“With these two agreements, NASA and ESA are strengthening
the relationship on two of our agencies’ primary mission areas: Artemis and
Earth science,” said Nelson. “ESA’s Lunar Pathfinder mission is critical to
advancing the communications infrastructure needed at the Moon for a long-term
human presence. And with the United States and Europe providing more than 70%
of the world’s Earth science data, that agreement will set the standard for
future international collaboration at a time when we need global collaboration
most to tackle the climate crisis.”
“When it comes to global challenges such as the climate
crisis, we each have our role to play,” said Aschbacher, “but it’s only by
joining forces that we can achieve more. With leadership on both sides of the
Atlantic more committed to tackle this than ever, ESA and NASA have a historic
chance to further make space an integral part of the solution when it comes to
climate change mitigation.”
“I am delighted to see this next step in the cooperation
between ESA, NASA and UK industry,” said UK Space Agency Chief Executive Paul
Bate. “Space is an essential growth area of the UK economy, and it is exciting
to see this now extending even to the Moon!”
The Earth science agreement builds on the joint statement of
intent Nelson and Aschbacher signed in July 2021. The agreement outlines how
the agencies will collaborate to ensure continuity of Earth observations;
advance understanding of the Earth System, climate change and application of
that knowledge; and collaborate on an open data policy that promotes open
sharing of data, information, and knowledge within the scientific community and
the wider public.
The Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation on the Lunar
Pathfinder mission and access to lunar communication services is part of an
overall lunar communications architecture. NASA is planning to arrange for the
delivery of ESA’s Lunar Pathfinder spacecraft to lunar orbit via a Commercial
Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) delivery, and the Lunar Pathfinder spacecraft is
expected to orbit the Moon and provide lunar communication services for assets
on the lunar surface. NASA will award a task order after issuing a competitive
request for task plans to its domestic lunar service providers in the CLPS
vendor pool. ESA is working with the UK-based company Surrey Satellite
Technology Ltd. on the development of Lunar Pathfinder. Lunar Pathfinder is
designed to offer S-band and Ultra-High Frequency channels for communications
with lunar assets, and communications will be relayed back to Earth ground station(s)
in X-band frequencies.
NASA works collaboratively with ESA on a variety of
missions, including as a key partner on Gateway with I-Hab, Esprit, and the
Sentinel-6 series that makes critical global sea level measurements. Currently,
NASA has more than 600 active international agreements with organizations and
space agencies around the world. NASA is collaborating with commercial and
international partners on Artemis as we work to land the first woman and first
person of color on the Moon, using innovative technologies to explore more of
the lunar surface than ever before and establish the first long-term human
presence at the Moon.
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