The European Space Agency (ESA) is making strides towards its Moonlight vision, which involves a network of communication and data relay satellites around the Moon. The agency has taken a step closer to launching its first satellite with the selection of Firefly Aerospace to launch SSTL’s Lunar Pathfinder under NASA’s commercial lunar payload contract. The Blue Ghost vehicle will deliver Lunar Pathfinder to lunar orbit while the Blue Ghost lander will continue to the Moon’s far side and deploy a communications user terminal and radio telescope experiment to the lunar surface. The satellite will offer communication services to orbiters and assets on the lunar surface, as well as host navigation and science experiments. The ESA is supporting the development of Lunar Pathfinder through a commercial Lunar mission support services partnership with SSTL.
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