Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




MOON DAILY
A Precise Voyage To The Lunar South Pole
by Staff Writers
Paris, France (ESA) Apr 01, 2010


Lunar Lander concept from Astrium GmbH. Credits: EADS Astrium GmbH

The south polar region of the Moon, with dark craters and high ridges, is a world away from the relatively smooth terrain visited by Apollo astronauts four decades ago. This rugged moonscape is the target for Europe's next leap into space.

The possible deposits of water ice, heavily cratered terrain and long periods of sunlight make the lunar south pole and areas around it extremely interesting for explorers and scientists. It is therefore a prime target for future human missions to the Moon.

Europe is now looking at a lander mission to pave the way for astronauts. This precursor would be the first European Moonlander and the first to visit the south polar region. ESA is now asking industry to submit proposals for this Lunar Lander mission.

Preparing for human exploration
ESA's Lunar Lander would pave the way for future human exploration on the Moon. There are two core goals.

The first requires that it uses the latest navigation technology to fly a precise course from lunar orbit to the surface and touch down safely and accurately. On the way down, it must image the surface and recognise dangerous features by itself, using its own 'intelligence'.

Then the Lander shall investigate this unique region with a suite of instruments. It will investigate the properties and possible health effects of radiation and lunar dust on future astronauts, and it will examine the soil for signs of resources that could be used by human explorers.

Europe's vision: a leader in exploration
Several European industrial teams have already assessed the various mission options and designs. The next step is 'Phase-B1', which will mature the mission and spacecraft design and examine in detail the demands of landing and working at specific southern sites.

This 18-month phase will begin this summer, taking the Lunar Lander from a design concept to hardware reality. The goal is for launch by the end of this decade.

Involving European researchers and industry is crucial for defining the detailed mission objectives and identifying instruments to address them. For instance, a request for information in 2009 produced more than 200 responses.

Information session on Lunar Lander
As part of the process of involving European researchers and industry in the project, an information day will be held at ESA's space research and technology centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands on 14 April.

The day is aimed at those who responded to the 2009 request and will include an update on the mission outline, mission objectives and the model payload to be used for Phase-B1.

.


Related Links
SMART-1 at ESA
LRO at NASA
Chandrayaan 1 at ESA
Selene/Lunar at JAXA
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








MOON DAILY
A Piece Of The Moon In Oberhausen
Cologne, Germany (SPX) Mar 29, 2010
It takes some imagination - the new exhibit on display at the 'Out of this World - Wonders of the Solar System' exhibition at the Gasometer Oberhausen, does not look very spectacular at first glance. Lent to the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) by NASA, it is grey in colour, small - weighing just 92.5 grams - and encased in a Plexiglas casting. But t ... read more


MOON DAILY
A Precise Voyage To The Lunar South Pole

A Piece Of The Moon In Oberhausen

The Mystery Of Moonwater

LRO Camera Releases Science Data From First Six Months

MOON DAILY
Opportunity At Concepcion Crater

A Sleeping Spirit May Yet Awaken In The Spring

Mars Pixs Chosen By Public

Early Warning System Would Predict Space Storms on Mars

MOON DAILY
US makes light of Venezuela-Russia space bid

Witnesses Say Future Of NASA Human Space Flight Is Uncertain

A Public Opinion On Mission Planning

NASA Awards Space Propulsion Research Contracts To Five Firms

MOON DAILY
China To Complete Wenchang Space Center By 2015

China To Conduct Maiden Space Docking In 2011

China chooses first women astronauts

Russian Launch Issues Delaying China's First Mars Probe

MOON DAILY
SpaceX Activates ISS Comms System For Dragon Spacecraft

Russian, US astronauts blast off to space station

Soyuz Shuttle Station Set For Action

UA Engineers First To Use Space Station Test Bed

MOON DAILY
Arianespace Flight VA201: Interruption Of The Countdown

Ariane 5's Launch With ASTRA 3B And COMSATBw-2 Is Postponed

High Ride With Maxus-8

Athena To Offer Affordable launchers From 2012

MOON DAILY
Newly Discovered Planet Could Hold Water

CoRoT-9b - A Temperate Exoplanet

'Cool Jupiter' widens search for exoplanets

How To Hunt For Exoplanets

MOON DAILY
Under the radar, Apple's Asian suppliers work furiously

US media rave over Apple iPad

Sharp unveils 3D displays that require no glasses

Amazon strikes twin electronic book deals: WSJ




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement