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52 payloads. It will also have an allocated docking port for a robotic sampling vehicle, which will be used for automated transport of payloads – typically research samples and equipment – from the lunar surface to the Gateway. Maxar’s contract will start with an initial 12-month period for spacecraft design, after which optional periods will be drawn up for the development and launch, as well as demonstrations of core technologies. The latter will probably include a full year of in-space flight trials, during which Maxar will have ownership and control of the Gateway. NASA also continues to pursue its other lunar exploration programmes, having awarded a $2.7 billion contract to Lockheed Martin in September for a third, fourth and fifth Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle to support the new Artemis crewed space exploration programme. The first Orion craft (Artemis 1) is likely to be launched in November next year, and will be entirely unmanned for the three weeks or so it will spend in space. Of the three latest craft to have been ordered, the first (Artemis 3) will land astronauts on the lunar surface using the aforementioned Gateway platform. The maximum launch mass of the crewed Orion capsule craft is 33.4 t. It is 3.3 m tall and 5.03 m in diameter, and contains about 9 m 3 of habitable space. Artemis 1 and 2 will be launched atop a ‘service module’ measuring 4 m tall and 4.1 m wide, which will provide power and propulsion for the capsules until they are discarded at the end of each mission. The modules are based on the design of the ESA’s previous Automated Transfer Vehicle, with the bulk of the design and production to be conducted by Airbus Defence and Space, although Airbus will also collaborate with Thales Alenia Space on several onboard thermomechanical systems. Lunar mining The ESA has signed a one-year contract with European launch services provider ArianeGroup to study the feasibility of mining the Moon for helium-3. Intended for launch by 2025, the mission will use a planned Ariane 64 rocket, a version of the ArianeGroup’s Ariane 6 design but renamed owing to its use of four strap-on boosters. It will have a payload capacity of 8.5 t. Planetary Transportation Systems will provide the autonomous landing and navigation module (ALINA) for the Ariane 64. That has eight thrusters, four solar panels and a payload capacity of up to 300 kg, and is designed principally for transporting and deploying two Audi Lunar Quattro rovers. The rovers weigh 30 kg each (with 5 kg of spare payload capacity), and have electric four-wheel drive, active suspension, variable-angle solar panels for recharging its batteries, and HD EO cameras. The cameras and rovers can be operated in real time through an LTE data link installed on the ALINA, with navigation imagery and other telemetry streamed directly to ESA scientists. Lastly, Belgium-based Space Applications Services will provide the ground control facilities, comms systems, and associated services. The mission is designed to inspect the lunar regolith for helium-3, which could be vital as a fuel for nuclear fusion. Current estimates suggest that there are 250,000 t of extractable helium-3 on the lunar surface, enough to satisfy humanity’s current energy needs for at least 200 years (and currently valued at $5 billion per tonne). Martian geology and astrobiology Further afield, NASA’s Mars 2020 rover has completed its first round of camera calibrations. These are among the earliest steps towards its planned launch for next July, and it is set to land in the Jezero crater on Mars in February 2021. The trials involved placing a chart consisting of a grid of white dots on a black background in front of each camera at 1-40 m away, enabling the rover’s engineers to test the resolution and geometric accuracy of each sensor. At the time of these trials, the system included two navigation cameras October/November 2019 | Unmanned Systems Technology The Orion crew module will be attached to the ESA’s Orion service module using an adapter (pictured); another one is being built to connect the service module to the Space Launch System rocket (Courtesy of NASA)