Small lunar missions, big ambitions
Europe is preparing for a future in which astronauts, robots and scientific instruments work on and around the Moon. While major missions often capture the headlines, smaller missions can move faster, test new ideas and provide essential support to larger missions.
ESA's small missions initiative, renamed Moon Explore, began with an open call for affordable lunar mission concepts with scientific or exploration value, attracting over 60 ideas from across Europe. By accepting a higher level of risk in exchange for lower cost and faster development, the initiative aims to deliver valuable results within just a few years while helping European teams develop new capabilities for future exploration.
MAGPIE: roving for resources
The first small mission is already taking shape. Planned for launch in 2029, MAGPIE is set to become the first European rover to explore the Moon. The rover is developed by ispace-Europe in Luxembourg and will operate near the lunar south pole to search for water and other volatile resources for around 10 days using a drill, neutron detector, volatile analyser and ground-penetrating radar. Together, these instruments will help scientists understand where lunar resources are located, how they formed and how to detect them more effectively in the future.
Máni: covering all angles
Future explorers will need detailed knowledge of the lunar landscape before they land and travel across its surface. Led by the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, Máni is a lunar orbiter that will photograph selected regions from multiple viewing angles to create highly detailed maps of the Moon’s topography and surface reflectivity. These observations could help identify small-scale hazards to improve landing-site assessments and route planning for future missions.
Moonraker: near-global mapping terrain
Landing safely on the Moon requires precise knowledge of the landscape below. Moonraker is an orbital mission proposed by German company NUVIEW that will use laser measurements to build detailed three-dimensional maps of the lunar poles. Unlike Máni, which relies on imagery, Moonraker will directly measure the shape of the lunar terrain using LiDAR technology. This approach could allow it to investigate permanently shadowed regions that may contain water ice, where cameras are limited by the absence of sunlight.
MoonRAD: monitoring radiation
Beyond Earth’s protective atmosphere and magnetic field lies a challenging radiation environment. MoonRAD is a planned lunar orbiter that would monitor radiation, energetic particles and plasma around the Moon over several years. Led by Hungarian company Remred, MoonRAD's measurements will improve space-weather models and help engineers protect astronauts, spacecraft electronics and lunar infrastructure from the hazards of the space environment.
The next steps
Although each candidate mission has a different objective, together they are helping to build a more complete picture of the Moon. By improving our understanding of lunar resources, terrain and radiation environment, these not-so-small missions are helping lay the foundations for a sustained European presence on and around the Moon.