AURION ADVANCING UNDERSTANDING THROUGH RESEARCH AND INDUSTRY-ORIENTED CO-DESIGN OF NEW MISSIONS - EXPRO PLUS

AURION aims to establish a structured pre-Phase-0 co-design environment in which scientific ambition and industrial feasibility aredeveloped concurrently to define credible, innovative Earth Observation mission concepts.The activity targets mission concepts at SRL =3 that have not previously been assessed within ESA, and enables their maturation through joint science-industry system-level design, including early assessment of technical feasibility, cost drivers, and programmatic viability.AURION studies are characterised by:Joint science-industry leadership (mandatory co-design) Concurrent SRL and TRL maturationFocus on novel mission concepts, not incremental extensions Early integration of industrial feasibilityExplicit treatment of technical, cost, and programmatic riskSelected consortia shall perform integrated science-engineering co-design studies covering:Definition of measurement concept and observing principleExploration of mission architectures (orbit, geometry, constellation vs monolithic)Elaboration ofpreliminary Level-1 and Level-2 mission requirementsIdentification and maturation pathway of critical enabling technologies (TRL13+) Development of end-to-end data chain, including calibration and processing Preliminary cost and risk assessmentActivities shall remain strictly within pre-Phase-0, shall not converge prematurely to a single industrial solution, and shall maintain architectural optionality through structured trade-space exploration.