Overview of lunar missions with ESA involvement

Overview of missions to and around the Moon that is ESA is working on.

The Moon is our closest neighbour and a natural target for setting up a research base as we prepare to go deeper into the Solar System.

The Moon is a treasure trove of Solar System history and it has great scientific potential for looking further afield such as constructing a radio telescope on the far side, offering views of our Universe protected from the constant radio emissions from Earth.

Moving away from one-shot orbital missions, bold ambitions foresee humans exploring the polar regions hand-in-hand with robots, in international cooperation and with commercial partners.

Europe is building the hardware for the new frontier, exploring farther. By signing contracts with industry, ESA is securing work in Europe and the continuation of our exploration programme for Moon and Mars missions.

ESA’s future for human spaceflight and robotic exploration is a sustainable and international endeavour to visit new places and discover new things. Exploring space is about travelling farther and coming back with new experiences and knowledge to help us on Earth.

Our strategy includes three destinations where humans will work with robots to gather new knowledge: low-Earth orbit on the International Space Station, the Moon and Mars. The three destinations share a common goal, namely human presence on Mars.

These steps are bringing us closer to our ambition: sending the first Europeans the Moon and beyond, with Europe as a lead actor in humankind’s greatest adventure.