The European Space Agency has awarded a contract to Redwire for the development of a robotic arm prototype for the agency’s Argonaut lunar landing.
Previously called the European Large Logistic Lander (EL3), Argonaut is a multi-use lunar lander capable of delivering 1,500 to 1,800 kilograms of cargo, infrastructure, and scientific instruments to the surface of the Moon. ESA member states approved the development of Argonaut during its ministerial council meeting in late 2022.
On 22 May, US-based space technology company Redwire announced that ESA had awarded it a contract to develop a prototype of the Manipulator for Argonaut Payload Needs and Unloading Support (MANUS) system. The MANUS system will equip the Argonaut lander with a means of offloading, precisely positioning, and retrieving objects from the surface of the Moon.
“We are very excited to be working with Redwire’s Luxembourg team on the development of a first scaled breadboard for a robotic arm for the Argonaut lander, currently referred to as MANUS,” said ESA Robotics Engineer Dr. Gunter Just. With challenging reference scenarios for three potential Argonaut missions to address and challenging user requirements to meet, it will be an interesting 18 months until the close-out of this activity.”
The MANUS system will be developed at Redwire’s Luxembourg facility, which is currently working on a modular robotic arm for on-orbit applications called STAARK. During the 18-month contract period, the company will develop, breadboard, test, and verify the functions of the MANUS system. The successful completion of the project will give the company a chance to compete for a follow-on contract to continue developing the system.
