Moonlight: Connecting Earth with the Moon

Day: Thursday 28 October
Time: 14:35 -15:35 GST
Location: Sheikh Rashid Hall F, Dubai World Trade Centre

ESA would like to take the opportunity provided by the Global Networking Forum (GNF) to present the Multi Domain Moonlight Initiative with which the Agency is working to enable the efficient exploration of the lunar environment by creating telecommunications and navigation services for the Moon. The GNF Session’s main objectives are to gain exposure and create greater public awareness of the Moonlight Initiative.

Using a shared telecommunications and navigation service will reduce the design complexity of individual missions and make them lighter, freeing space for more scientific instruments or other cargo, making each individual mission more cost-efficient. Lowering the ticket price to lunar exploration will also empower a wider group of ESA member states and other nations worldwide to launch their own national lunar missions and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.

The private sector will be able to use innovative technologies developed for the Moon to create new services and products on Earth and new Moon-enabled services and products (e.g. virtual reality applications, teleoperations, etc.), which would create new jobs and boost prosperity.

ESA would like to table a panel discussion to present the way in which ESA is collaborating with European industry to develop the future lunar telecommunications and navigation services and to engage with future lunar users of such services to better understand their specific needs and to inspire new missions and use cases.

Finally, ESA would leverage the GNF stage to present two major opportunities to shape the development of Moonlight: the launch of the Lunar Forum – with which interested users will be invited to join an international stakeholder community that will advise on the definition and delivery of Moonlight services – and the launch of a Call for ideas on the ESA The Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP) – with which ESA is looking for new up and downstream lunar use cases.

This session is organized by