PHASE A STUDY OF LUNAR COMMUNICATIONS AND NAVIGATION MISSION (LUNAR COMMS) – EXPRO PLUS
29, June 2018

ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO9462
Open Date: 25/06/2018
Closing Date: 10/09/2018 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 18.197.05
Prog. Ref.: Preparation Element
Budget Ref.: E/0600-05 – Preparation Element
Special Prov.: BE+DK+FR+DE+IT+NL+ES+SE+CH+GB+IE+AT+NO+FI+PT+GR+LU+CZ+RO+PL+EE+HU+CA+SI
Tender Type: C
Price Range: 200-500 KEURO
Products: Satellites & Probes / Other
Techology Domains: Others
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate of Tech, Eng. & Quality
Department: System, Software & Technology Department
Division: Future Prep. & Strategic Studies Off.
Contract Officer: Hendriline Hertzog
Industrial Policy Measure: N/A – Not apply
Last Update Date: 25/06/2018
Update Reason: Tender issue

Recent discoveries of possible existence of water in the south pole of the Moon, the popularity growth on missions to Mars, the reduction of launcher cost and more affordable technology, are some of the key aspects, which have prompted a growing interest in the Moon exploration by a number of governmental and private organisations. Today most of the big space players plan activities at the Moon for the upcoming ten years in diverse areas (i.e. governmental, tourism, science, imaging and mining). Lunar Comms is proposed as a game changer, especially targeting small-medium size missions by providing Earth-Moon data relay communication and navigation services, reducing the complexity, weight and costs of the payloads and outsourcing the operations and logistics, ultimately de-risking lunar missions and attracting new initiatives to the Moon. Lunar Comms phase 0/A has been split in two parts. Phase 0 has been implemented internally at ESA and its outcome is provided as a reference document. This activity is intended to perform the Phase A of Lunar Comms, determine its feasibility and draft the requirements for the following phases.

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