Telespazio, a joint-venture between Leonardo (67%) and Thales (33%), signed a 123 million euro contract today in Milan with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the implementation of the first phase of the Moonlight programme.

Leading a consortium of European companies, the jv will oversee the development of a constellation of satellites providing navigation and communication services for future lunar missions. The consortium includes Telespazio as prime contractor responsible for the overall system as well as a pool of companies including Hispasat, Viasat, Thales Alenia Space Italia, SSTL, Qascom, MDA, KSat, Telespazio UK, Telespazio Iberica, SDA Bocconi, PLIMI, CRAS and SI for the design, implementation and operational qualification of the system.

Positioned in cislunar orbit, the Moonlight infrastructure will leverage the advanced technology developed from Europe’s navigation and communications industry, optimized to provide reliable connectivity and accurate positioning even on the Moon. These services will be critical to ensuring safe exploration of the moon’s surface, permitting continuous monitoring of activities from Earth and improving the missions’ operational management.

The Moonlight program aims to provide communication and navigation services to institutional missions of the European Space Agency and other space agencies as well as commercial users, thus contributing to the creation of a solid lunar economy. In addition, interoperability with LunaNet, a standard shared by the most important international space agencies, will ensure cooperation between various service providers, increasing the reliability of the entire system.

Its infrastructure will be divided into three key segments: the Lunar Space Segment, which includes satellites in lunar orbit providing communication, navigation and time synchronisation services; the Lunar Earth Ground Segment, which includes the control stations and ground infrastructures necessary for service provision and for the management of operational activities, and the Lunar User Segment, composed of the terminals necessary to validate the service once the constellation is in orbit. As the system is based on international standards defined by NASA, ESA and JAXA, it will support lunar navigation and communication terminals according to the standard.

The initial configuration includes one satellite for communications and four for navigation, with the aim of ensuring broad coverage of the lunar South Pole, a crucial area for future exploratory missions. The architecture has been developed taking into account the needs of users and the requirements established by the ESA, and provides for a progressive implementation plan with deployment of the constellation in two phases.