The long-term plan initiated by the European Space Agency for the robotic and human exploration of the Solar System, notably Mars, the Moon and the asteroids. Among its aims is to investigate the possibility of life in other parts of the Solar System. The Aurora programme will involve a series of major Flagship missions preceded by smaller technology demonstrations known as Arrow missions.

The first two Flagship missions are ExoMars, which will land an automatic rover on the planet, and a Mars sample return mission. In this latter mission a spacecraft will be placed into orbit around Mars from which a descent module will be released to land on the surface. Once samples of Martian soil have been collected an ascent vehicle will carry them into orbit around Mars to rendezvous with a re-entry vehicle which will return them to Earth. In preparation, two Arrow missions will be undertaken: a re-entry vehicle to simulate the conditions that will be experienced by a sample capsule returning from Mars and a mission to demonstrate the use of aerocapture, a technique that saves on fuel by using friction with the planet's upper atmosphere to brake a spacecraft into orbit.

Further steps may include a robotic Mars base and a human landing on the Moon. The final goal is to send European astronauts to Mars as part of an international endeavour in the 2030s.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Exploration/The_European_Space_Exploration_Programme_Aurora Here you can find out about Aurora’s global exploration strategy to extend human presence in space.