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ESA Workshop on Lunar Exploration
Press Release
From: European Space Agency
Published: Tuesday, 3 July 2018
From July 3 to 5, ESA is organizing a workshop on lunar exploration at its technical center in the Netherlands. Boosting ESA's commitment to sustainable exploration, the workshop brings together space experts and representatives from the industry. to discuss lunar resources and their use in order to bring humanity back to the moon and beyond.
So that humans can live and work on the moon and beyond, we need oxygen and water for life support as well as fuel and materials to build habitats and equipment. The launch of these bulky consumables would cost the money and energy that make human exploration of the solar system unsustainable.
Instead, the ESA is studying the capabilities that would allow humans to exploit lunar resources for the sustainable return of humanity to the moon. The approach is known as the in situ use of resources. Simply put, this means extracting and processing the resources on the ground to produce useful products and services.
Last year, service providers with similar ideas were invited to participate in a year-long study exploring a collaborative and commercially viable mission. During this week's workshop, ESA continues this discussion with experts, industry representatives and potential new partners exploring the state of technological readiness, commercial viability, the legal status and international context of the use of lunar resources. 19659004] In the meantime, the humans closest to our rocky satellite – the astronauts of the International Space Station – are testing technologies like remote robots to bring us closer to our space outpost.
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