HEARTED: the Hyper-velocity EArth Re-entry TEchnology Demonstrator mission of ESA

Abstract

Worldwide experience on Earth high speed re-entry (>10 km/s) is available to USA, Japan and Russia whereas the European background does not exceed the 8 km/s typical of a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) re-entries. Although ESA was/is considering various missions requiring Earth re-entries at speeds up to 13 km/s (such as Marco Polo, Mars Sample Return - MSR, Phobos Sample Return, Polar Lunar Sample Return) no mission, so far, has been adopted for implementation; very often the lack of the necessary background on Earth high speed re-entry played and essential role on the decision To fill such a knowledge gap, ESA is presently considering implementing the Hyper-velocity EArth Re-entry TEchnology Demonstrator (HEARTED) mission. This paper will report the status of the feasibility study of the HEARTED mission covering phases 0 and A concluded within the Agency Technology Development Element programme.