Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Credit: NASA/ESA

The European Space Agency (ESA) is pressing forward on European payloads that could be contributed to a possible Moon exploration campaign.

A just-released request for information (RFI) is one leg of a campaign to be implemented within the framework of the European Space Exploration Envelope Program, subject to decisions at the ESA Council Meeting at Ministerial level planned for December 2019.

Credit: NASA

Moon missions

The campaign is focused on access to the Moon via missions as early as 2020, categorized as:

– Missions of Opportunity: where European payloads respond to flight opportunities made available by the private sector or international partners.

– Directed missions: where European payloads are contributed to missions that are defined and driven by ESA alone or with international partners, to achieve a predefined set of objectives.

Lunar base made with 3D printing
Credit: ESA/Foster + Partners

HERACLES

Another purpose of the RFI is establishment of a straw man payload for an ongoing ESA directed mission study, conducted with international partners, on a human lunar exploration precursor mission called HERACLES, mercifully short for Human-Enhanced Robotic Architecture and Capabilities for Lunar Exploration and Science.

Inside look at one idea the European Space Agency is exploring in its formulation of a “Moon Village” that incorporates 3D printing.
Credit: ESA/ Foster + Partners

The HERACLES mission study currently conceives of cooperation with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) , the Japanese Space Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA with a launch not earlier than 2026; noting that the study is open to the inclusion of other agencies that may be interested to join the partnership.

An international team of lunar researchers has blueprinted an exploration scenario for humans and robots to investigate five sites on the Moon.
Credit: E.J. Allender et al./Advances in Space Research

Science topics

Payloads of interest for Missions of Opportunity include both scientific instrumentation and payloads for technology demonstration and testing.

Examples of scientific topics that could be addressed, but are not limited to:

• The bombardment history of the inner solar system
• The structure and composition of the lunar interior
• The diversity of lunar crustal rocks
• Volatiles at the lunar poles
• Volcanism
• Impact processes
• Regolith processes
• Atmospheric and dust environment
• Life sciences and astrobiology
• Fundamental physics
• Astronomy
• Space resource utilization

Technological topics

Areas of interest for technology demonstration payloads include, but are not limited to:

• Precision landing
• Hazard avoidance
• Mobility
• Autonomy
• Robotics
• Power generation and energy storage
• Low temperature operations and survival
• Dust mitigation
• Space Resource Utilization
• Communication/ navigation

Responses to this ESA-issued RFI are due December 15, 2018.

For more information, go to:

http://exploration.esa.int/moon/60923-request-for-information-lunar-exploration-campaign-science-and-technology-payloads/