ESA Lunar Lander

[Notebook]

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM83CIK97G_index_0.html

First I've read of this, or have I just missed it?

http://www.ohb-system.de/lunar-lander-english.html

From the Mona Lisa pdf.

As second step a versatile lunar landing craft is intended
for transporting various types of small payloads to
the Moon’s surface. Depending on mission objectives,
a range of scientific and technical experiments relating
to the life sciences, planetology, in situ resource
utilization,automation and robotics can be carried out
fully automatically on the Moon’s surface. OHB-System
presently conceptually designs in an ESA-contract a
lunar landing vehicle, which is compatible to a launch​

with a Russian launch vehicle from Kourou.

N.

 

[lennartsmit]

That's quite exiting news!
I never knew ESA had interest in lunar exploration.

 

[Urwumpe]

No, you didn't miss it. The plans are not new, the German government already planned a lunar robotic mission, but then decided to leave such things to ESA, instead of doing it themselves.

Also, ESA already had the SMART-1 mission to the moon, I can't understand why people always ignore this tiny probe...

 

[Notebook]

SMART-1 was excellent, didn't know ESA or partners had plans for Lunar landers. Thought the emphasis was on orbiters.

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

SMART-1 was excellent, didn't know ESA or partners had plans for Lunar landers. Thought the emphasis was on orbiters.

No, at least the German election campaign "space race" had the intention of using especially robotics, like landers and rovers, for also boosting skills in the field of robotics. After the election was over, somebody suddenly noticed that there is no money for such a mission.

 

[Notebook]

Yes, thats a surprise!
I'd like to see a few robots wandering around the moon. Be a bit of fun to have them park up at the end of the day, and look at the Earth. Nice webcam!

N.

 

[IronRain]

This news is great... april 14th is added to my agenda... it's just an hour drive from my place

 

[lennartsmit]

This news is great... april 14th is added to my agenda... it's just an hour drive from my place

I thought about it as well but i think it's on invitation only.

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.

 

[IronRain]

mm, thats not fair you know