European Lunar Lander Mission

Fri Nov 23, 2012 8:23 am » by **Kaarmaa**

Publiée le 5 nov. 2012 par barcelonamoonteam

A few days ago, Astrium GmbH announced that a European lunar lander and rover mission could be designed, built, launched and operated for six months on the lunar surface for 500 million euros ($650 million).

So far, the mission a received a two-year contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) that ends in mid-November, and now it struggles for 100 million euros for two more years of work to carry the project to preliminary design review. The decision will be made by ESA government ministers during a meeting scheduled Nov. 20-21 in Naples, Italy.

Spain has since taken an 11 percent stake in the preliminary work, including contracts on the critical landing phase to Barcelona Moon Team's partner, GMV.

Indeed Barcelona Moon Team mission should be seen as a test bed for many technologies by a fraction of a tenth the cost of the ESA mission. Barcelona Moon Team will be attempting an equatorial landing instead of a polar landing, but it would be a major demonstration for the navigation and control systems of the European mission.

Barcelona Moon Team was presenting its mission to ESA in ESTEC in June 2012, and the team is open to some collaboration both in technology demonstration or transportation of a science payload: in Europe, space is expecting the outcome of the ministerial meeting in November.

http://www.astrium.eads.net/en/programme/moon-lander-technologies-for-landing-on-the-moon.html

Moon Lander: technologies for landing on the Moon

What technologies are needed to ensure a safe, accurate Moon landing and in-situ lunar research? Astrium is currently investigating this question in Lunar Lander studies for the European Space Agency, ESA.

Currently the baseline for the mission is a dual-stage spacecraft using a transfer module concept. Following separation of the spacecraft from the launcher, the two-stage spacecraft (comprising the Transfer Module and the Lunar Lander Module) will enter a transfer orbit before swinging into orbit around the Moon just two kilometres above its surface. At this point, the Lander Module will detach itself from the Transfer Module and land near the Moon’s south pole. After that the scientific exploration will start.

There are a number of technological challenges that have to be mastered in order for such a lunar landing manoeuvre to work. So far, the Moon has been orbited, but only American astronauts have actually set foot on it. The technologies required for a robotic autonomous landing operation, as envisaged in the studies, are at present only partially available or still need to be developed.

Future lunar exploration in Europe is concentrating on the development of key technologies and capabilities. Therefore, following three concurrent Phase A studies, at the end of 2010 ESA kicked-off a study to investigate a Lunar Lander mission focusing on soft precision landing by means of landing legs and also providing a hazard avoidance capability. The primary objective of this first European Lunar Lander mission is to demonstrate the European ability to deliver a payload safely and accurately to the Moon’s surface. Once successfully landed, the mission will also offer the opportunity to conduct important scientific investigations with a view to future human exploration.

Astrium has been awarded the contract by ESA as Prime Contractor for execution of the lunar lander study. Currently the spacecraft is planned to be launched at the end of 2018 into a high elliptical orbit (HEO), aboard a Soyuz launcher from Kourou, French Guiana. The insertion into low lunar circular orbit and the descent and landing manoeuvres will be performed using the spacecraft’s own propulsion system, based on a clustered engine concept.

Let's dream a little bit :sunny:

Fri Nov 23, 2012 11:55 pm » by **Harbin**

I will try to be exited about this.

Sat Nov 24, 2012 4:24 am » by **Kaarmaa**

Harbin wrote:I will try to be exited about this.

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Sat Nov 24, 2012 5:01 am » by **Noentry**

I find it crazy that ESA say they are going to spend 500 million, to then say cant find all the money
If you aint got it dont spend it. simple.
:roll:

Thats the type of shit that got us into the current financial crisis.

Anyway Kaarma cool vid and post, I hope they can get their act together.
:cheers:

Sat Nov 24, 2012 5:44 am » by **Kaarmaa**

The ones who ask for more money isn't Esa but those who signed a contract with them, the Astrium company. The construction must be a little more expensive then they imagined. I don't worry about them for finding the money.

I'm not sure that this type of shit brought the crisis, the money is out there but not in the right hands. And it's not spent well.

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Half a penny on a dollar! :alien51:

Sat Nov 24, 2012 5:46 am » by **Noentry**

Kaarmaa wrote:The ones who ask for more money isn't Esa but those who signed a contract with them, the Astrium company. The construction must be a little more expensive then they imagined. I don't worry about them for finding the money.

I'm not sure that this type of shit brought the crisis, the money is out there but not in the right hands. And it's not spent well.

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