TY - CHAP A1 - Dachwald, Bernd T1 - Low-Thrust Mission Analysis and Global Trajectory Optimization Using Evolutionary Neurocontrol: New Results T2 - European Workshop on Space Mission Analysis ESA/ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany 10 { 12 Dec 2007 N2 - Interplanetary trajectories for low-thrust spacecraft are often characterized by multiple revolutions around the sun. Unfortunately, the convergence of traditional trajectory optimizers that are based on numerical optimal control methods depends strongly on an adequate initial guess for the control function (if a direct method is used) or for the starting values of the adjoint vector (if an indirect method is used). Especially when many revolutions around the sun are re- quired, trajectory optimization becomes a very difficult and time-consuming task that involves a lot of experience and expert knowledge in astrodynamics and optimal control theory, because an adequate initial guess is extremely hard to find. Evolutionary neurocontrol (ENC) was proposed as a smart method for low-thrust trajectory optimization that fuses artificial neural networks and evolutionary algorithms to so-called evolutionary neurocontrollers (ENCs) [1]. Inspired by natural archetypes, ENC attacks the trajectoryoptimization problem from the perspective of artificial intelligence and machine learning, a perspective that is quite different from that of optimal control theory. Within the context of ENC, a trajectory is regarded as the result of a spacecraft steering strategy that maps permanently the actual spacecraft state and the actual target state onto the actual spacecraft control vector. This way, the problem of searching the optimal spacecraft trajectory is equivalent to the problem of searching (or "learning") the optimal spacecraft steering strategy. An artificial neural network is used to implement such a spacecraft steering strategy. It can be regarded as a parameterized function (the network function) that is defined by the internal network parameters. Therefore, each distinct set of network parameters defines a different network function and thus a different steering strategy. The problem of searching the optimal steering strategy is now equivalent to the problem of searching the optimal set of network parameters. Evolutionary algorithms that work on a population of (artificial) chromosomes are used to find the optimal network parameters, because the parameters can be easily mapped onto a chromosome. The trajectory optimization problem is solved when the optimal chromosome is found. A comparison of solar sail trajectories that have been published by others [2, 3, 4, 5] with ENC-trajectories has shown that ENCs can be successfully applied for near-globally optimal spacecraft control [1, 6] and that they are able to find trajectories that are closer to the (unknown) global optimum, because they explore the trajectory search space more exhaustively than a human expert can do. The obtained trajectories are fairly accurate with respect to the terminal constraint. If a more accurate trajectory is required, the ENC-solution can be used as an initial guess for a local trajectory optimization method. Using ENC, low-thrust trajectories can be optimized without an initial guess and without expert attendance. Here, new results for nuclear electric spacecraft and for solar sail spacecraft are presented and it will be shown that ENCs find very good trajectories even for very difficult problems. Trajectory optimization results are presented for 1. NASA's Solar Polar Imager Mission, a mission to attain a highly inclined close solar orbit with a solar sail [7] 2. a mission to de ect asteroid Apophis with a solar sail from a retrograde orbit with a very-high velocity impact [8, 9] 3. JPL's \2nd Global Trajectory Optimization Competition", a grand tour to visit four asteroids from different classes with a NEP spacecraft Y1 - 2007 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Loeb, Horst W. A1 - Schartner, Karl-Heinz A1 - Seboldt, Wolfgang A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Streppel, Joern A1 - Meusemann, Hans A1 - Schülke, Peter T1 - SEP for a lander mission to the jovian moon europa T2 - 57th International Astronautical Congress N2 - Under DLR-contract, Giessen University and DLR Cologne are studying solar-electric propulsion missions (SEP) to the outer regions of the solar system. The most challenging reference mission concerns the transport of a 1.35-tons chemical lander spacecraft into an 80-RJ circular orbit around Jupiter, which would enable to place a 375 kg lander with 50 kg of scientific