Cosmic Vision
ESA TV Exchanges
The European Space Agency is in the process of selecting the space science missions which will be launched in the 2015-2025 time-frame. At the helm of this ""Cosmic Vision"" initiative, is ESA's Director of Science, Professor David Southwood. Out of some 50 proposals four have been retained in each of two categories, large and medium-sized missions, for further examination. The A-Roll and B-Roll centre around an in-depth talk with David Southwood, interviewed in the port of Plymouth from where other famous explorers set sail for unknown worlds. He evokes his experience on the Cassini-Huygens mission, the importance of international cooperation, how choices will be based on consensus in the science community, and the heavy responsability of taking long-term decisions which will involve multi-million euro sized budgets.
For more info on this subject please check the script that is online as a PDF file under :http://television.esa.int/photos/EbS57124.pdf
A WMV preview clip is onli

Orchestrating ESA's Cosmic Vision
00:01:30 A-Roll start
00:01:40 When Francis Drake sailed from Plymouth towards unknown waters, his vessel, the trustworthy ëGolden Hindí allowed him to circle the globe. Todayís navigators use very different ships to discover other worlds and push back the frontiers of knowledge.
00:01:58 Clip David Southwood, Director of Science, ESA
""When anyone sailed a ship out of here, they knew how the ship worked and so in that sense, they knew the tools they were using. And we know the same in space. We send up very specific tools to do very specific tasks. But we don't know what we're going to bring back. We don't know what the consequences are.""
00:02:19 Exploration requires vision and perseverance. Projects have to be selected and driven over decades before results are obtained, as the European Space Agencyís Director of Science knows full well.
01:02:50 Cassiniís magnetometer, for which Professor Southwood was the project scientist, was develope