The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and ISECG space agencies held a joint workshop to discuss the “Scientific Perspectives for the Global Exploration Roadmap” on 10-11 February 2016 at the Headquarters of the Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) in Paris. It was co-organized by ISECG participating agencies and COSPAR’s Panel on Exploration, with significant involvement from both the European Science Foundation and NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI). The workshop focused on advancing the draft Science White Paper currently in development by ISECG space agencies in coordination with the science community.
Workshop participants further developed the Science White Paper rationale for scientific exploration using the framework of scientific opportunities reflected in the ISECG Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) mission themes – i.e., extended duration stays in cislunar space, visits of a near-Earth asteroid and exploration of the lunar surface.
The workshop brought together over 40 participants, including scientists from different countries and representatives from space agencies, including CNES, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the European Space Agency (ESA), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The workshop was an integral part of the ongoing interaction of ISECG space agencies with the scientific community and underlined the scientific interest in space exploration. The workshop findings and recommendations will serve as an input to the finalization of the ISECG Science White Paper, due for publication in the fall of 2016, and to the refinement of the GER expected in the summer of 2017.
The full workshop summary as well as some materials from the workshop can be found at http://sservi.nasa.gov/ger