Summary
The Commercial Lunar Mission Support Services (CLMSS), also called Lunar Mission Support Services [1] (LMSS) is a collaboration between Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), Goonhilly Earth Station (GES) and the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop a lunar telecommunications and navigation infrastructure to support lunar scientific and economic development.
The collaboration agreement, announced on 17 April 2018,[2] proposes a step-wise approach to implementing a sustainable commercial service to support both orbiting and landed lunar assets.[1][2]
Overview
Dozens of different commercial, private and public missions to the Moon are planned for the coming decades, so the Commercial Lunar Mission Support Services (CLMSS) project intends to provide a sustainable communications and navigation infrastructure.[3] The commercial collaboration includes an upgrade of the Goonhilly Earth Station for commercial cis-lunar telecommunications, and the development of their first orbiter called the Lunar Pathfinder that is proposed to be launched in 2022[2] or 2023.[4] While the signed agreement covers missions to the Moon, there is the potential to apply a similar service for Mars in the future.[2]
Lunar Pathfinder
As of 2019, the Lunar Pathfinder orbiter is being offered to carry public and private instruments and CubeSats[1] to an elliptical lunar orbit that would place an emphasis on covering the far side of the Moon[4] and the South Pole–Aitken basin because of its potential lunar resources.[2][4][5] The orbiter would be developed by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL),[2] and launched in 2022 or 2023.[1] The system envisioned would utilise international standardised protocols for interoperability and cross-support. It would have a capacity of up to 60 kilograms (130 lb) payload to lunar orbit,[6] and function as a relay satellite for about 5 years.[6]
See also
- Commercial Lunar Payload Services, a NASA project to send small payloads to the Moon
References
- ^ a b c d Lunar Pathfinder Mission. Goonhilly Earth Station. Accessed on 12 September 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f ESA signs collaboration agreement for commercial Lunar missions. ESA Press Release, 17 April 2018.
- ^ ESA identifies demand for satellites around the moon. PhysOrg 17 July 2019.
- ^ a b c SSTL - Lunar Services. Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL). Accessed on 12 September 2019.
- ^ LUNAR MISSION SERVICES: ENABLING THE NEXT GENERATION OF LUNAR EXPLORERS. Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL). Accessed on 12 September 2019.
- ^ a b "ESA Strategy on Lunar MissionsOpportunities for Payload Development and Deliveries." Space Exploration Workshop, 13 November 2018, SSC, Solna. Published by ESA.