「双语太空播报」环绕月球的卫星距离地球又近了一步

ESA is going to the Moon – in collaboration with its international partners – and seeks to build a lasting lunar link to enable sustainable space exploration.

欧空局将与国际合作伙伴合作登月，并寻求建立持久的月球连接，以实现可持续的太空探索。

The agency has now evaluated initial ideas to create a network of lunar telecommunications and navigation satellites.

Creating a commercial telecommunications and navigation service for the Moon will allow many of the dozens of planned lunar missions to share the same infrastructure to communicate with Earth, as well as to find their way on the lunar surface.

The service is needed because the planned missions are becoming regular trips to Earth’s natural satellite rather than one-off expeditions.

Using a shared telecommunications and navigation service will reduce the design complexity and weight of inpidual missions, making them more cost-efficient.

Lowering the ticket price to lunar exploration could also empower a wider group of ESA member states to launch their own national lunar missions, inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers.

Two consortia of companies have now completed their system concept reviews, which set out how to create the lunar constellation, under ESA’s Moonlight initiative to identify the best way to create a lasting link with the Moon.

该机构现在已经评估了创建月球通信和导航卫星网络的初步设想。

为月球创建一个商业电信和导航服务，将使数十个计划中的月球任务中的许多能够共享同一基础设施，与地球通信，并在月球表面找到自己的方向。

之所以需要这项服务，是因为计划中的任务正在成为地球自然卫星的常规旅行，而不是一次性的探险。

使用共享的电信和导航服务将降低单个任务的设计复杂性和重量，使其更具成本效益。

降低月球探测的票价也可以让更多的欧空局成员国启动自己的国家月球任务，激励下一代科学家和工程师。

两个公司联盟现在已经完成了他们的系统概念审查，其中阐述了如何在欧空局的月光计划下创建月球星座，以确定与月球建立持久联系的最佳方式。

The reviews set out the business and technical analysis needed to identify and justify a number of feasible system concepts for creating the lunar network. The next step will be to define a detailed system architecture and identify the most suitable partnership models between private space companies and ESA.

Telespazio leads the first consortium. The consortium includes: satellite operators Inmarsat and Hispasat; manufacturing companies such as Thales Alenia Space Italy, OHB System in Germany and Canadian space technology company MDA; Italian Aerospace Logistics Technology Engineering Company (ALTEC); small and medium-sized enterprises such as Nanoracks Europe and Argotec; and universities and research centres such as SEE Lab, SDA Bocconi and Politecnico di Milano.

The second consortium is spearheaded by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, both in the service prime capacity through its lunar services brand SSTL Lunar and as the satellite manufacturer. The consortium includes: satellite manufacturer Airbus; satellite network providers SES, based in Luxembourg, and Kongsberg Satellite Services, based in Norway; the Goonhilly Earth Station in the UK; and British satellite navigation company GMV-NSL.

NASA’s Artemis programme will use several of ESA’s service modules to return humans to the Moon, including the ESPRIT communications module for the lunar Gateway’s living quarters for astronauts. With its European industrial partner, ESA is helping to build the Lunar Pathfinder, showcasing lunar communications service provision by providing initial services to early lunar missions, including a complete lunar navigation in-orbit demonstration.

The Moonlight initiative builds on both the ESPRIT communications module and the Lunar Pathfinder.

审查列出了确定和证明创建月球网络的一些可行系统概念所需的业务和技术分析。下一步将是确定详细的系统架构，并确定私营航天公司与欧空局之间最合适的合作模式。

Telespazio领导第一个财团。该联盟包括：卫星运营商Inmarsat和Hispasat；意大利泰雷兹阿莱尼亚航天公司、德国OHB系统公司和加拿大航天技术公司MDA等制造公司；意大利航空航天物流技术工程公司（ALTEC）；Nanoracks Europe和Argotec等中小型企业；以及SEE实验室、SDA Bocconi和米兰理工大学等大学和研究中心。

第二个财团由萨里卫星技术有限公司牵头，通过其月球服务品牌SSTL lunar提供优质服务，并作为卫星制造商。该财团包括：卫星制造商空客；卫星网络提供商SES位于卢森堡，Kongsberg卫星服务位于挪威；英国的甘海利地球站；以及英国卫星导航公司GMV-NSL。

NASA的Artemis项目将使用欧空局的几个服务模块将人类送回月球，包括用于月球通道宇航员居住区的ESPRIT通信模块。欧空局与其欧洲工业伙伴合作，正在帮助建造月球探路者，通过向早期月球任务提供初始服务，包括完整的月球在轨导航演示，展示月球通信服务。

月光计划建立在ESPRIT通信模块和月球探路者的基础上。