Europe keen to demonstrate Moon ambitions

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https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50505051

Europe keen to demonstrate Moon ambitions

By Jonathan Amos
BBC Science Correspondent

8 hours ago

The European Space Agency (Esa) will show its commitment to the new wave of lunar exploration when member-state research ministers meet in Seville, Spain, next week.

The politicians are expected to commit hundreds of millions of euros to fund technologies that will support the US-led Artemis project to return humans to the Moon.

Included will be the money to complete two propulsion-cum-service modules that are needed to push the Americans' Orion crew capsules through space.

These spacecraft, which will take part in the Nasa missions known as Artemis 3 and 4, are scheduled to fly from 2024 onwards.

They will witness the first astronaut sorties to the lunar surface in nearly 50 years.

Also set to be nodded through by ministers at the Seville Council is development work on the international lunar space station, known as Gateway.

Europe wants to contribute a habitation module (iHab) and a second multi-purpose unit that would enable access, refuelling, and high-data-rate communications to the Moon's surface.

Dubbed Esprit, this unit would come with big windows through which the Gateway's live-aboard astronauts could monitor robotic operations on the exterior of the station but also look down on the Moon and back to Earth.

The menu before research ministers at their Seville Council (PDF) doesn't end there. Esa officials also envisage a large autonomous freighter that could deliver supplies to astronauts working on the lunar surface.

It wouldn't fly until later in the next decade, but engineers need to begin the design work now.
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