ESA Science Newsletter No. 36
Message from the Director of the Scientific Programme
ESA Science Newsletter No. 36
November 1998
Message from the Director of the Scientific Programme
Dear Colleague,
This letter is probably the most efficient means to inform you of the outcome of the recent SPC meeting held on 2-3 November. You will find all the latest information on ESA's Science Programmes and its projects on the web at: http://sci.esa.int/.
SOHO News
I would like first to give you the happy news about SOHO. SOHO is back, all its instruments working nominally, or close to nominal. The only worry we have at present is the loss of two gyros out of three on the spacecraft. However, the prime contractor is already at work on a gyro-less mode, and perhaps we will also be able to shelve this worry. I suggest all those who have an interest in science to look at the SOHO web pages and enjoy the first photos and movies taken by the resurrected instruments. You will also find the pages set up by the recovery team, which illustrate the human aspects of this odyssey: it was a triumph of determination and professionalism, carried out with the full support of our NASA partners. Perhaps you will also read a sample of e-mail messages received, indicating that our enthusiasm is shared by many scientists and non-scientists all over the world.
ISO
Another major success of ESA's Space Science Programme is ISO, whose mission was celebrated with a major symposium in Paris on 20-23 October, at which many new results were shown and many more were promised. Many of the ISO results are on the web as well, and I am sure that many among you will enjoy seeing the first images of the striking infrared ring on M31, or the spectacular pictures of Centaurus A.
Science Programme Committee meeting
Back to the SPC and its major outcome! One of the major decisions the SPC had to take was to decide to introduce Mars Express in the programme. Delegations unanimously approved the baseline mission, subject however to the condition that the appropriate level of funding is made available to the Science Programme and there is no impact on the already approved projects. I made it clear during the discussions that in no way would ESA propose to delay FIRST and Planck to leave room for Mars Express even though some Delegations did not reject that assumption.
The SPC also took note of the selection of the Beagle 2 lander on Mars Express, subject to the condition that it is fully financed. Since part of the necessary funds have already been collected by the Beagle 2 Principle Investigator, Dr. C. Pillinger, the Executive agreed with him to include Beagle 2 in the mission until the end of Phase-B (end 1999). At that time the financial situation should hopefully have been cleared.
Several factors prevailed which led to the unanimous vote for Mars Express. First, the science case is indisputable. The baseline payload, partly re-using some Mars 96 instruments with the addition of a sounding radar and a lander, would provide a unique tool to search for underground water and look for a possible trace of fossil life. Second, the SPC noted the important role of the mission for international collaboration: once in orbit (around Christmas 2003), Mars Express will be able to provide relay communication services to the non-ESA stations and/or rovers which would be present on the surface of Mars between 2003 and 2007. A third important element was the low cost of the mission (150 million Euros) achievable through a new and innovative approach of working with industry and through more efficient and lean management methods as well as taking advantages of commonalities with Rosetta. In fact, Mars Express will be the cheapest ever mission to Mars and it was seen by SPC Delegations as a test case for these new methods, and for providing a good basis to lower the costs of future ESA missions.
Besides Mars Express, another important decision was to secure the continued participation of Europe in HST until 2010 and to agree on ESA's future involvement in NASA's Next Generation Space Telescope. The agreement on HST with NASA expires in 2001, but the mission will hopefully last much longer. The SPC was presented with the elements of a quid-pro-quo aiming to secure the European astronomical community a minimum of 15% share of observing time, both on the HST and NGST.
The SPC unanimously endorsed the draft HST-NGST agreement concept and earmarked funds up to 42 MECU for the ESA support to the extension of the HST operations, from May 2001 to end-2010 (nominally), followed by a three-year rundown phase. Studies are under way which would identify what an ESA contribution to the NGST mission could be, and negotiations with NASA have been initiated which would lead to the establishment of a Memorandum of Understanding once the SPC has confirmed its intention to embark on NGST.
The SPC also approved the "lunar mission" scenario for SMART-1. Many delegations expressed the hope that after completion of the lunar mission there will still be the opportunity for SMART-1 to proceed to a NEO flyby. The mission itself will be approved once its cost and the funding sources have been defined. This is expected to happen at the end of 1998-beginning of 1999.
Dealing with programmes in development, a 6-month delay of the launch was announced for XMM, due to the late delivery of some payload elements. The launch will now take place at the beginning of 2000. Unfortunately and not unexpectedly, the delay will carry an extra cost of about 20 MECU to the programme.
The SPC also noted the intention of the Executive to insure the Cluster mission against the non-availability of the Soyuz-Fregat launcher. This initiative will also result in extra costs to the Science Programme, up to about 18 MECU.
The near future
Let me now turn to the near future!
As you know from the previous issues of the Newsletters, we are facing another period of programmatic and financial decisions, the most important of all being the adoption of a new Level of Resources for 1999-2003 by the Council, in principle at its December 1998 meeting, unless the Member States decide to raise that decisions at Ministerial level, later in 1999.
The situation of the Science Programme is unfortunately much too clear. Nevertheless, in spite of losing 3% of our buying power since the decisions taken in Toulouse in 1995 for each of the last three years, we have managed to introduce Cluster II into the programme and made also room for Mars Express, the cheapest Mars Mission ever. All this has been done through major savings, basically taking maximum advantages of commonalities between missions (XMM-Integral, FIRST-Planck, Rosetta-Mars Express), reducing contingencies and exploiting new opportunities in the launcher market but also taking more risks. Working more closely and in an innovative way with industry, and also resting more and more on competition, we also achieved lower industrial costs.
However, we have reached a point at which further economies can only be achieved by facing unacceptable risks, and even in the optimistic hypothesis that the buying power of the programme will be kept at the 1998 level, all the money available is already planned to be spent on missions where further savings are no longer possible.
The SPC meeting was dominated by this theme of discussion. The main issue at stake was whether the post-Toulouse budgetary erosion should be stopped or not. All delegations recognised the short and long-term needs of the Science Programme and in principle were in favour of making an effort to restore the flat purchasing power of the programme. In the end, eleven Delegations supported a resolution (see Annex 1) addressed to Council and requesting to keep the same buying power as in 1998; two Delegations abstained; one voted against. Unanimity is needed at Council however, hence more efforts are required to achieve that goal. But the political signal in favour of European space science seems to be stronger than in the recent past and I am confident that it cannot be lightly dismissed.
The year is now nearing its end, and we are preparing for future actions. The first rendez-vous will be with the ESA Council, who will discuss the Level of Resources on 15-16 December. The outcome of the discussion will permit to give a shape to the future of space science at ESA. Clearly, a negative vote at Council by one Delegation alone is enough to block the process and in the same way prevent the start of Mars Express if we follow the SPC resolution. This would be bad! We would have lost a unique science opportunity, the cheapest Mars Mission ever, and would not be able to demonstrate in a timely schedule our capability of implementing new and innovative approaches to open the programme, to create, through savings, more missions and more science. What is requested is to stop now and for the next 5 years the financial and buying power erosion of the science budget, by laying to rest the measures adopted in Toulouse.
I hope to have convinced you that this request or approach is not outrageous and that, together with me, you can contribute to telling your delegations that it is worth fighting for.
Dr. R.M.Bonnet
Director of Scientific Programme