STELLA—Potential European  contributions to a NASA-led interstellar probe

<p class="western" align="left">Stella is a proposed European contribution to NASA&#8217;s Interstellar Probe (ISP), a large-strategic mission candidate. ESA&#8217;s call for M-class mission proposals was the best and only currently available option for the European science community to contribute to the astronomically constrained ISP launch window in 2036 &#8211; 2037. Traveling with a speed of ~ 7.0 au/year ISP would reach 350 au during its nominal 50-year life-time. The proposed Stella contribution to ISP includes two core and two optional elements for the full complement:</p> <p class="western" align="left">&#8226; Core: Provision of European scientific instruments;</p> <p class="western" align="left">&#8226; Core: Provision of the European ISP communication system including the spacecraft&#8217;s 5-m high gain antenna;</p> <p class="western" align="left">&#8226; Full complement: ESA deep space communication facility: an extension of ESA&#8217;s DSA with a new antenna array;</p> <p class="western" align="left">&#8226; Full complement: Contribution to ISP operations to increase drastically the ISP and European payloads science return.</p>