instruments on the surface of the icy moon "Europa". Thorough analyses show that the best solution in terms of SEP launch mass times thrusting time would be a two-stage EP module and a triple-junction solar array with concentrators which would be deployed step by step. Mission performance optimizations suggest to propel the spacecraft in the first EP stage by 6 gridded ion thrusters, running at 4.0 kV of beam voltage, which would save launch mass, and in the second stage by 4 thrusters with 1.25 to 1.5 kV of positive high voltage saving thrusting time. In this way, the launch mass of the spacecraft would be kept within 5.3 tons. Without a launcher's C3 and interplanetary gravity assists, Jupiter might be reached within about 4 yrs. The spiraling-down into the parking orbit would need another 1.8 yrs. This "large mission" can be scaled down to a smaller one, e.g., by halving all masses, the solar array power, and the number of thrusters. Due to their reliability, long lifetime and easy control, RIT-22 engines have been chosen for mission analysis. Based on precise tests, the thruster performance has been modeled. Y1 - 2006 U6 - https://doi.org/10.2514/6.IAC-06-C4.4.04 N1 - 57th International Astronautical Congress, 02 October 2006 - 06 October 2006, Valencia, Spain. SP - 1 EP - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - German, Laura A1 - Mikucki, Jill A. A1 - Welch, Susan A. A1 - Welch, Kathleen A. A1 - Lutton, Anthony A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Kowalski, Julia A1 - Heinen, Dirk A1 - Feldmann, Marco A1 - Francke, Gero A1 - Espe, Clemens A1 - Lyons, W. Berry T1 - Validation of sampling antarctic subglacial hypersaline waters with an electrothermal ice melting probe (IceMole) for environmental analytical geochemistry JF - International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry N2 - Geochemical characterisation of hypersaline waters is difficult as high concentrations of salts hinder the analysis of constituents at low concentrations, such as trace metals, and the collection of samples for trace metal analysis in natural waters can be easily contaminated. This is particularly the case if samples are collected by non-conventional techniques such as those required for aquatic subglacial environments. In this paper we present the first analysis of a subglacial brine from Taylor Valley, (~ 78°S), Antarctica for the trace metals: Ba, Co, Mo, Rb, Sr, V, and U. Samples were collected englacially using an electrothermal melting probe called the IceMole. This probe uses differential heating of a copper head as well as the probe’s sidewalls and an ice screw at the melting head to move through glacier ice. Detailed blanks, meltwater, and subglacial brine samples were collected to evaluate the impact of the IceMole and the borehole pump, the melting and collection process, filtration, and storage on the geochemistry of the samples collected by this device. Comparisons between melt water profiles through the glacier ice and blank analysis, with published studies on ice geochemistry, suggest the potential for minor contributions of some species Rb, As, Co, Mn, Ni, NH4+, and NO2−+NO3− from the IceMole. The ability to conduct detailed chemical analyses of subglacial fluids collected with melting probes is critical for the future exploration of the hundreds of deep subglacial lakes in Antarctica. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/03067319.2019.1704750 SN - 0306-7319 VL - 101 IS - 15 SP - 2654 EP - 2667 PB - Taylor & Francis CY - London ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Gehler, M. A1 - Ober-Blöbaum, S. A1 - Dachwald, Bernd T1 - Application of discrete mechanics and optimal control to spacecraft in non-keplerian motion around small solar system bodies T2 - Procceedings of the 60th International Astronautical Congress N2 - Prolonged operations close to small solar system bodies require a sophisticated control logic to minimize propellant mass and maximize operational efficiency. A control logic based on Discrete Mechanics and Optimal Control (DMOC) is proposed and applied to both conventionally propelled and solar sail spacecraft operating at an arbitrarily shaped asteroid in the class of Itokawa. As an example, stand-off inertial hovering is considered, recently identified as a challenging part of the Marco Polo mission. The approach is easily extended to stand-off orbits. We show that DMOC is applicable to spacecraft control at small objects, in particular with regard to the fact that the changes in gravity are exploited by the algorithm to optimally control the spacecraft position. Furthermore, we