The European Space Agency has awarded a €862 million contract to Thales Alenia Space to build the Descent Element of the agency’s Argonaut Moon lander.
Designed as a multi-role lunar lander, Argonaut consists of three main elements: the Lunar Descent Element (LDE), the Cargo Platform Element, and the Payload. The LDE is responsible for transporting the other two elements to the Moon and safely delivering them to the surface.
On 30 January, ESA announced that it had awarded the contract to build the Argonaut Lunar Descent Element to a consortium of companies led by Thales Alenia Space in Italy. The consortium includes Thales Alenia Space in the UK, Thales Alenia Space in France, and Germany’s OHB.
“Thanks to this astonishing space vehicle, tons of cargo will be delivered to the Moon’s surface, including rovers, scientific missions, and many more,” said Hervé Derrey, CEO of Thales Alenia Space. “This new element of the Artemis program will serve to facilitate long-duration [crewed] lunar exploration missions and will be crucial to increase European autonomy in lunar exploration.”
Thales is expected to deliver the Argonaut Lunar Descent Element in 2030, paving the way for the launch of the lander’s first operational mission, ArgoNET, in 2031.
While the 30 January ESA press release does not provide much detail about ArgoNET, the August 2024 International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) Global Exploration Roadmap describes ArgoNET as “a basic infrastructure for lunar surface communication, PNT for enhanced landing accuracy, and night survival (e.g., providing power to passenger elements).” It goes on to state that ArgoNET will have a “service lifetime of at least five years and would complement and enhance the communications and navigation capabilities of the orbital Moonlight Initiative and Gateway’s Lunar Link.”
The Thales Alenia Space announcement describes ArgoNET simply as including “dedicated navigation and telecommunication payloads as well as energy generation and storage systems.”
While the Thales-led consortium will be responsible for developing and building the Argonaut LDE, ESA will embark on a separate selection process to choose an industrial consortium that will assume overall mission responsibility for the ArgoNET mission. The selection of this industrial consortium is expected to take place toward the end of 2026.
