu, NSSC, CAS, China
14:15-14:20	Discussion
14:20-14:35	Weather Sentinel	Piero Spillantini, National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Italy
14:35-14:40	Discussion
14:40-14:55	X-ray Imaging of the Magnetosphere	Tianran Sun, NSSC, CAS, China
14:55-15:00	Discussion
15:00-15:15	Tor - Exploring Dissipation in Solar Wind Turbulence	Yuri Khotyaintsev, Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Sweden
15:15-15:20	Discussion
15:20-15:40	Coffee Break
SESSION IV: Fundamental Physics Chairman: Fabio Favata, ESA Download all [zip, 14 MB]
15:40-15:55	Detection of planetary gravitomagnetic field in general relativity and laser interferometry in space	Yunkau Lau, AMSS, CAS, China
15:55-16:00	Discussion
16:00-16:15	High Sensitivity Geodesy Mission through a Re-flight of LISA Pathfinder	Gerhard Heinzel, AEI, Germany
16:15-16:20	Discussion
16:20-16:35	CGS - Chinese Geomagnetic Small Multi-satellite Mission	Aimin Du, IGG, CAS, China
16:35-16:40	Discussion
16:40-16:55	Gravitation Astrometric Measurement Experiment (GAME)	Mario Gai, Ist. Naz. Astrofisica - Oss. Astr. Torino, Italy
16:55-17:00	Discussion
17:00-17:10	Closing Speech	Alvaro Giménez, ESA
17:10-17:20	Closing Speech	Ji Wu, NSSC, CAS, China

List of posters

The workshop posters are available in pdf format and can be downloaded by clicking on the poster titles in the list below. A single zip file containing all the posters can be downloaded here [26 MB].
 

Posters for 1st workshop, 25-26 February 2014

Participants