provide some remarks on promising developments. KW - Spacecraft Y1 - 2009 SN - 978-161567908-9 N1 - 60th International Astronautical Congress 2009, IAC 2009; Daejeon; South Korea; 12 October 2009 through 16 October 2009 SP - 1360 EP - 1371 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Seboldt, Wolfgang T1 - Solar sailcraft of the first generation technology development / Seboldt, Wolfgang ; Dachwald, Bernd Y1 - 2003 N1 - 54th International Astronautical Congress of the International Astronautical Federation, the International Academy of Astronautics, and the International Institute of Space Law 29 September - 3 October 2003, Bremen, Germany IAC-03-S.03 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Dachwald, Bernd T1 - Radiation pressure force model for an ideal laser-enhanced solar sail T2 - 4th International Symposium on Solar Sailing N2 - The concept of a laser-enhanced solar sail is introduced and the radiation pressure force model for an ideal laser-enhanced solar sail is derived. A laser-enhanced solar sail is a “traditional” solar sail that is, however, not solely propelled by solar radiation, but additionally by a laser beam that illuminates the sail. The additional laser radiation pressure increases the sail's propulsive force and can give, depending on the location of the laser source, more control authority over the direction of the solar sail’s propulsive force vector. This way, laser-enhanced solar sails may augment already existing solar sail mission concepts and make novel mission concepts feasible. Y1 - 2017 N1 - 4th International Symposium on Solar Sailing 17-20 January 2017, Kyōto, Japan SP - 1 EP - 5 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Ohndorf, Andreas T1 - Global optimization of continuous-thrust trajectories using evolutionary neurocontrol T2 - Modeling and Optimization in Space Engineering N2 - Searching optimal continuous-thrust trajectories is usually a difficult and time-consuming task. The solution quality of traditional optimal-control methods depends strongly on an adequate initial guess because the solution is typically close to the initial guess, which may be far from the (unknown) global optimum. Evolutionary neurocontrol attacks continuous-thrust optimization problems from the perspective of artificial intelligence and machine learning, combining artificial neural networks and evolutionary algorithms. This chapter describes the method and shows some example results for single- and multi-phase continuous-thrust trajectory optimization problems to assess its performance. Evolutionary neurocontrol can explore the trajectory search space more exhaustively than a human expert can do with traditional optimal-control methods. Especially for difficult problems, it usually finds solutions that are closer to the global optimum. Another fundamental advantage is that continuous-thrust trajectories can be optimized without an initial guess and without expert supervision. Y1 - 2019 SN - 978-3-030-10501-3 SN - 978-3-030-10500-6 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10501-3_2 N1 - Springer Optimization and Its Applications, vol 144 gedruckt unter der Signatur 21 ZSS 46 in der Bereichsbibliothek Eupener Str. vorhanden SP - 33 EP - 57 PB - Springer CY - Cham ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Baturkin, Volodymyr A1 - Coverstone, Victoria A1 - Diedrich, Ben A1 - Garbe, Gregory A1 - Görlich, Marianne A1 - Leipold, Manfred A1 - Lura, Franz A1 - Macdonald, Malcolm A1 - McInnes, Colin A1 - Mengali, Giovanni A1 - Quarta, Alessandro A1 - Rios-Reyes, Leonel A1 - Scheeres, Daniel J. A1 - Seboldt, Wolfgang A1 - Wie, Bong T1 - Potential effects of optical solar sail degredation on trajectory design T2 - AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist N2 - The optical properties of the thin metalized polymer films that are projected for solar sails are assumed to be affected by the erosive effects of the space environment. Their degradation behavior in the real space environment, however, is to a considerable degree indefinite, because initial ground test results are controversial and relevant inspace tests have not been made so far. The standard optical solar sail models that are currently used for trajectory design do not take optical degradation into account, hence its potential effects on trajectory design have not been investigated so far. Nevertheless, optical degradation is important for high-fidelity solar sail mission design, because it decreases both the magnitude of the solar radiation pressure force acting on the sail and also the sail control authority. Therefore, we