News from the Science Programme Advisory Committee (SPAC) – October 2011
10 Oct 2011
SPAC met at the end of September to advise on a difficult decision that had to be made between three highly ranked yet very different missions.
In February 2010, Solar Orbiter, Plato and Euclid were chosen as potential candidates for the fist two missions in the ESA Cosmic Vision programme. After extensive studies carried out by ESA, it was time to select which 2 out of the 3 will go forward to be built and flown in 2017 and 2018. SPAC received recommendations from ESA and its advisory groups and met to discuss the UK point of view. It was an important but difficult decision to make given the high scientific merit and strong UK interest in all 3 missions, not to mention the investment (timewise as well as financially) that has been made to date. In making its recommendations, SPAC considered scientific, technological, programmatic, strategic and outreach potential in its deliberations.
SPAC recognised that Solar Orbiter’s orbit and combination of in-situ and remote sensing instruments would enable it to carry out ground-breaking science in a timely manner. Plato would bring significant new insights into the formation and evolution of planetary systems and would detect more that 3000 exoplanets in the 1-20 Earth mass range. Euclid would be capable of establishing the nature of dark energy and gravity answering one of the most important questions in cosmology and fundamental physics today.
SPAC agreed that there were no compelling arguments to go against the ESA recommendation and supported the selection of Solar Orbiter and Euclid for the first and second launches. SPAC’s recommendations included clarification over the following points:
- The US contributions to Solar Orbiter need to be assured.
- The contingency levels in the ESA programme, which needed to be adequate.
- A “Lessons Learned” exercise should be undertaken by ESA covering the selection process.
John Zarnecki, SPAC Chair.
