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Since time immemorial, people have admired the moon. Its gentle light suggests romance, its strong embrace feeds the tides and is sometimes even accused of madness.
The Moon was once the domain of the gods; many mythologies feature lunar deities. But humans are explorers, they set sail to discover new worlds and, five decades ago, the natural satellite of Earth received its first visitors.
Now as international teams around the world prepare plans to revisit the Moon, ESA is working out the best way to facilitate this exploration.
Lunar exploration builds on the vast experience available across ESA. As a new lunar economy emerges, it will create new opportunities involving robots, habitat and transportation. Missions to the Moon share similar communication and navigation needs that could be met using a constellation of lunar satellites. Under the agency’s “Moonlight” initiative, ESA is exploring with industry the necessary technical solutions along with delivery models for the provision of lunar telecommunications and navigation services. Credit: ESA
Bold ambitions
The Moon is our closest neighbor in space. Its tantalizing proximity makes it the natural place to test how people can take the next steps Mars and beyond.
Bold ambitions involve exploring the lunar polar regions through international cooperation, with dozens of very different commercial and institutional missions to the moon already planned for this decade.
NASAThe Artemis program plans to bring humans back to the moon by 2024 and, in collaboration with ESA and other partners, intends to put a Gateway with accommodation for astronauts into lunar orbit. The Gateway will host astronauts from Europe and around the world and will have a communication module developed by ESA.
An overview of the missions to the Moon. This infographic shows the interest of commercial and institutional organizations in launching spacecraft to the moon. Credit: ESA
ESA is working on plans for a European Large Logistic Lander to provide different types of unmanned missions, from supply races for Artemis astronauts, to autonomous robotic science and technology demonstration missions, and even a lunar return mission to bring samples to laboratories on Earth. It foresees regular launches starting from the latter part of this decade and up to the 1930s.
Before that, a Lunar Pathfinder spacecraft designed to provide affordable communications services to lunar missions is expected to be launched, possibly by the end of 2022. Developed in collaboration with ESA, the spacecraft will be a mission enabler for missions. polar and distant that, without a direct line of sight to Earth, would otherwise have to procure their own spacecraft for communications.
Many other initiatives come from leading space institutions in China, India, Japan and Russia, as well as private entities around the world.
Artistic impression of Heracles approaching the landing site on the Moon. A European lander is expected within the next 10 years. Credit: ESA / ATG Medialab
Moonlight project
To be successful, each of these ambitious plans requires reliable navigation and telecommunication capabilities. Building them independently would be costly, complex and inefficient.
If this work were outsourced to a consortium of space companies that could put a constellation of satellites around the moon, every single mission would become more cost-effective.
Having a system dedicated to lunar telecommunications and navigation could reduce the complexity of the project, freeing up missions to focus on their core activities.
Since missions could rely on these dedicated telecommunication and navigation services, they would be lighter. This would make room for more scientific instruments or other cargo.
An accurate and reliable telecommunications and navigation service would allow missions to land wherever they wish. Radio astronomers could create observatories on the far side of the moon. Rovers could move faster on the lunar surface. It could even allow the teleoperation of rovers and other equipment from Earth.
For the past three years, ESA has worked together with industrial partners to explore the lunar market. As part of an initiative called Moonlight, ESA is now conducting in-depth analyzes of planned lunar missions and further developing possible solutions, both technical and business-related, to provide telecommunications and navigation services for the Moon.
Illuminating the possibilities
The Moon’s orbit is firmly locked to the Earth, which means that it rotates once as it revolves around the planet. As a result, it always shows the same face on Earth.
A constellation of lunar satellites would allow missions to remain in constant contact with the Earth, even when it is on the opposite side of the Moon. This constellation could also allow lunar navigation in areas with no direct visibility to Earth, supporting for example the landing of scientific equipment exactly where they intend, regardless of the remote location.
An artist’s impression of what a moon base might look like. Credit: ESA – P. Carril
It would allow missions in the Moon’s polar regions to stay in contact with Earth and any lunar base.
Finally, lowering the price of the ticket for lunar exploration could allow a larger group of ESA member states to launch their own national moon missions. Even on a relatively low budget, an emerging space nation would be able to send a cubesat science mission to the moon, inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers.
The lunar satellites would provide communication and navigation signals for all of these missions, ensuring adequate positioning services and constant connectivity for ground control and for scientists on Earth.
Explore solutions
In recent years, ESA has conducted several feasibility studies, internally and in collaboration with the industry, to understand the lunar market, its user and business parameters and to explore the possible technical implementations of this infrastructure.
Preliminary concepts include several satellites in different orbits around the Moon that provide the lunar missions with reliable, real-time communications and navigation services.
Navigation services could support mission-critical operations such as lunar orbit, lunar landing, real-time rover guidance, and lunar ascent.
The data capacity between Earth and the Moon would gradually exceed several hundred megabits per second for aggregate retransmission services, allowing for lunar mission data capabilities that compare well with home television and movie streaming.
The demand for data is expected to increase rapidly after 2028.
Next steps
ESA has invited ready companies to study and design a lunar constellation to express their interest in the Moonlight initiative. The agency has initiated discussions with stakeholders, who have now prepared broad proposals highlighting their background and experience and explaining the proposed business and service model, the partnership proposal and the draft system concept. This is the first part of a two-step tender procedure. In the second phase, the agency will invite selected companies to submit a final offer for a detailed definition of the end-to-end service.
Up to two parallel contracts fully funded with ESA are envisaged. These contracts are expected to be awarded in early 2021.
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