Bold New Plans For The Future Of Space Exploration

The plans include landing the first woman on the lunar surface, establishing a space station in orbit around the Moon, and returning samples of Martian rock to Earth

- Dr Stuart Clark

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced a multi-billion-euro investment to the robotic and human exploration of the Solar System. It represents a large expansion to the contribution that Europe is already making to Artemis, the NASA programme to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon during 2024. The new contracts are worth a total of €2.9bn (£2.6bn approx) and are designed to help Artemis become a long-term sustainable exploration of the Moon by astronauts, and take Mars exploration to the next level by returning Martian rocks to Earth for analysis.

ESA’s involvement in these programmes has been made possible thanks to funding decisions taken in Seville, Spain, last year by the science ministers of ESA’s 22 member states. At the end of two days of negotiations, they endorsed the most ambitious plan to date for the future of ESA and the whole European space sector.

“The decisions taken in Seville were fundamental. They basically set us with a programme for this coming decade,” said David Parker, ESA’s director of human and robotic exploration.

Europe is already involved in NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which will transport astronauts to the Moon and, potentially, other destinations in the Solar System.

The European Service Module supplies the Orion crew capsule with air, water and electricity. It keeps the spacecraft on course and at the right temperature. ESA will be supplying at least four service modules, with the potential for another two after that. They will help deliver astronauts to the lunar Gateway, a space station in orbit around the Moon.