ExoMars SPDR Final Board Meeting
The System Preliminary Design Review (SPDR) for the ExoMars programme was successfully concluded on 13 December with the final board meeting chaired by the ESA Director of Science and Robotic Exploration, David Southwood, and ESA’s Inspector General, Jack Bosma.
The review took place at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands. During the review technical experts from several space agencies along with independent experts analysed and assessed the current design of the two ExoMars missions, to be launched in 2016 and 2018.
The review process began on 21 October with a kick-off meeting at which the Prime Contractor, Thales Alenia Space-Italy, provided an introduction to the technical design status of both missions and to the documentation data package.
The SPDR is a technical monitoring process with the objective to review the system design, system plans, and specifications of the ExoMars programme and to establish a formal baseline to proceed to the implementation phase.