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After the launch to the International Space Station with The Space Shuttle flight STS 118 13A.1 on August 9th 2007 and the accommodation in the US lab Destiny, the air quality monitor ANITA (Analyzing Interferometer for Ambient Air) has been successfully put into operation. ANITA is a technology demonstrator flight experiment being able to continuously monitor with high time resolution the air conditions within the crewed cabins of the ISS (International Space Station). The system has its origin in a long term ESA (European Space Agency) technology development program. The ANITA mission itself is an ESA-NASA cooperative project. ESA is responsible for the provision of the HW (Hardware), the data acquisition and data evaluation. NASA's responsibilities are launch, accommodation in the US Lab Destiny, operation and data download.

After the launch to the ISS (International Space Station) with The Space Shuttle flight STS 118 13A.1 on August 9th 2007 and the accommodation in the US lab Destiny, the air quality monitor ANITA (Analysing Interferometer for Ambient Air) has been successfully put into operation. ANITA is a technology demonstrator flight experiment being able to continuously monitor with high time resolution the air conditions within the crewed cabins of the ISS. The system has its origin in a long term ESA technology development programme. The ANITA mission itself is an ESA-NASA cooperative project. ESA is responsible for the provision of the HW, the data acquisition and data evaluation. NASA's responsibilities are launch, accommodation in the US Lab Destiny, operation and data download. The ANITA air analyser is currently calibrated to detect and quantify online and with high time resolution 33 gases simultaneously with down to sub-ppm detection limits.

Thermal protection technologies based on ablators and segmented ceramic heat shields have been developed in Europe with the last two decades. The successful re-entry flights of HUYGENS, ARD and MIRKA indicate the progress achieved up to now. To stimulate the identification and assessment of novel alternatives to conventional thermal protection materials and constructions an exploratory study on Smart TPS has been launched by ESA. This new point-of-view in the field of winged re-entry and launcher technology resulted initially in 35 ideas. Subsequent concept drafting reduced this number to 11 feasible concepts and a few further developments put on a technology watch list. This paper presents an overview and brief discussion of the most relevant Smart TPS materials and concepts identified and elaborated in this exploratory activity which will be completed by some breadboard testing.