The Italian Space Agency (ASI) has launched a market research notice to gauge the interest of commercial operators in running the agency’s lunar regolith oxygen extraction mission.
Even with the potential for affordable super heavy-lift capabilities offered by launch systems like Starship, in-situ resource utilization will still be a key element of a sustained human presence on the Moon and beyond. The ASI Oxygen Retrieval Asset by Carbothermal-reduction in Lunar Environment (ORACLE) project aims to provide one of the most vital resources required to execute extended missions on the lunar surface.
“In this new push to return to the Moon, our country is preparing to be present in the best possible way, and ORACLE will give us the opportunity to consolidate the leading role in large-scale programs such as Artemis,” explained Raffaele Mugnuolo, head of the exploration unit at ASI.
In July, ASI signed an agreement with Politecnico di Milano (The Polytechnic University of Milan) to begin the development of the agency’s ORACLE project. This initial stage of the project will see the university’s Advanced Space Technologies for Robotics and Astrodynamics research group conduct the initial stages of the project’s development, including how it will be operated from a lander. Once this phase of the project is complete, ASI intends to hand it off to an industrial partner to take the project through to an eventual launch.
On 27 November, ASI published a market survey notice with the aim of investigating possible commercial operators with the technical skills and capacity to deliver on the project.
The ORACLE project will have a budget of no more than €11 million and a maximum duration of 48 months. The primary goal is to develop the flight model of the demonstrator that will be used to validate the technology for future missions.
According to the notice, commercial operators will need to have proven experience in the space sector to be considered for the project. Operators will need to have delivered on contracts within the sector with a value of at least €1 million in the last three years and have a global turnover of €2 million in the last three financial years.
Operators interested in leading the ORACLE project have until 27 December to submit their applications.
