QUESTION: Mr. Ongaro, what was the starting point for Aurora? Can you give us a sketch of the development so far?

ONGARO: At a meeting of the ESA council at the end of 2000 we recommended the development of a European program for the exploration of the solar system. That was the result of several earlier activities, including the decision of the ESA council and the European research ministers for a common space strategy.

This document calls upon ESA to identify the next steps in human space exploration. That was a clear mandate for us. At the same time the Italian delegation presented a "White Paper" that called for a coordinated European program for the robotic exploration of Mars.

Although Italy, France, Germany, and several other European countries participate in specific Mars missions of NASA and ESA, Europe does not have a long-term plan that would go beyond that. Furthermore, there is no connection between these activities and the possible next step, a manned mission to Mars.

All that led to the desire to formulate a long-term program, prepare the necessary technologies, and prove them. The search for life should be at the focus, because it requires the interaction of a multitude of technologies like soft landings, soil drilling, high bandwith data transmissions, and sample return - technologies that would also be necessary for manned missions.

QUESTION: How far into the future do you plan in the Aurora framework?

ONGARO: The long-term plan will reach until at least 2030, because we assume that a manned mission to Mars will not depart before 2025. Currently we're in a three year preparation stage to formulate this long-term concept for further decision.

For practical purposes we are going to establish the goal around 2030 and then work backwards to see which technologies are required at various stages of development. Finally, based on these results, specific missions will be selected.

QUESTION: That sounds as if a manned mission to Mars will be the primary focus of Aurora.

ONGARO: The long-term goal is the manned exploration of Mars and perhaps the Moon as an important stepping stone - after all, the Moon is a big, natural space station that we should use. But to get there, we need a lot of technologies that first have to be proven. During the first 15 years this is going to be our main task. Of course, a manned mission to Mars will only be possible as an international project. But if Europe wants to be an important, equal partner, it must be able at least to realize all important aspects of such a mission with robotic spacecraft. I must add that the search for life has increasingly drawn interest in recent years. That is due partly to new discoveries on Mars, partly to research on Earth that has shown that life can exist under much more extreme circumstances than previously thought. When we invited the science community to send us research proposals we received more than 300 within one month. Among them were many that dealt with the search for life. Therefore, for the first 15 years the search for life will be at the centre of Aurora, besides a manned mission to Mars.

QUESTION: Does Aurora mean independent European access to space for manned missions?

ONGARO: Aurora concentrates on interplanetary, manned flights. At ESA, access to near-Earth orbit and technologies for atmospheric re-entry are the task of other directorates, like the launch systems and International Space Station . On the other hand, Aurora will definitely have to look at the question how to get from near-Earth orbit to the Moon or Mars and development of interplanetary propulsion systems. Equally important are technologies for the utilization of local resources, for instance the production of fuel with components from the Mars atmosphere.

QUESTION: There have been proposals to use nuclear propulsion for manned missions because otherwise travel times would be too long and consequently the stress for the crew by cosmic rays and zero gravity too high. Do you think such proposals are realistic considering the strong resistance against any exploitation of nuclear energy?

ONGARO: At the present stage we are trying to gather as much information and technical knowledge as possible. I want to assess such propulsion concepts for their technological possibilities, to see if they could provide a solution, even if they are considered politically incorrect. We should decide that independently in Europe and not simply follow the Americans or Russians. Then, of course, a political debate has to follow.

QUESTION: Critics of Aurora, like the German research minister, said most of the program objectives are already covered under the ESA science program. What would you say to them?

ONGARO: The technologies needed to make Europe a force to be reckoned with in international space exploration cannot be developed by the science program alone. Of course, there are some important planetary missions in the science program's long-term plan. But there is no scope for a master plan to explore the planets. I regard the science program as an essential part of the European space activities, because it can dispose of its budget freely and select missions solely on scientific excellence. That gives it a great strength, compared for instance with the practice at NASA. On the other hand it has its limitations, too, because it needs to balance different disciplines: planetary science, astronomy, studies of the solar-earth system, fundamental physics - it would be impossible to concentrate on one single project like Mars exploration for 15 years. Besides, exploration does not always mean scientific excellence. As Robert Zubrin, a keen advocate of a manned mission to Mars, points out, to produce rocket fuel from the Mars atmosphere you only need 19th century chemistry. That doesn't make the technological hurdle any easier, it just means that this is not a legitimate objective for a scientific mission.

QUESTION: You didn't get much support at the meeting of the ESA council last November...

ONGARO: I cannot agree. Of course, we hoped for a bigger contribution from Italy. That is due to internal problems at the Italian space agency. But most other countries abided by their announced contributions. Germany is the only major ESA member that did not contribute. Italy, France, Great Britain, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal, and Canada all signed up. The Scandinavian countries expressed great interest and will contribute financially as soon as possible. So there is a lot of support, even if we have to work with less money than we originally hoped for.

FRAGE: European space politics puts an increasing emphasis on commercial aspects. And Aurora doesn't seem to have much commercial potential. Or does it?

ONGARO: When we talk about commercial potential, we have to look where the applications come from. The development of new technologies requires challenges that stimulate the creativity of young talents. It's not about improving something that we already can do, but about developing something completely new. In the United States, and to a lesser extent in Russia, it's the military that formulates such challenges. There is nothing like that in Europe. Aurora could fill the gap. For instance, for the robotic exploration of Mars will require robots that are able to take decisions autonomously, because remote control proves to be impracticable considering the transmission times and communication bandwith. To survive in space, a manned mission needs excellent recycling technology. All these technologies have an enormous potential for commercial applications, in space as well as on Earth.

QUESTION: Space travel and space exploration is the nearly exclusive domain of engineers and natural scientists. But the question of whether to send humans to Mars is not a purely scientific one. Also, the search for life beyond Earth raises philosophical questions. How do you deal with such aspects in the Aurora program?

ONGARO: On the one hand we emphasize the role of universities, explicitly not limited to space science faculties. On the other hand we have a special budget for outreach and public communication. We want to organize regular conferences with representatives of the general public to learn about their opinions. I think that is very important, because research and exploration is a basic human need. The great explorers were always accompanied by scientists but they never set out for science. The voyage to other planets is an evolutionary step for whole mankind, not just an engineering challenge. People accept space exploration much more than many politicians are aware of. You only have to look at advertisements in magazines: After sex it's space that draws the strongest attention. Ask your taxi driver if humans will go to Mars one day. Most probably he'll answer: "Yes, certainly." Robert Zubrin said it very nicely: Most politicians don't seem to understand what it really means to make history. Very few poeple remember the predecessor of the Spanish Queen Isabella or her successor. And Isabella herself is remembered mainly for one thing: giving Columbus the money for his expedition.

European Space Research and Technology Centre http://www.estec.esa.nl/ CAPTION: When in 20 or 30 years the first manned missions will go to Mars, Europe wants to be involved as an equal partner. At least, that's the aim of the ESA program "Aurora". The budget of 14.1 million euros for the first three years is clearly below the 40 million that were applied for. But Franco Ongaro does not complain. The program coordinator regards it as an invitation to further prove the merits of the program, which is named after the Roman goddess of dawn. The idea is to develop a long-term plan for the exploration of the solar system.

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