Spaceflight

^{Rob Coppinger / Berlin}

European Space Agency director general Jean-Jacques Dordain has outlined four areas of potential contribution to NASA’s plans for lunar exploration. The areas under study are surface infrastructure, robotic missions, a telecommunications and navigation network and space transport.

Speaking at the ILA Berlin air show last week, Dordain said ESA may have lunar proposals ready for presentation to its governing ministers in 2008, echoing earlier comments made by Daniel Sacotte, ESA’s director of human spaceflight, microgravity and exploration programmes, to Flight International (28 February–6 March).

The robotic missions could include a follow-on to ESA’s SMART-1 spacecraft, which is to be crashed into the lunar surface this September.

Dordain said the space transport study covers ESA involvement in the proposed Russian six-crew spacecraft best known as Kliper. “I am to give a status report in June on [Kliper talks],” he said. “At the end of February we agreed a requirement for Kliper [with Russia’s Federal Space Agency].”

ESA is aiming to raise a minimum of €30 million ($38 million) from member states for a two-year preparatory study of Kliper. At the December 2005 ministerial council, the agency raised only €8 million, postponing a decision on the European agency’s involvement.

Russia’s Federal Space Agency was expected to select a proposal from Energia, Khrunichev Space Centre or Molniya in April. But bidders say that they do not yet know when the FSA will make a decision.

Dordain also spoke of the need to review how the 17-member ESA works because it could soon have 21 members, with applicant countries the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania joining. Slovenia is also asking to join, potentially pushing membership to 22.