The European Space Agency is seeking a commercial provider to deliver its NILS2 instrument to the Moon to measure negative ions on the lunar surface.
On 1 June 2024, ESA’s original Negative Ions at the Lunar Surface (NILS) instrument touched down on the surface of the Moon aboard China’s Chang’e 6 lunar lander. The instrument was designed to detect and analyse negatively charged ions on the Moon’s surface produced by interactions between the solar wind and the lunar regolith.
Built by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, the original NILS instrument operated intermittently throughout the mission, collecting a total of 346 minutes of data. This was the first time the agency had produced scientific data on the Moon’s surface.
On 19 March, ESA published a call seeking a commercial operator to deliver the follow-on NILS2 instrument to the Moon, oversee its operation, and facilitate the return of scientific data.
Speaking to European Spaceflight, an ESA spokesperson said that this new mission aims to collect data for a longer duration than its predecessor. Regarding the procurement of the lunar flight, the agency said its “intention is to find ways of procuring the flight whilst spending money in Europe.”
If the agency is set on a provider with a strong European presence, the most likely candidate is ispace, which maintains a subsidiary in Luxembourg. The company is already working with ESA on the development of the MAGPIE lunar rover mission, which will explore and characterise volatile deposits in the lunar polar regions and will search for water ice that could support a sustained human presence on the Moon.
According to the agency, the choice of commercial lander will determine the mission’s launch timeline. However, it added that it hoped the flight would occur “within a couple of years from now.”
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