Summary
The European Space Agency (ESA) last week revealed the science themes it wants to pursue in billion-euro missions to be launched between 2035 and 2050. They include taking a close look at ocean-bearing moons around Jupiter and Saturn, dissecting the atmospheres of temperate exoplanets, and using new tools to study the formation of the universe’s first stars, galaxies, and black holes. ESA refreshes its slate of science missions every decade or so. The current program, called Cosmic Vision, has three flagship missions that will launch by 2034: a spacecraft to study Jupiter’s icy moons, an x-ray telescope, and a gravitational wave detector. Competition for the next round, dubbed Voyage 2050, kicked off in 2019 with almost 100 suggested missions or themes from teams of researchers winnowed down by committees into three categories, which ESA’s Science Programme Committee approved last week. Although the themes do not specify particular missions, some clearly nod at concepts that researchers have been working on for years.