ESA proposes constellation of lunar communications and navigation satellites
The European Space Agency is proposing in this decade to build a constellation of communications and GPS-type satellites, dubbed Moonlight, to orbit the Moon.
ESA is asking two industrial consortia in Europe to define what an integrated sat-nav and telecoms system at the Moon would look like.
It’ll include a constellation of at least three, but probably more, positioning-and-relay satellites to give global coverage, and will likely include some surface beacons, too, to augment the accuracy of the navigation signals.
“The target we have at the moment is that the constellation would be able to allow for an accuracy of 100m and probably better. We think we are able to get to 30m in the first instance,” explained Paul Verhoef, the director of ESA’s navigation department.
The two consortiums are the UK’s Surrey Satellite and Italy’s Telespazio.
It also appears the ESA is proposing making this system available to all lunar exploration missions, whether they be part of the U.S.’s Artemis program or China’s lunar plans. If so, it is commercially smart, as they will have plenty of customers to buy their services.
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The European Space Agency is proposing in this decade to build a constellation of communications and GPS-type satellites, dubbed Moonlight, to orbit the Moon.
ESA is asking two industrial consortia in Europe to define what an integrated sat-nav and telecoms system at the Moon would look like.
It’ll include a constellation of at least three, but probably more, positioning-and-relay satellites to give global coverage, and will likely include some surface beacons, too, to augment the accuracy of the navigation signals.
“The target we have at the moment is that the constellation would be able to allow for an accuracy of 100m and probably better. We think we are able to get to 30m in the first instance,” explained Paul Verhoef, the director of ESA’s navigation department.
The two consortiums are the UK’s Surrey Satellite and Italy’s Telespazio.
It also appears the ESA is proposing making this system available to all lunar exploration missions, whether they be part of the U.S.’s Artemis program or China’s lunar plans. If so, it is commercially smart, as they will have plenty of customers to buy their services.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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c/o Robert Zimmerman
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
If I remember right, moon has a 2 mile horizon? Not only navigation would be difficult without roads and landmarks… over the horizon communication would need a relay to be possible.
The prospectors will still have the stars and the earth to estimate their location… yeah but they’re really going to like having cell service with virtual heads up display in their helmet with navigation and targeting information readily available while talking to the family on earth in real time video conference. (or just streaming a movie while waiting for the automated equipment to finish their GPS guided mineral survey)
Just as an afterthought, the deep space network could use an upgrade at the same time using a large antenna receiver in a 28 day lunar orbit always facing away from the earth to avoid radio interference.
Lunar orbits are tough
Looks like we are about to get the future we thought we’d get after Apollo 11, only about a half a century later.
Echoing Jeff Wright above, I thought that long-term lunar orbits are pretty tough to maintain because gravitationally the Moon with the Earth’s influence thrown in is the equivalent of driving down a very bumpy road in a very strong gale. This could make it tough for satellites to maintain stable orbits without substantial reaction control fuel for station keeping.
Still, a very good idea if it can be made to work and at least 40 years overdue.
That would be cool, useful and necessary. Such a relay system would allow astronauts to communicate with Earth when they are on the far side of the moon. However, yes, I’ve heard that lunar orbits don’t last very long. It might be better to have a series of repeater towers on the moon.
There’s an old NASA project looking for a ride to the Moon.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/space-news/nasa-eyes-moons-dark-side-for-astronomy-new-telescopes/950047
I hear Elon is heading there with an empty ship…
He could probably even deploy a couple of temporary short live communication satellites that he has laying around somewhere…
I wonder if he can figure out how? He does like a challenge… he’s kind of a show off.
I think it be very ironic if they set up this robotic radio scope on the far side before the Webb telescope was launched.
I think it be very ironic if they set up this robotic radio scope on the far side before the Webb telescope was launched.
Ahhh, yes. Elon Musk is going to design and develop a giant radio telescope and build it on the far side of the moon all by October.
Sheesh, do you guys realize how silly you sound?
Jeff Wright wrote: “Lunar orbits are tough”
I believe that Jeff is referring to the Moon’s mass concentrations (mascons), which make low orbits fairly unstable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_concentration_(astronomy)#Effect_of_lunar_mascons_on_satellite_orbits
The Earth has similar mascons, such as Mt. Everest (the Himalayas) and the 3-mile bulge of the equator, but these have less effect than lunar mascons. However, the perturbations caused by Earth’s mascons can be used, among other things, to create sun-synchronous orbits.