The European Space Agency has awarded an €862 million (US$896 million) contract to Thales Alenia Space to design and build Europe’s first lunar cargo delivery vehicle for its Argonaut Moon mission.
Thales Alenia Space, which is a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%) will build, test and integrate the Lunar Descent Element (LDE) as part of the Argonaut mission to the Moon, which is planned to launch in 2030. The work will be led from the Thales Alenia Space facilities in Italy.
The lunar descent element (LDE) can deliver cargo, infrastructure and scientific instruments to the Moon’s surface for the first operational mission, which is expected to happen in 2031. The first mission will deliver navigation and telecommunication payloads as well as energy generation and storage systems to help explore the Lunar southern area.
The Argonaut spacecraft consists of three main elements: the LDE for flying to the Moon and landing on the target, the cargo platform one, which is the interface between the lander and its payload, and finally, the element that the mission designers want to send to the Moon.
As the prime contractor and system integrator Thales Alenia Space will lead an industrial consortium that will develop the system, the entry descent and landing aspects, as well as the general and specific architectures of the thermomechanical, avionics and software chains of the LDE.
When built, operation of the LDE and integration with payloads will be the subject of a separate procurement in the future.
Thales Alenia Space in France and in the UK will respectively focus on data handling systems and propulsion. OHB System in Germany will be responsible for guidance, navigation and control, electrical power systems and telecommunications aspects.
Hervé Derrey, the CEO of Thales Alenia Space said, “Thanks to this astonishing space vehicle, tons of cargo will be delivered to the Moon’s surface, including rovers, scientific missions and many more.
“This new element of the Artemis program will serve at facilitating long-duration manned lunar exploration missions and will be crucial to increase European autonomy in lunar exploration.
“The Moon will also serve as a stepping stone for crewed missions into deep space, with Mars being the next stage of the journey.”
Giampiero Di Paolo, deputy CEO and senior vice president of observation, exploration and navigation at Thales Alenia Space said, “Today, with its longstanding expertise in space exploration infrastructure and vehicles, our company, in line with ESA’s and ASI’s visions, has decided to enhance its competitiveness by investing in the development of technological solutions to help Europe achieve its goals.”
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