For this purpose, artificial satellites will be launched around the natural satellite of the Earth
The European space agency ESA has shared its plans to build a satellite constellation that will orbit the Moon and provide lunar explorers with navigation and telecommunications services.
If all goes according to plan, the new satellite system could emerge in the late 2020s, just a few years after the expected landing of NASA’s Artemis 3 manned mission near the Moon’s south pole.
The ESA believes that the natural satellite will become a busy place in the coming years, becoming a kind of “eighth continent” for which commercial companies and countries from around the world have already started competing.
Наличие навигационной и телекоммуникационной сети для передачи обратно на Землю того, что мы узнаем на Луне, будет иметь ключевое значение для устойчивости будущих миссий. Вы можете представить, как астрономы открывают обсерватории на обратной стороне Луны. И, поскольку мы все уже привыкли к виртуальным встречам, кто знает? Мы могли бы использовать Skype на Луне
ESA’s director of telecommunications and integrated applications, Elodie Viau, explained
The ESA has now contracted two European industry consortia to study the feasibility of such a project over the next year and a half.
The idea is that this could be one of the projects that we will present to the ESA board in 2022 and propose for implementation. The project could go full steam ahead in early 2023, to ensure that it will be operational for four or five years
ESA Director of Human and Robotics Research David Parker said: