Lunar Satellite Constellation Planned by ESA
Lunar Satellite Constellation Planned by ESA
ESA is backing a bold proposal to create a commercially viable lunar satellite constellation dubbed 'Project Moonlight'. The plan would support such international missions as NASA's Artemis and Lunar Gateway programs and ESA's proposal for the European Large Logistics Lander. A Lunar Pathfinder spacecraft designed to provide affordable communications services to lunar missions is due to be launched, perhaps by the end of 2022.
Developed in collaboration with ESA, the spacecraft will be a mission enabler for polar and far-side missions which, without direct line-of-sight of the Earth, would otherwise have to procure their own communications relay spacecraft. Many other initiatives come from the main space institutions in China, India, Japan and Russia, as well as private entities across the globe.
https://youtu.be/DKknU2rs48k
Dozens of international, institutional and commercial teams are planning to send missions to the Moon, envisioning a permanent human lunar presence. Using a shared telecommunications and navigation service would reduce the design complexity of future individual missions and make them lighter, freeing space for more scientific instruments or other cargo, making each individual mission more cost-efficient.
Two consortia of companies will be funded by ESA to devise detailed definitions of how to provide telecommunications and navigation services for missions to the Moon, under the agency’s Moonlight initiative. A lunar satellite constellation would enable missions to keep in constant contact with Earth, even when on the far side of the Moon. This constellation could also allow lunar navigation in areas without direct-to-Earth visibility, supporting, for example, the landing of scientific equipment exactly where it is intended, no matter how remote the location. It would allow missions to the polar regions of the Moon to keep in touch with Earth and with any lunar base.
Lowering the ticket price to lunar exploration would empower a wider group of ESA member states to launch their own national lunar missions. Even on a relatively low budget, an emerging space nation would be able to send a scientific cubesat mission to the Moon, inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers.
The lunar satellite constellation would provide communication and navigation signals for all these missions, ensuring adequate positioning services and constant connectivity for ground control and for scientists on Earth.