PARIS - The
German government, in a move certain to raise eyebrows among the country's
European partners, is proposing to build its own lunar orbiter with all-German
technology at a cost of up to 350 million euros ($508 million), the chairman of
the German space agency said Nov. 8.
Johann-Dietrich
Woerner said the mission, called Lunar Exploration Orbiter, or LEO, would
showcase German technological expertise in radar and other high-resolution
imaging, gravity measurement and laser communications. It could be launched in
2012 and would orbit at an altitude of about 31 miles (50 kilometers)
over the lunar
surface.
Addressing
a press briefing in Berlin during an international conference on space
exploration, Woerner said that while the LEO project has the backing of German
Deputy Economics Minister Peter Hintze, who is also the country's aerospace coordinator,
it has not yet been approved by German authorities.
Hintze also
addressed the Berlin conference and endorsed the LEO project.
Germany is
the second-largest contributor to the European Space Agency (ESA), behind France
and ahead of Italy. ESA is assembling its own mid- and long-term exploration
policy, with Mars as the focus and possibly including a secondary role in a
NASA-led return
to the Moon with astronauts. ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter completed
its mission in September 2006 and the agency has no plans for a follow-up
orbiter.
ESA in 2005
won approval from its governments for a 650 million-euro ($954 million) Mars
lander called
ExoMars to be launched in 2013. More recently, the agency has added more
scientific instruments to the ExoMars lander and also has considered a Mars
orbiter to provide communications links between the lander and ground
controllers.
But the new
ExoMars mission carries an estimated price tag of about 1 billion euros ($1.46
billion). ESA is trying to secure the remaining 350 million euros ($513
million) from its member governments but as yet has no commitments.
ESA
Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain told the press briefing that the agency
would await a November 2008 meeting of ESA government ministers before deciding
the exact configuration of ExoMars, and whether NASA and the Russian Space
Agency will contribute instruments.
The same
holds for ExoMars' Russian-supplied nuclear heaters, which Dordain said were
indispensable for the mission because Europe does not have its own radioisotope
power source designed for space missions.
But the
nuclear heaters would require investment in safety and security procedures at
Europe's Guiana Space Center launch site in French Guiana - one reason why ESA
is considering launching ExoMars on Russia's Proton vehicle as part of a barter
arrangement.
A decision
on whether to use Europe's Ariane 5 rocket or the Proton also will await the
November 2008 ministers' meeting, Dordain said.
With
Europe's own exploration package still struggling for funds, some ESA and
European government officials have questioned the wisdom of Germany's solo
lunar orbiter and a similar idea being considered by the British government.
These
officials said ESA already is investing in lunar
orbiters launched or planned by Japan, China and India - in addition to
Europe's SMART-1 mission.
Woerner
said the LEO lunar orbiter should not be viewed as a project that is competing
for funds that might otherwise be used in ESA. "The budget sources are
different," he said, adding that Germany already contributes a higher
percentage of its total space budget to ESA than its major European partners do.
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