欧洲空间局（ESA）于2021年6月发布了最新版的空间科学中长期发展规划“远航2050”（Voyage 2050），引起各界关注。对该规划进行了全面深入地科学解读，指出它瞄准2035—2050年发展周期，聚焦重大科学前沿，前瞻未来技术创新，确定了探索太阳系巨行星的卫星、系外行星或银河系以及早期宇宙新物理等3个大型空间科学任务方向，梳理了14个中小型空间科学任务候选方向，提出了为实施这些任务或取得更长远的突破性科学回报而必须超前研发的有效载荷和关键共性空间技术领域，强调了面向未来培养下一代空间科学人才的重要性。
The Voyage 2050 released by the European Space Agency (ESA) in its science programme for the time frame 2035- 2050 in June 2021 attracts the global attention of all walks of life. This paper presents a comprehensive and in-depth scientific interpretation of the plan, and it is shown that the Voyage 2050 focuses on major scientific frontiers, looks forward to the future technological innovation, and identifies the top three priorities for the future large-class missions, i.e., the moons of the giant Solar System planets, the temperate exoplanets or the galactic ecosystem, and the new physical probes of the early Universe. In the Voyage 2050, 14 candidate themes are listed for the medium and small missions, several recommendations are made for the key payload technology development for more long-term breakthrough scientific returns, and the importance of training the next generation of space science talents is emphasized.
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