propose a simple parametric optical solar sail degradation model that describes the variation of the sail film’s optical coefficients with time, depending on the sail film’s environmental history, i.e., the radiation dose. The primary intention of our model is not to describe the exact behavior of specific film-coating combinations in the real space environment, but to provide a more general parametric framework for describing the general optical degradation behavior of solar sails. Using our model, the effects of different optical degradation behaviors on trajectory design are investigated for various exemplary missions. Y1 - 2005 N1 - 2005 AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, 7-11.08.2005. Lake Tahoe, California https://www.space-flight.org/AAS_meetings/2005_astro/2005_astro.html SP - 1 EP - 23 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dachwald, Bernd T1 - Low-Thrust Trajectory Optimization and Interplanetary Mission Analysis Using Evolutionary Neurocontrol JF - Deutscher Luft- und Raumfahrtkongress 2004 : Dresden, 20. bis 23. September 2004, Motto: Luft- und Raumfahrt - Brücke für eine wissensbasierte Gesellschaft / Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth e.V. (DGLR). [Red.: Peter Brandt (verantwortlich)]. - Bd. 2. - (Jahrbuch ... der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt) Y1 - 2004 N1 - Deutscher Luft- und Raumfahrt-Kongress <2004, Dresden> ; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth ; DGLR-2004-116 SP - 917 EP - 926 CY - Bonn ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Loeb, Horst Wolfgang A1 - Schartner, Karl-Heinz A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Ohndorf, Andreas A1 - Seboldt, Wolfgang T1 - Interstellar heliopause probe JF - Труды МАИ N2 - There is common agreement within the scientific community that in order to understand our local galactic environment it will be necessary to send a spacecraft into the region beyond the solar wind termination shock. Considering distances of 200 AU for a new mission, one needs a spacecraft traveling at a speed of close to 10 AU/yr in order to keep the mission duration in the range of less than 25 yrs, a transfer time postulated by European Space Agency (ESA). Two propulsion options for the mission have been proposed and discussed so far: the solar sail propulsion and the ballistic/radioisotope-electric propulsion (REP). As a further alternative, we here investigate a combination of solar-electric propulsion (SEP) and REP. The SEP stage consists of six 22-cms diameter RIT-22 ion thrusters working with a high specific impulse of 7377 s corresponding to a positive grid voltage of 5 kV. Solar power of 53 kW at begin of mission (BOM) is provided by a lightweight solar array. Y1 - 2012 IS - 60 SP - 2 EP - 2 PB - Moskauer Staatliches Luftfahrtinstitut (МАИ) CY - Moskau ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Seboldt, Wolfgang A1 - Richter, L. T1 - Multiple Rendezvous and Sample Return Missions to Near-Earth Asteroids Using Solar Sailcraft JF - Proceedings of the Fifth IAA International Conference on Low Cost Planetary Missions : 24 - 26 September 2003, ESTEC, Noordwijk, the Netherlands / [comp. by R. A. Harris] Y1 - 2003 SN - 92-9092-853-0 N1 - International Conference on Low Cost Planetary Missions <5, 2003, Noordwijk> ; International Academy of Astronautics ; European Space Research and Technology Centre SP - 351 EP - 358 PB - ESA CY - Noordwijk ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Waldmann, Christoph A1 - Vera, Jean-Pierre de A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Strasdeit, Henry A1 - Sohl, Frank A1 - Hanff, Hendrik A1 - Kowalski, Julia A1 - Heinen, Dirk A1 - Macht, Sabine A1 - Bestmann, Ulf A1 - Meckel, Sebastian A1 - Hildebrandt, Marc A1 - Funke, Oliver A1 - Gehrt, Jan-Jöran T1 - Search for life in ice-covered oceans and lakes beyond Earth T2 - 2018 IEEE/OES Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Workshop, Proceedings November 2018, Article number 8729761 N2 - The quest for life on other planets is closely connected with the search for water in liquid state. Recent discoveries of deep oceans on icy moons like Europa and Enceladus have spurred an intensive discussion about how these waters can be accessed. The challenge of this endeavor lies in the unforeseeable requirements on instrumental characteristics both with respect to the scientific and technical methods. The TRIPLE/nanoAUV initiative is aiming at developing a mission concept for exploring exo-oceans and demonstrating the achievements in an earth-analogue context, exploring the ocean under the