ESA's lunar payloads and Pathfinder relay plans

In the undated record, ESA's lunar campaign spans science investigations, technology demonstrations, landing-site survey data and communications projects. The listed activities involve commercial missions, rover payloads, Lunar Pathfinder, Moonlight and surface experiments.

ESA's lunar activities include scientific investigations and technology demonstrations. The facts also describe a European effort to build knowledge and capabilities for lunar exploration, along with buying landing-site survey data.

The listed mission relationships connect Griffin-1 with Voyager, Blue Ghost Mission 2 with Firefly Aerospace, and IM-3 and IM-4 with Intuitive Machines.

Griffin-1's payload list includes LandCam-X, intended to capture images of the changing lunar landscape during descent. IM-3's payload list includes MPAc, intended to measure the distance between Earth and the Moon using laser ranging.

SOP120 is associated with Scanway and is listed in lunar orbit.

Lunar Pathfinder is identified as the first European satellite devoted to relaying lunar communications and as the initial part of Moonlight. It is listed in lunar orbit, and Moonlight is ESA's future communications and navigation service for the Moon. NASA's LuSEE-Night radio astronomy experiment is listed for the lunar surface and is named as Lunar Pathfinder's first user.

PLATE is a materials experiment on the wheels of the Rashid-2 rover and is listed on the lunar surface. UWB, also listed on the lunar surface, has the role of checking wireless communications and accurate ranging between a lander and a rover. EMS, a payload on LUPEX, is to study the Moon's very thin exosphere. RPS is to look for water ice buried under the lunar surface and is placed inside a wheel of the Rashid-3 rover.

Prospect is a payload on Intuitive Machines' IM-4 and is listed for the lunar south pole surface. It is to gather samples possibly holding water ice and other volatiles, and to test methods for extracting resources such as oxygen from lunar regolith. The milestone description calls it an important step toward sustainable lunar exploration.

For lunar-industry tracking, the facts describe ESA communications and navigation work alongside commercial mission relationships and surface-science payloads. They include landing-site survey data, a relay satellite, resource-extraction tests and experiments tied to rovers and landers.

The relationships link Griffin-1 to Voyager, Blue Ghost Mission 2 to Firefly Aerospace, and IM-3 and IM-4 to Intuitive Machines, while Scanway is associated with SOP120. LuSEE-Night's role as first user of Lunar Pathfinder places a NASA surface experiment among the relay's users.