Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image credit: Thales Alenia Space/E.Briot

Autonomous access to the Moon by Europe is getting a boost by development of the Argonaut Lunar lander – a cargo delivery project.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and Thales Alenia Space in Italy have inked a new contract to have that aerospace firm develop Argonaut to deliver cargo, infrastructure and scientific instruments to the Moon’s surface.

Tons of cargo

The plan calls for Argonaut to be launched from the 2030’s. Tons of cargo will be delivered to the Moon’s surface by the vehicle.

“An Argonaut mission from launch to landing could take from a week to a month, depending on orbits and mission design. No area is off-limits for Argonaut – the spacecraft will be able to land at any region on the Moon,” according to ESA. 

Image credit: ESA – P. Carril

Argonaut consists of three main elements:

• A lunar descent element (LDE) for flying to the Moon and landing on the target
• A cargo platform element that is the interface between the lander and its payload
• The element that the mission designers want to send to the Moon.

Package delivery

Argonaut cargo includes delivery of hardware for astronauts near the craft’s landing site, a rover, technology demonstration packages, production facilities using lunar resources, a lunar telescope or even a power station, according to a Thales Alenia Space statement.

A Lunar Crater Radio Telescope on the moon’s far side, a proposed idea funded by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program.
Image credit: Volodymyr Vustyansky

“Thales Alenia Space is the prime contractor for the development of the Lunar Descent Element. The overall mission responsibility, i.e. the use of the LDE and integration with payload, will be the subject of a separate procurement in the future,” the company statement notes. “The Lunar Descent Element is an independent architecture block of the international lunar exploration activities, namely a versatile system to support a variety of missions.”

First mission

Argonaut’s first mission is envisioned to deal with delivery of dedicated navigation and telecommunication payloads as well as energy generation and storage system, as European enterprises explore the Moon’s southern area.

This major contract to develop the European lunar lander will enable Europe to access autonomously to the Moon’s surface.