ice shield of Antarctica and lakes like Dome-C on the Antarctic continent. KW - Planetary exploration KW - Jupiter KW - ice moons KW - underwater vehicle KW - Antarctica Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/AUV.2018.8729761 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Duprat, J. A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Hilchenbach, M. A1 - Engrand, Cecile A1 - Espe, C. A1 - Feldmann, M. A1 - Francke, Gero A1 - Görög, Mark A1 - Lüsing, N. A1 - Langenhorst, Falko T1 - The MARVIN project: a micrometeorite harvester in Antarctic snow T2 - 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference N2 - MARVIN is an automated drilling and melting probe dedicated to collect pristine interplanetary dust particles (micrometeorites) from central Antarctica snow. Y1 - 2013 N1 - 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, March 18-22, 2013, The Woodlands, Texas ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Blome, Hans-Joachim A1 - Seboldt, Wolfgang A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Richter, Lutz T1 - Proposal for an integrated European Space Exploration Study JF - Space Debris and Space Traffic Management Symposium 2004 : proceedings of the International Academy of Astronautics Space Debris and Space Traffic Management Symposium, held in conjunction with the 55th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), October 4 - 8, 2004, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada / ed. by Joerg Bendisch Y1 - 2004 SN - 0-87703-523-7 N1 - Proceedings IAC-2004-IAA, 3.6.1.06; Space Debris and Space Traffic Management Symposium <2004, Vancouver, British Columbia> ; International Academy of Astronautics PB - Univelt CY - San Diego, Calif. ER - TY - CHAP A1 - McInnes, Colin R. A1 - Bothmer, Volker A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Geppert, Ulrich R. M. E. A1 - Heiligers, Jeannette A1 - Hilgers, Alan A1 - Johnson, Les A1 - Macdonald, Malcolm A1 - Reinhard, Ruedeger A1 - Seboldt, Wolfgang A1 - Spietz, Peter T1 - Gossamer roadmap technology reference study for a Sub-L1 Space Weather Mission T2 - Advances in solar sailing N2 - A technology reference study for a displaced Lagrange point space weather mission is presented. The mission builds on previous concepts, but adopts a strong micro-spacecraft philosophy to deliver a low mass platform and payload which can be accommodated on the DLR/ESA Gossamer-3 technology demonstration mission. A direct escape from Geostationary Transfer Orbit is assumed with the sail deployed after the escape burn. The use of a miniaturized, low mass platform and payload then allows the Gossamer-3 solar sail to potentially double the warning time of space weather events. The mission profile and mass budgets will be presented to achieve these ambitious goals. Y1 - 2014 SN - 978-3-642-34906-5 (Print) ; 978-3-642-34907-2 (E-Book) SP - 227 EP - 242 PB - Springer CY - Berlin [u.a.] ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Ulamec, Stephan A1 - Biele, Jens T1 - Clean in situ subsurface exploration of icy environments in the solar system T2 - Habitability of other planets and satellites. - (Cellular origin, life in extreme habitats and astrobiology ; 28) N2 - "To assess the habitability of the icy environments in the solar system, for example, on Mars, Europa, and Enceladus, the scientific analysis of material embedded in or underneath their ice layers is very important. We consider self-steering robotic ice melting probes to be the best method to cleanly access these environments, that is, in compliance with planetary protection standards. The required technologies are currently developed and tested." Y1 - 2013 SN - 978-94-007-6545-0 (Druckausgabe) SN - 978-94-007-6546-7 (E-Book) SP - 367 EP - 397 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - GEN A1 - Feldmann, Marco A1 - Francke, Gero A1 - Espe, Clemes A1 - Chen, Qian A1 - Baader, Fabian A1 - Boxberg, Marc S. A1 - Sustrate, Anna-Marie A1 - Kowalski, Julia A1 - Dachwald, Bernd T1 - Performance data of an ice-melting probe from field tests in two different ice environments N2 - This dataset was acquired at field tests of the steerable ice-melting probe "EnEx-IceMole" (Dachwald et al., 2014). A field test in summer 2014 was used to test the melting probe's system, before the probe was shipped to Antarctica, where, in international cooperation with the MIDGE project, the objective of a sampling mission in the southern hemisphere summer 2014/2015 was to return a clean englacial sample from the subglacial brine reservoir supplying the Blood Falls at Taylor Glacier (Badgeley et al., 