ESA's innovative lunar landing camera to fly to the Moon in 2024

The European Space Agency (ESA) will fly its innovative lunar landing camera, called LandCam-X, to the Moon in 2024. The agency has selected Astrobotic and Lunar Logistics Services (LLS) to fly the smart lunar sensor on Astrobotic's Griffin Mission One (GM1).

Similar to a camera on a car used for autonomous parking, LandCam-X will take pictures during landing, which will be sent to Earth. These images will be used for image-processing algorithms that will improve the precision and safety of future lunar landings.

"LandCam-X is part of ESA's wider-ranging lunar exploration campaign that includes science, technology and services which will expand Europe's economy to the Earth's eighth continent, the Moon," said David Parker, ESA's Director of Human and Robotic Exploration.

LandCam-X/Image Credit: ESA

This will be the first-ever commercial payload delivery to the Moon procured by the European Space Agency.

"Astrobotic is humbled to be selected by ESA for its first-ever commercial payload delivery contract to the Moon. This is the fourth space agency to choose Astrobotic's lunar delivery service, and another milestone toward our goal of making the Moon accessible to the world," said Astrobotic CEO, John Thornton.

We have ambitions for exploring our #Moon, doing the groundwork for landers that rely on cameras and lidar to choose the best landing spots. This is one of those cameras, LandCam-X, which will be tested on @astrobotic’s GM-1 lunar mission in 2024 👉 https://t.co/PbZuBQpNPU pic.twitter.com/gidbt6yzXa

— ESA (@esa) September 24, 2022

Astrobotic's historic Griffin Mission One (GM1) will launch from SpaceX's facilities at Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in late 2024. The mission will deliver NASA's water-hunting mobile robot, Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER), to the South Pole of the Moon in search of ice and other potential resources.

Once it arrives at the Moon's South Pole, VIPER will get a close-up view of the location and concentration of ice and other resources at the Moon's South Pole, marking a critical step forward for NASA's ultimate goal of a long-term presence on the Moon.