Students from at least 10 universities throughout ESA's Member States and Cooperating States will learn about space science and engineering “hands on” by collaborating on the design and building of systems that could be launched into orbit around the Moon as soon as 2013. SSTL will draw upon its experience in delivering cost effective space missions and training schemes to project manage the ESMO mission, supervising the academic and student teams throughout Europe to help them achieve their goal of a space-ready Moon orbiter.
Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, Executive Chairman of SSTL said, “SSTL has had its sights on the Moon for nearly a decade and ESMO combines the industrial and educational strengths of SSTL towards this exciting challenge. We have shown many times in the past that success in space can be achieved at a fraction of the cost normally considered and we expect that this exciting mission will further demonstrate that this applies as well to science missions as Earth Observation and communications.”
SSTL was recently down-selected by the UK government’s STFC (Science and Technology Facilities Council) to lead the design phase for the MoonLITE mission, which will lead to the development and launch of a low-cost lunar orbiter carrying scientific lunar surface penetrators and a communications relay payload to the Moon in 2014.