Space Science and Exploration Richard BONNEVILLE (CNES DSP/E²U) Paris, November 2, 2005

Space Science goal : increase our knowledge and understanding...  … on the origin of our universe and on its evolution its birth and its fate the emergence of structures and the formation of galaxies the unification of the fundamental interactions and the special role of gravitation  … on the objects the universe is made of : galaxies, stars, planets their formation, their evolution and their death in particular our own star, the Sun, the solar system, and our planet, the Earth … and on the question of life in the universe

Space Exploration goal : to extend human presence, actually or virtually, beyond the limits of our planet goal : to extend human presence, actually or virtually, beyond the limits of our planet  virtually : (i) exploration of the solar system by automatic vehicles, and (ii) search for planets orbiting near-by stars  actually : possible future manned missions to the Moon and Mars prerequisite : to develop the enabling or enhancing technologies to reach that dual goal

Introduction  space - ground complementarity in astronomy, the space observatories allow the observations in the frequency ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum which are not accessible from the ground, e.g. high energies (UV, X, gamma) and IR for the study of the objects of the solar system, the space probes are essential at each stage : fly-by, global observation from the orbit, in situ investigations, sample return  space is both the object of the study the tool of the study  hence a natural partnership between the space agency and the scientific community

The French programme  ESA’s mandatory scientific programme « Cosmic Vision » is the core and the top priority of the French programme in space sciences... thanks to the partnership between CNES and the French science community, France provides  30% of the instruments onboard the missions of ESA ’s mandatory science programme, i.e. nearly twice its GNP  … this participation is complemented by a participation to other ESA programmes with a scientific content : AURORA : solar system exploration programme ISS utilisation

Herschel & Planck August 2007 Lisa- Pathfinder Venus Express Nov JWST (NASA-ESA) 2013 Gaia 2011 Bepi-Colombo 2013 Lisa 2014 ? 2015 Solar Orbiter 2015 ESA’s Cosmic Vision programme

Activities outside ESA  the activities « outside ESA » complement or prepare on original and focused scientific and technological goals the participation to the ESA programmes, i.e.  « missions of opportunity » : participation to missions of external initiative USA, Russia, other European countries, China, Japan, India  nationally led activities, most often including external contributions mini satellites (PROTEUS family, e.g. COROT) micro satellites (MYRIADE family, e.g. MICROSCOPE, PICARD) balloons (e.g. ARCHEOPS) preparation of the future : R&T, phase 0/A level studies, formation flying initiative

How it works  major programme orientations given by the scientific community every 4 to 6 years, workshops of scientific prospective in order to elaborate the mid/long - term priorities of the French scientific community (Saint - Malo, October 93; Arcachon, March 98; Paris, July 04)  complementarity between activities within ESA and activities outside ESA  balance between the main scientific domains (astronomy vs solar system)  introduction of new topics : fundamental physics and astroparticles, exobiology, space weather, NEO threat

How it works  the scientific instruments development under the control of the labs themselves, with the technical and financial support of CNES, or under the control of CNES in a close partnership between CNES and the labs  the scientific subsidiarity : very big missions  international frame, e.g. CASSINI-HUYGENS, JWST, Mars Sample Return big missions  European frame, e.g. INTEGRAL, MARS EXPRESS mini and micro satellites  national or bi/multi-lateral frame

A major theme (1) : the origin (and the fate ?) of the universe  the universe is flat on a large scale ;  only 5% of its content is made of «ordinary» matter  what is the nature of dark matter and dark energy ?  how did large scale structures emerge ?  how did first galaxies form ? 5% : baryonic matter (cf. nucleosynthesis) and visible matter < 1% 25% : « dark matter » (cf. galaxy dynamics) 70% : « dark energy » (connection with the «cosmological constant »  ) the CMB anisotropies as seen by WMAP

Space and fundamental physics  astrophysics and particle physics tend to join together through diverse problems linked to the unification of the fundamental interactions of nature... … and the special role of gravity with respect to the other interactions (weak, electromagnetic, strong) search of new fields / particles predicted by the theories goal : a new physics beyond General Relativity (a geometrical theory of gravitation) and Standard Model (a quantum field theory of weak / electromagnetic / strong interactions)  a multiple but coherent approach observational cosmology the universe as a laboratory the space observatories

and « before » ? gravitation + strong, electromagnetic, weak interactions : slow expansion, flat universe + force X repulsive : acceleration of the expansion quantum gravitation « Planck era » inflation phase r t towards a « big rip » ? « a brief history of time »

Observational cosmology  at the border between astronomy and fundamental physics  the primordial universe ; fine study of the cosmological background radiation (CMB) : precise measurement of the cosmological parameters (  c     ) –balloons : BOOMERANG, ARCHEOPS –satellites : COBE, WMAP, PLANCK-SURVEYOR –future missions : polarisation of the CMB, dark matter probe  a further step : primordial gravitation waves