2017, German et al., 2021). The standardized log-files generated by the IceMole during melting operation include more than 100 operational parameters, housekeeping information, and error states, which are reported to the base station in intervals of 4 s. Occasional packet loss in data transmission resulted in a sparse number of increased sampling intervals, which where compensated for by linear interpolation during post processing. The presented dataset is based on a subset of this data: The penetration distance is calculated based on the ice screw drive encoder signal, providing the rate of rotation, and the screw's thread pitch. The melting speed is calculated from the same data, assuming the rate of rotation to be constant over one sampling interval. The contact force is calculated from the longitudinal screw force, which es measured by strain gauges. The used heating power is calculated from binary states of all heating elements, which can only be either switched on or off. Temperatures are measured at each heating element and averaged for three zones (melting head, side-wall heaters and back-plate heaters). KW - Ocean Worlds KW - Icy Moons KW - Cryobot KW - Analogue Environments KW - Melting Efficiency KW - Melting Performance KW - Melting Probe KW - Ice Melting Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6094866 N1 - Forschungsdaten zu "Field-test performance of an ice-melting probe in a terrestrial analogue environment" (https://opus.bibliothek.fh-aachen.de/opus4/frontdoor/index/index/docId/10889) ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Wurm, Patrick T1 - Mission analysis and performance comparison for an Advanced Solar Photon Thruster JF - Advances in Space Research Y1 - 2011 SN - 0273-1177 VL - 48 IS - 11 SP - 1858 EP - 1868 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scholz, A. A1 - Ley, Wilfried A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Miau, J. J. A1 - Juang, J. C. T1 - Flight results of the COMPASS-1 picosatellite mission JF - Acta Astronautica. 67 (2010), H. 9-10 Y1 - 2010 SN - 0094-5765 SP - 1289 EP - 1298 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Seboldt, Wolfgang A1 - Blome, Hans-Joachim A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Richter, Lutz T1 - Proposal for an integrated European space exploration strategy T2 - 55th International Astronautical Congress of the International Astronautical Federation, the International Academy of Astronautics, and the International Institute of Space Law N2 - Recently, in his vision for space exploration, US president Bush announced to extend human presence across the solar system, starting with a human return to the Moon as early as 2015 in preparation for human exploration of Mars and other destinations. In Europe, an exploration program, termed AURORA, was established by ESA in 2001 – funded on a voluntary basis by ESA member states – with a clear focus on Mars and the ultimate goal of landing humans on Mars around 2030 in international cooperation. In 2003, a Human Spaceflight Vision Group was appointed by ESA with the task to develop a vision for the role of human spaceflight during the next quarter of the century. The resulting vision focused on a European-led lunar exploration initiative as part of a multi-decade, international effort to strengthen European identity and economy. After a review of the situation in Europe concerning space exploration, the paper outlines an approach for a consistent positioning of exploration within the existing European space programs, identifies destinations, and develops corresponding scenarios for an integrated strategy, starting with robotic missions to the Moon, Mars, and near-Earth asteroids. The interests of the European planetary in-situ science community, which recently met at DLR Cologne, are considered. Potential robotic lunar missions comprise polar landings to search for frozen volatiles and a sample return. For Mars, the implementation of a modest robotic landing mission in 2009 to demonstrate the capability for landing and prepare more ambitious and complex missions is discussed. For near-Earth asteroid exploration, a low-cost in-situ technology demonstration mission could yield important results. All proposed scenarios offer excellent science and could therefore create synergies between ESA’s mandatory and optional programs in the area of planetary science and exploration. The paper intents to stimulate the European discussion on space exploration and reflects the personal view of the authors. Y1 - 2004 N1 - 55th International Astronautical Congress 2004 - Vancouver, Canada SP - 1 EP - 10 ER -