The European Space Agency (ESA) presented the Thales Alenia Space Italy-led consortium for its lunar lander program, Argonaut, at a press conference held at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany, on Nov. 20.
ESA will be able to implement European-led missions that will support the study of the Moon, allow the de-risking of key technologies, and pave the way for human exploration, enabling autonomous European access to the Moon as early as 2030.