The universe as a laboratory   test of observable consequences of the unification theories e.g. violation of the equivalence principle : MICROSCOPE (2009)    accurate testing of the gravitation laws at various scales, in particular tests of GR in the solar system and in the near-by space : accurate metrology of time and space : PHARAO / ACES / ISS (2009), GAIA (ESA 2012) accurate measurement of the post Newtonian parameters : GAIA, BEPI- COLOMBO (ESA, 2013)

  observe the sky in all the wave- length domains of the electromagnetic spectrum study the sources of intense and/or rapidly variable gravitational fields (active galaxy nuclei, black holes, binary objects coalescence) : XMM- NEWTON, INTEGRAL study the farthest (i.e. oldest) objects : high z galaxies : HST, JWST   open new observation windows gravitational waves detection : LISA (ESA-NASA) The space observatories

A major theme (2) : the emergence and the distribution of life  how did life appear on Earth ? organic or pre-biotic chemistry in the solar system (e.g. Titan, asteroids and comets) and in the interstellar medium  did life appear elsewhere in the solar system ? (and is it still present today ?) 1st priority : Mars  does life exist elsewhere in the universe ? is it an exceptional, maybe unique, event, or is it widely spread ? search of habitable extra solar planets and tracking of unambiguous bio-signatures in their atmosphere

HUYGENS lands on Titan January 14th, 2005

South pole (23/01/2004) North pole Mars Express : one year of operations credit : JP Bibring and the OMEGA ream at IAS, Science, Vol 307, Issue 5715, 1574, 11 March 2005

Extra solar planets  today, about 160 extra-solar planets have been detected (“hot Jupiter” type) the first exoplanet transit observed by photometry in November 99 by H. Deeg and al. at the Canary island observatory  how do planetary systems form ?  what types of exoplanets exist ?  can a biological activity be evidenced ?

Search of exoplanets : the next steps COROT (CNES, 2006) DARWIN (ESA, 2020 ?)

International context  emergence of new space countries e.g. China : co-operations in the fields of Sun-Earth connection (Double Star), high energy astrophysics (SVOM), solar physics (SMESE), space medicine (Shen-Zhu 7), oceanography (Swimsat)  ESA ministerial council next December, see later  UE’s involvement in space activities : Galileo, GMES but space science & exploration only marginally concerned  Bush’s initiative (“new American vision”), see later

The ESA context  the recent ESA prospective report « Cosmic Vision »  the now stabilised elaboration of the 1st slice of the European exploration programme AURORA  December 2005 : ESA ministerial council ; on the agenda : the new level of resources for the mandatory science programme “Cosmic Vision” the green light decision upon ExoMars, the 1st mission of the AURORA programme and the 1st European mission to land on Mars

COSMIC VISION : perspectives  the level of resources of the mandatory science programme from 2006 on will likely be in the continuity of the present level (380 M€/year)  no significant funding for new projects before 2012/2013  problem : how to prepare the future big missions beyond 2015 ?

The NASA context  dominated by Bush’s initiative (« new American vision ») based upon « exploration » in the perspective of manned missions to the Moon and Mars (and beyond) shuttle retirement planned in 2010 priority to the CEV development re-orientation of the ISS utilisation I WANT YOU FOR THE U.S. SPACE EXPLORATION PROGRAM

Consequences for science  that priority given by NASA to manned exploration will imply a reduction of the US effort in some areas of space research : cosmology and fundamental physics : the future of the Beyond Einstein programme (LISA, Dark Energy Mission, Inflation Probe, Black Hole Finder Probe) is unclear even the robotic exploration of Mars has been affected (cancellation of MTO)  perhaps an opportunity for the Europeans in a context of strong scientific concurrence, but globally science will loose

Co-operation : « a European vision »  the content of the European exploration programme shall allow Europe to go on its own way if the eventual co- operation with the US does not fulfil the European expectations, in order not to reproduce the situation of European dependence of the ISS programme  taking into account the differential of resources allocated to civilian space between Europe and the US, the European priority should be placed on robotic missions, and the European exploration programme proposal AURORA has to be built in that perspective

Our view : the Moon, Mars, and beyond  the Moon : low scientific priority  the scientific exploration of Mars has been for long the 1st priority of the French planetary community (cf. the seminars of scientific prospective held by CNES in 1993, 1998, 2002 and 2004)  the Mars priority has been recently re-confirmed by our science community, hence strong support to ExoMars  after the success of MARS EXPRESS, strong emphasis on in situ science on short / mid term multi sites local/regional investigations with landers and rovers (mobility needed) network science (climate, seismology)

Our view : the Moon, Mars, and beyond  on the short term, the priority for AURORA is the demonstration of the European capability for safe landing + autonomous mobility on Mars with European technologies 2011 : ExoMars, the 1st European mission landing on Mars  ExoMars will carry a comprehensive experiment package on exobiology, environment characterisation and geophysics / geochemistry

Our view : the Moon, Mars, and beyond  the next logical step : Mars sample return mission(s) various samples collected from several sites  the mid term priority of AURORA must be the preparation of a Mars sample return (MSR) programme : a mission (or a series of MSR missions) ; international co-operation with important European participation  Europe shall identify the niches it could occupy in the framework of an international MSR programme  other targets : the giant planets and their satellites : to be considered in an international context (see CASSINI - HUYGENS) the small bodies, asteroids and comets : rendezvous missions, NEO threat assessment and mitigation (UE involvement ?)

SIMBOL X : hard X-ray observatory ( keV) for the study of compact objects, AGN, black holes PEGASE : NIR interferometer for the search of hot giant extrasolar planets(“PEGASIDES”), brown dwarfs, protoplanetary disks Preparing the future, e.g. formation flying