An Innovative Optimization Design Procedure for Mechatronic Systems with a Multi-Criteria Formulation

This paper presents an innovative Mechatronic Concurrent Design procedure to address multidisciplinary issues in Mechatronics systems that can concurrently include traditional and new aspects. This approach considers multiple criteria and design variables such as mechanical aspects, control issues, and task-oriented features to formulate a concurrent design optimization problem that is solved using but not limited to heuristic algorithms. Furthermore, as an innovation, this procedure address all considered aspects in one step instead of multiple sequential stages. Finally, this work discusses an example referring to Mechatronic Design to show the procedure performed and the results show its capability.

Small Mars Mission Architecture Study

While the vast majority of ESA’s funding for Mars exploration in the 2020s is planned to be invested in ExoMars and Mars Sample Return, there is an interest to assess the possibility of implementing a small mission to Mars in parallel with, or soon after, the completion of the MSR programme. A study was undertaken in the Concurrent Design Facility at ESA ESTEC to assess low-cost mission architectures for small satellite missions to Mars. Given strict programmatic constraints, the focus of the study was on a low-cost (<250MEuro Cost at Completion), short mission development schedule with a cost-driven spacecraft design and mission architecture. The study concluded that small, low-cost Mars missions are technically feasible for launch within the decade.