ESA’s Quantum mission – an innovative telecommunication satellite, capable of being reconfigured in orbit to adapt to new requirements or market opportunities – undergoing radio frequency testing within a signal-absorbing chamber to mimic the endless void of space
For any mission to reach this point is far from easy, because space is hard. It is an endless vacuum, hot and cold at the same time, streaked with radiation and far beyond the prospect of repair. The essential ingredient for making a space mission is know-how, which can only be acquired by a painstaking process of research and development.
Therefore, when a mission is first proposed to ESA Member States or the European Union, the key idea behind it is always based on a firm foundation of R&D, to demonstrate that the mission is possible and desirable, representing a solid improvement on the previous state of the art. And this is true not only of the mission itself but also of all its materials, components and instruments: each and every selection is guided by previous study and experiment, in many cases enabled by ESA or EU research programmes. To this end, framework research programmes such as Horizon Europe ensure this continuity of space research is directed towards fulfilling common political ambitions.