European Space Agency

The growing global ambition for space exploration will be realised through critical technology evolutions and breakthroughs. The UK must decide its role in these ambitions and set out its areas of focus for national technology development to support future space exploration capabilities. The objective of the Space Exploration Technology Roadmap is therefore to identify areas of existing strength and under-developed technologies to be used in future space exploration missions. The identification of the technologies referenced in this document was founded on the requirements needed to meet the ambitions of ESA Exploration Missions, opportunities within NASA Exploration Missions and the wider global space sector, including upcoming commercial opportunities.
This roadmap will guide UK Space Agency decision-making by focusing on technologies where UK-based academia and industry are leading or well-placed to lead. The roadmap supports the aims of the National Space Strategy to grow and level-up the space sector and put the UK at the forefront of pioneering research and development, and fits within the framework of civil capabilities announced in July 2023 as part of the National Space Strategy in Action. The UK Space Agency has utilised and built upon information in various publications and through consultation with stakeholders in identifying the selected technologies which are the most appropriate for the UK to focus on developing for the purposes of space exploration.

The progress made in space exploration and digital technology have long been dis-synchronized. This is no longer the case- space programs are now both an actor of the digital revolution, since most of the data are being communicated through satellites, and themselves revolutionized.
The point of this study is to understand the tremendous changes affecting this sector, through the inclusion of new technologies and new actors, and to outline a way for Europe to remain an independent and strong actor in the space exploration sector- which is key to remain a credible global power.

Understanding trends in science and technology and interpreting state-of-the-art research results in view of their potential to influence future space activities is an input to long-term strategies. This paper presents some mechanisms adopted by a corporate research think-tank, the Advanced Concepts Team of ESA. These include the analysis of research results of the team and its academic network, the analysis of science and technology forecast reports and interpretation of expectations of the science community as expressed during advanced concepts workshops.