Bérengère Houdou, who is the head of the lunar exploration group at the European Space Agency (ESA), said: “We have an ambition to have European astronauts on the Moon”.
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Europe and Russia’s initiative to join forces for the moon’s mission on looking for a permanent settlement can also serve as an opprotunities for both parties to strike an alliance.
European and Russian space agencies together are planning to launch a series of missions.
According to BBC News, which broke the news of the proposed collaboration between the two space agencies, the mission will be called Luna 27 and will assess whether or not there is enough water and raw materials there to make fuel and oxygen. The south polar area of the moon has many regions which constantly remain in darkness, and these regions have a few of the lowest temperatures in our Solar System.
Professor Igor Mitrofanov, from the Space Research Institute in Moscow, told BBC News: “We have to go to the Moon”.
“The 21st Century will be the century when it will be the permanent outpost of human civilization, and our country has to participate in this process.” he added.
For the mission, ESA is expected to supply Pilot, a landing system that uses laser guidance and a set of sophisticated cameras to pick the best spot for exploration, and a revolutionary drill that will burrow 2 meters under the surface.
However, the scientists involved in Luna 27 are confident that it is not a question of if but when humans return to the Moon’s surface.
During the early years of the space race in the 1960’s and 1970’s, Russian Federation and the United States competed fiercely to put the first man into orbit and the first man on the moon. This could possibly provide resources for the future colonization, scientists say. Mitrofanov is one of the lead scientists on this mission.
Previously, ESA observed Russia’s plans to land a manned expedition on the Moon by 2030, followed by the construction of a permanent base, as well as an orbiting outpost, with distant curiosity.
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Dr James Carpenter from the European Space Agency said one of the aims of the project will be investigation the use of water as a future resource, and determine what it can reveal about the origins of life in the inner Solar System.
