The European Space Agency’s (ESA) ‘Technology 2040 Vision’ document contains five areas of innovation, including, ‘A Technology Revolution on Earth for Space.’
This particular area of innovation is of particular interest to us as the ESA Technology Broker UK, where we aim to ease the transition for organisations working in more terrestrial industries into the space sector.
Below we outline the five areas included in this part of the vision, to demonstrate how these could be advanced with input from industries outside of the space sector:
- Ultra Compact, High Performance Satellites
This technology vision imagines huge constellations of European-made satellites acquiring, processing and distributing vast amounts of data, due to a new generation of ultra-compact, high performance satellites.
As well as weight, the size of a spacecraft is critical for determining launch costs, so making ultra-compact satellites will directly reduce mission expenses. Ensuring that satellites do the maximum amount of work per gram of mass will require an overhaul in how they are conceived and built. By standardising parts in terms of size (even between different manufacturers) it will be possible to reduce wasted space within the satellite.
This will not only reduce the size of spacecraft but will also lead to a more efficient thermal management system. Re-engineered propulsion systems will be required and payloads will need to integrate both analogue and digital radio frequency functions into highly compact electronics. In addition, deployment improvements should be investigated, such as compact, foldable solar arrays and antennas for launch or alternative, body-mounted, non-deployable solutions.
- Peering into the Future: Breakthroughs in Remote Sensing Capabilities
This vision has humanity using space-based arrays to observe the Earth and the wider cosmos like never before. The electromagnetic spectrum is covered by optical and radio-frequency remote sensing capabilities, while quantum-based sensors probe further into space still. As vast quantities of data are returned, on-board intelligence works to process and deliver optimal value-added information to users.
Remote sensing technologies have found numerous scientific, political, economic and societal uses, but these orbital insights can be broadened further through the application of advanced sensing technologies such as ultra-broadband/multi-frequency sensors or astrophotonics, along with the novel observing windows opened via quantum sensing of, for instance, gravitational fields.
Smart sensors will be embedded at all levels of space exploration and satellite use, adapting to the requirements of missions, while on-board intelligent processing overcomes the bottleneck of data downlinking. As the global observing system is scaled up significantly, so there will be the need for improved sensor technologies as well as data processing and transfer.
- Towards Highly Autonomous Systems Revolutionising Space Missions
Here we have a vision of autonomous spacecraft interacting with each other to perform missions that would have been impossible before. Swarm-like constellations of satellites are able to use their own artificial intelligence to work in tandem or even self-assemble into a larger structure, while multipurpose robots autonomously infiltrate previously off-limit environments, such as craters, caves, or even subsurface seas. This technology advance would reduce the amount of resources required on Earth as spacecraft, robotic rovers and other systems perform tasks and make decisions independently of human intervention.
There are still challenges to overcome to be able to realise more complex missions, such as communication delays in deep space missions where every second could be critical to avoid damaging environmental conditions or when changing orbit. There are also decisions to make around resource management, power constraints, computational resources, and reliability.
Bringing in cutting edge technologies can help meet these challenges, to deliver the flexibility and adaptability that we have taken for granted with human-led missions. By making machines that learn we will deliver the ability to sustain extended duration operations without ground intervention; intelligent decision making for on-board planning, health monitoring and reconfiguration; autonomous collaborative operations; optimised power, communications, data processing and computational resources, plus structural self-healing and reusability of space assets – all autonomously.
- Energy-Efficient Hibernation Systems for Deep Space Survival
Solar-powered missions are no longer limited to proximity to our Sun, as this vision sees individual elements of a mission being placed into ‘deep hibernation’ when not required, reducing power consumption by up to 70% and subsequently opening up new vistas for exploration.
Hibernation has already been successfully used for missions such as ESA’s solar-powered Rosetta mission, which emerged from hibernation to travel beyond the orbit of Jupiter - nearly 800 million km from the warmth of the Sun – before returning to within 673 million km of the Sun and being able to use solar energy for its full power supply.
Instead of using large solar arrays for deep space missions, the hibernation technique allows you to adapt the overall power consumption by dynamically powering the various electronics subsystems on or off as they are needed. By applying this same strategy to avionics, data handling and telemetry, telecommunications and control subsystems, along with mission payloads, it will be possible to explore further than ever before with solar powered systems.
- X-Plorers: Humanity’s Evolution
Perhaps the most futuristic of these visions, here we have humanity having evolved into an interplanetary species, conducting deep space travels and establishing permanent homes away from Earth. Humans are supported by technologies that support wellbeing as well as survival.
To achieve this goal there is the need to address both the physical and the psychological needs of human crew and inhabitants. We have not evolved to exist in space where prolonged microgravity, radiation exposure and isolation can cause issues such as muscle wasting and bone demineralisation, acute radiation sickness, cellular damage, and long-term cancer risk. While countermeasure systems mitigate against these effects, medical autonomy among explorers ensures early detection and management of medical issues.
The isolation and confinement associated with long-term space travel needs to be addressed on a psychological level too. Creating engaging and immersive activities and emotionally-intelligent digital assistants will help in one regard, as the use of automation and robotic technologies removes the more repetitive or hazardous tasks from human crew to reduce overall crew workload and prevent burnout and mistakes as a result of mundane activities. Of course, this will all need to be supported through optimised nutrition with fresh and/or tailored food which will act as an essential physiological and psychological countermeasure.
All of these visions will require input to achieve them, drawing on expertise from a diverse range of sectors. Could you hold the key to helping achieve this set of ESA goals?
You can find out more about ESA’s ‘Technology 2040 Vision’ here:
https://www.esa-technology-broker.co.uk/news/2025/esas-technology-2040-vision
You can see the ESA Technology Vision 2040, in full here:
https://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/technology/Technology_2040.pdf