About us
The Discovery & Preparation elements of ESA's Discovery, Preparation and Technology Development (DPTD) activities carry out preparatory analysis and lay the groundwork for the Agency’s short- to medium-term future activities.
ESA's Discovery & Preparation (D&P) activities lay the groundwork for ESA's future space missions and strategic decisions. Through early-stage feasibility studies, blue sky research and open innovation campaigns run via the Open Space Innovation Platform, D&P explores pioneering concepts to provide ESA and its Member States with the vital insights needed to approve, shape and fund the next generation of space programmes.
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Rocketing ESA into the future
Participating in Discovery & Preparation activities
Discovery & Preparation funds activities to gather knowledge in all areas of space technology and research. Through these activities, it supports other ESA directorates, as well as mapping out ESA’s ...
Activities currently running
The Nebula Library
A searchable database of Discovery & Preparation activities
The Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP)
In 2019, ESA launched OSIP to better serve the emerging needs of the modern space sector. The platform is now the main entry point for novel ideas into ESA, both ...
SysNova
The SysNova initiative is a space systems assessment scheme using 'technology challenges' and competition to survey a comparatively large number of alternative solutions. It acknowledges the critical role of joint ...
Advanced Concepts Team
Ariadna
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Latest news
Keeping water where it's wanted
As astronauts travel farther from our home planet, growing their own food will become a necessity, and that presents challenges.
Discovery and Preparation podcast: developing reusable shock absorbers
Developing reusable shock absorbers for landing legs could be the key to making spacecraft that land safely on Earth, the Moon and even Mars.
CompPair wins ESA Innovation Award
Congratulations to CompPair, winners of ESA's Innovation Award for developing a self-healing composite material suitable for space applications.
Discovery and Preparation podcast: protecting astronauts from lunar dust
ESA Discovery and Preparation's podcast series continues with the exploration of a new technology designed to assess the biotoxicity of lunar dust.
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Focus on
Open Space Innovation Platform
Sourcing novel ideas to invest in unconventional activities
Concurrent Design Facility
Designing future space missions
Activities Portal
Information on ongoing ESA-funded activities
Nebula Library
Results of completed ESA-funded activities
OSIP Highlights July-December 2025
From self-healing spacecraft materials to thrusters that harvest the atmosphere as propellant, the ideas emerging from the Discovery Channel on ESA's Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP) represent some of the most ambitious and unconventional thinking in European space research. Among the 72 activities funded by ESA's Discovery & Preparation programme through OSIP between July and December 2025, here are six that showcase the Programme's commitment to blue-sky research and transformative innovation.
Propulsion: lift-off, orbit adjustments and travelling through space
Deep space communication and navigation
Monitoring Earth's surface
Earth's climate and atmosphere
Earth's climate and atmosphere
Asteroids, comets and moons
Discovery & Preparation studies have investigated how to make missions to asteroids, comets and moons possible.
Clean and eco-friendly space
As a forward-thinking space agency, ESA is pioneering an eco-friendly approach to space exploration. How does this work in practice?
Living in space
How could we live and work on another world?
CubeSats
Miniature satellites shaking up the space industry.
Artificial intelligence in space
How AI can advance space exploration
