ESA's lunar caves exploration mission could launch in 2033: All you need to know

The mission is targeted to launch on an Ariane 6 in 2033 at the earliest and would use the European Large Logistic Lander (EL3) to reach the Moon's surface. The Marius Hills pit will be the mission's primary target.

The European Space Agency (ESA) recently gathered experts from many different areas of science and engineering to design a mission to explore and map lunar caves - one of the most fascinating frontiers of exploration on Earth's natural satellite.

The agency has united and expanded two different SysNova studies - RoboCrane and Daedalus - into one mission to enter a pit on the Moon's surface and explore the entrance to a lunar cave.

The mission is targeted to launch on an Ariane 6 in 2033 at the earliest and would use the European Large Logistic Lander (EL3) to reach the Moon's surface. The Marius Hills pit will be the mission's primary target.

The lunar caves exploration mission would use a robotic crane (RoboCrane) to lower down a robotic cave explorer (Daedalus) into a lunar pit. The latest would explore and document the entrance to the cave, before mapping the closest part of the cave at the bottom.

"A mission like this would require the development of innovative technologies, encouraging the space sector to develop new solutions compared to previous lunar missions. This advancement in technology would be a big step forward for lunar and Martian exploration," explains Francesco Sauro, cave scientist and planetary lava tube expert, as well as technical course director of ESA CAVES and PANGAEA.

ESA gathered science and engineering experts to design a mission to enter a pit on the Moon's surface and explore the entrance to a lunar cave 👉 https://t.co/uXWT4ChxzU @esa_tech @esaspaceflight @ESA_CAVES pic.twitter.com/ID64WNsHd2

— ESA (@esa) March 17, 2022

A 'Topical Team' made up of 17 experts from universities and research institutes across Europe and Canada will support ESA in the development of a strategy that includes lunar caves in the framework of European lunar exploration, the agency wrote in a post on Wednesday.

You can find more information about the mission here.