Lunar Pathfinder
Surrey Satellite Technology Limited
Lunar communications and navigation relay spacecraft, part of ESA's Moonlight programme, launching 2027.
Technical specifications
- Orbit
- Elliptical Lunar Frozen Orbit (ELFO)
- Design life
- 8 years
- Communication channels
- 2 simultaneous: S-band + UHF
- Earth relay
- X-band
- Hosted payloads
- ESA GNSS receiver, NASA laser retro-reflector, ESA radiation monitor
- Programme
- ESA Moonlight Phase A/B1, SSTL-led
- Planned launch
- 2027
About
Lunar Pathfinder is a lunar communications and navigation relay spacecraft SSTL is developing for launch in 2027, operating in an elliptical lunar frozen orbit (ELFO) with an 8-year design life. It provides two simultaneous communication channels (S-band plus UHF) for lunar surface and orbital assets, and an X-band relay back to Earth. The spacecraft hosts an ESA GNSS receiver experiment, a NASA laser retro-reflector, and an ESA radiation monitor. SSTL leads ESA’s Moonlight programme Phase A/B1, which aims to establish a shared lunar communications and navigation infrastructure.
Documentation
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