9 additional space agencies support international lunar and Mars exploration efforts

The International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) has released a supplement to its Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) focused on updates to the Lunar Surface Exploration scenario. In the update, ISECG confirmed that its membership has swelled to 24 space agencies from 15.

To simplify the understanding of who makes up the ISECG, ‘space agencies’ refers to the government organization within a country responsible for space activities.

The new ISECG members are (with joined year):

• Agência Espacial Brasileira – Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) (August 2020)
• Australian Space Agency (February 2019)
• Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTA – Thailand) (April 2020)
• Luxembourg Space Agency (September 2019)
• Norwegian Space Agency (January 2020)
• Polish Space Agency (November 2018)
• Romanian Space Agency (March 2019)
• Swiss Space Office (March 2019)
• Vietnam National Space Center (VNSC) (January 2020)

They join existing member agencies from Australia (CSIRO), Canada, China, the European Space Agency, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Russia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, and the Ukraine.

Lunar Surface Exploration scenario

The GER supplement includes “12 lunar exploration objectives” that were “formulated with rational and performance measure targets defined.” These objectives were then incorporated into the new Lunar Surface Exploration scenario and consists of three phases: Phase 1: Boots on the Moon, Phase 2: Expanding and Building, and Phase 3: Sustained Lunar Opportunities.

Since 2018 there have been a considerable large number of new lunar robotic missions planned by member agencies along with increased commercial support in the U.S. through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. NASA now has four missions planned for commercial surface deliveries to both polar and non-polar locations starting next year. Subsequent to the GER supplement being released NASA also announced it would buy lunar resources from commercial sources. That however, is a story for our next article.

China has already launched two missions to the Moon since 2018, the Queqiao communications satellite, and the Chang’e-4 rover. India launched the Chandrayaan-2 lunar orbiter which included the Vikram lander and rover. While the orbiter did have a successful orbital insertion on August 20, 2019, the Vikram lander crashed on the surface of the Moon during descent in early September last year.

In the next decade there are 18 additional international robotic missions currently planned by seven nations.

What about Canadian robotic lunar exploration?

While Canada doesn’t have a lunar robotic mission scheduled as yet, it will have an important role in future lunar exploration.

Canada has committed to contribute the Canadarm3 to the lunar gateway. Following that commitment the Canadian Space Agency created the Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program which will send small payloads to the lunar surface within the next five years.

Canadians can also expect more to come considering the government committed $2.05 billion last year over 24 towards lunar exploration.

Should NASA commit to sending several human missions to the lunar surface, it’s very likely one or two Canadian astronauts will be selected as part of barter agreement with NASA. Importantly for the industry, it’s also quite possible that at some point in the next 10 years, Canada commits to sending a series of rovers to the Moon, starting with a small micro-rover and eventually to larger rovers.

Key Elements

The following tables outlines the “notional element concepts” that are needed to support the lunar surface exploration scenario.

Phase	Element	Function
1	Crew Vehicle	Vehicle provides transportation for a crew of four between Earth and the lunar vicinity, including sustainment of the crew during space travel and providing safe reentry from deep space. As an example, NASA’s Orion spacecraft has a four-crew, 21-day capability.
	Unpressurised Rover	Provides transportation on the lunar surface for two extra-vehicular activity (EVA)-suited crew with payload. The range of the unpressurised rover is targeted to be greater than 2 km for each excursion. The rover may be used during uncrewed periods through tele-operations.
	Human Lander	Initial capability will provide transportation for two crew between the lunar vicinity and the lunar surface, with an evolutionary goal of four crew, for up to an 8-day mission.
	EVA Suits	Dedicated suit system for use in deep space in microgravity locations or on the lunar surface to allow crewmembers to perform extra-vehicular activities (EVA) for up to 8 hours. EVA suits are planned to be used through a conventional airlock system and evolve to support suitport capability.
	Small Landers / Robotic Precursors	Delivery of cargo to the lunar surface. Target range of cargo is 10s-100s of kg. Robotic precursors for science, utilisation and potential pathfinder for technology demonstrations.
2A	Small Pressurised Rover	Provides mobility of up to 600 km per mission and habitation for two crew on the lunar surface for up to 42 days. Assumed reuse over multiple crew missions and ability to locate to new landing sites between crew missions.
	Logistics Capability	Delivery of logistics and cargo to the lunar vicinity. Depending on launch vehicle, a range of cargo between ~2000 to 3400 kg can be accommodated to Gateway.
	Medium-Class Cargo Landers	Delivery of cargo to the lunar surface. Target range of cargo is ~1000-2000 kg. Cargo can include science payloads, logistics and equipment.
	Communications Relay	Uplink and downlink of data between lunar surface and Gateway or Earth. Communication bands under consideration include S-band, X-band, Ka-band and optical comm. Gateway elements can fill this need.
	Power	Provides supplemental power generation and storage to localized assets (such as ISRU demonstrations, rover recharge, habitat) on the lunar surface. Target of ~17 kW to support Phase 2A operations.
	Utility Rovers	Provides mobility options to support science and ISRU. Payload accommodations of 25-250 kg. Capable of traveling up to 2000 km.
	ISRU Pilot Plant	Subscale version of the Phase 3 operational plant that demonstrates ~1/100 of the oxygen needed from the Phase 3 operational plant. Will prove safety of operations and reliability needed for the operational plant.
2B	Long-Duration Habitation	Lunar surface habitation to support four crew for up to 60 days. Assumes provisions are delivered separately or with the crew and sufficient volume is available, which may be provided by several pressurised surface elements.
	Reusable Human Lander	Provides crew transportation between lunar vicinity and the lunar surface. Reusable ascent element for a crew of four for a multiple stage lunar lander. Propellant for ascent element can be supplied on orbit or on the surface.
	Nuclear Power	Modular power system sized to provide ~10 kW for the lunar day or night. Multiple units can provide power to meet infrastructure demands.
	ISRU Plant	Operational ISRU plant capable of producing ~50 tonnes of propellant per year. Electrolysis is used to create hydrogen and oxygen for propellant for a reusable lander. Excavation, collection and storage would be part of the plant system.
	Crewed Hopper	Provides unpressurised two-way crew transportation within a 1000 km range of the landing site for a crew of four EVA-suited astronauts. Hopper is assumed to be refueled on the lunar surface between uses.

Momentum and finances

There appears to be a lot of momentum at this time for near-tern lunar exploration. However, the ISECG Global Exploration Roadmap is a living document subject to change. Outside forces such as the pandemic, global macroeconomic and microeconomic changes, politics, all have a role in what happens.

And while many of the near-term robotic missions to the Moon appear stable and likely to happen, there are still many questions surrounding when human missions might happen and how they will be funded.

In the meantime, the future of lunar exploration has never looked so promising.