In 2021 at EUROPEAN ROTORS, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano shared some fantastic insights into his missions to the International Space Station. This year, The European Space Agency will present the Artemis Moon Exploration Programme, a "must see" for everyone fascinated by aviation and space.
After decades of focusing almost exclusively on the International Space Station, Europe's crewed space programme finds itself currently at a major crossroads. The ISS is fully operational with still many years of use ahead of it, and the European Space Agency would seek to maximise the use that it makes of this amazing facility. But in parallel ESA is already looking beyond ISS and setting the foundations to play a major role as NASA's main partner in their new crewed space exploration programme. The destination is no longer Low Earth Orbit, but deep space. First stop is the Moon programme, Artemis, with vehicles like the Orion crewed spacecraft and large facilities such as the Lunar Orbital Platform Gateway. These will provide repeated access to the surface of the moon, both for astronauts and rovers. Initial goal is to re-take lunar scientific exploration with a semi-permanent presence on the surface and with much newer means and instrumentation, all this while prototyping ISRU ( In Situ Resource Utilisation ) technologies. The final goal is to build the experience and confidence needed to send humans to the surface of Mars within the next two decades...
