C ‘An ambitious project driven by the desire to make Europe a key player in the new lunar conquest. The European Space Agency plans to launch a galaxy of three to five satellites into orbit around the moon by ESA 2028. Earth’s natural satellite is enough to provide real telecommunications service and navigation service inspired by European GPS Galileo. With more than two dozen lunar missions in the pipeline, including the US Artemis project, the satellite system, known as Moonlight, will make it possible to reduce the cost of future European missions. People in other countries can use it for a fee. They no longer have to carry their own navigation and communication system, which is complicated and expensive.
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In terms of the range of services that Moonlight can offer, it is much broader than one could have imagined … First, it will definitely allow astronauts to communicate with each other, with the future station in lunar orbit and Earth, while connected to the Internet while they are staying. It will then significantly increase the accuracy of landing on the moon and enable pilot engines on its surface at a distance from the Earth. Many undeniable assets, especially in view of establishing a lunar base inhabited by people.
Finally, this stable infrastructure will also have the advantage of allowing it to communicate with the hidden face of our satellite. Facing the open ocean, it could also be a rear platform to push further space research. The backbone where scientists dream of building “terrain” telescopes to get rid of the obstacles connected to our planet’s atmosphere.
The goal is the moon
At this point, the ESA has chosen to appoint two federations of entrepreneurs, who will study the feasibility of the project on a budget of around 500 500 million. Led by the first British SSDL (Surrey Satellite Technology Limited), it specializes in small satellites, especially Airbus and the British Space Agency. Second, it is supported by Telespassio (owned by Leonardo with Thales), particularly Thales Alinia Space (owned by Thales with Leonardo) and the Italian space agency.
The two teams will be in the eighteen months that the European Space Agency wants to fund the move during its member states’ ministerial conference scheduled for the end of 2022. The company also plans to submit a plan for a “cargo” lunar lander capable of carrying more than five times the capacity of the new US lunar spacecraft, a ton and more than one and a half objects to the moon, to a very busy crowd from European space. H.L.S. (Human landing system). ESA certainly has the eyes of the moon.
