Planetary Exploration Horizon 2061 Report, Chapter 4: From planetary exploration goals to technology requirements

TL;DR

This chapter outlines future planetary missions by 2061 across the Solar System, identifying key scientific questions, necessary technologies, and infrastructure to enable exploration and address fundamental planetary science questions.

Contribution

It systematically links future mission goals with specific technological requirements and infrastructure needs for planetary exploration by 2061.

Findings

Identification of key missions for each Solar System province

Derivation of critical technologies needed for future missions

Framework for infrastructure development supporting planetary exploration

Abstract

This chapter reviews for each province and destination of the Solar System the representative space missions that will have to be designed and implemented by 2061 to address the six key science questions about the diversity, origins, workings and habitability of planetary systems (described in chapter 1) and to perform the critical observations that have been described in chapters 3 and partly 2. It derives from this set of future representative missions, some of which will have to be flown during the 2041-2061 period, the critical technologies and supporting infrastructures that will be needed to fly these challenging missions, thus laying the foundation for the description of technologies and infrastructures for the future of planetary exploration that is given in chapters 5 and 6, respectively.