Nasa Mer

When man set foot on the moon during the Apollo program in 1969, it was considered the first step in exploring our solar system, allowing mankind to go beyond our planet and find answers questions that have occupied the minds of scientists, philosophers and visionaries for many centuries.

What was once science fiction becomes reality. Many in the world should the 21st century as one of space travel and the exploitation of the planet. However, pilots and economic policies needed to maintain and operate such progress has been lacking since the end of the Apollo program, focusing the efforts of the interplanetary space into Earth and enabling the development of Earth observation , telecommunication and navigation.

In the last decade, several national and international space programs have demonstrated an increased interest in space exploration. The United States, Europe, Japan, China, Russia and India have been planning and / or execution of a number of robotic planetary missions. In addition, the U.S. announced its intention to return to the Moon, and Europe has approved the Aurora program, the ultimate goal of a manned mission to Mars by 2033.

Despite the new momentum behind space exploration, the contrast from the Apollo era is that the space agencies and affected nations are to achieve their goals within limited financial budgets and carefully calculated risks. The result is a "step by step approach to the technologies needed to be tested and demonstrated through programs that include technology to demonstrate several missions. The European Aurora is a good example of this approach, where each mission is based on proven technologies and aims to demonstrate new. His first mission, ExoMars , builds on experience gained on the ESA Mars Express and focuses on demonstrating advanced technology Rover, helped by the experience gained by NASA in the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) missions.

The above example also illustrates another feature of the exploration programs of the day: international cooperation. Driven by the need for cost efficiency and risk reduction, national and international space agencies are looking for cooperation and the exchange of knowledge, expertise and resources. NASA mission Mars lander, Phoenix, will be assisted during its descent and entry by ESA's Mars Express orbiter relay data, while the core is based on ESA ExoMars MRO NASA for relay data. This cooperation also extends to the scientific output of different missions.

A board of aerospace, VEGA, believes that profitability and risk reduction to ensure international cooperation are key factors to maintain the momentum of the space exploration programs and their success. This requires advanced technology to implement, not only on the segments of the space, but also on the ground segments, allowing a reduction in costs in the design, testing and validation, and operational phases of missions. Risk reduction and cooperation are assisted by the standardization of interfaces and effective knowledge management, and effective training.

Recently, training solutions have contributed to some of the most difficult missions of ESA, with the implementation of a sustainable development program to ensure they continue to meet the requirements of all the challenges come.