It’s official: Europe is ready for the Moon, and Italy will be there too. The announcement came yesterday from the ESA CM25 Ministerial, through the Director General Josef Aschbacher: “I have decided – declared the number one of the European Space Agency, on the sidelines of the event – the first Europeans to participate in the lunar missions will be a German, a French and an Italian astronaut”. There is no confirmation yet on the objectives, dates and specifications of the first mission which will directly involve European personnel. As well as on the identity of the astronauts who will participate, even if in this case the shortlist of candidates for our country contains two important names such as Samantha Cristoforetti and Luca Parmitano, who should compete for the place unless the continuous delays accumulated by the Artemis mission end up forcing them to remain on the bench due to mere registry issues.
Europe invests in space
The participation of three European astronauts in the American lunar exploration program had actually been decided by ESA and NASA as early as 2022. The real news is therefore the confirmation that among the first Europeans traveling to the Moon there will be an Italian astronaut. A success achieved through diplomacy, and by leveraging the industrial and financial weight of our country in the agency’s budgets, as claimed by the Minister of Business and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso. “We have returned to being protagonists together with France and Germany and we mark the relaunch of Europe”, stated the minister. “Italy has increased its contribution by over 13% compared to three years ago. We have reached 3.5 billion euros and this has contributed to reaching, to some extent exceeding, the expectations of the European Space Agency itself, of our European Union”.
However, Italy is not the only country to have increased its contribution to the financing of European space activities. The budget just approved by the ESA ministerial for the next three years reaches the record figure of 22 billion euros, five more than the one approved in 2022. An increase resulting from the renewed desire to be protagonists in space exploration and the space economy. But also – unfortunately – of the winds of war blowing across the continent: space is one of the strategic fields for the security of the Union, which today depends too closely on American partners and private (American) industry. It is no coincidence that ESA is in negotiations with Poland for the creation of a study center for “dual use” space technologies, i.e. with both civil and military applications.
The Artemis mission
Returning to the Moon, the ESA and NASA collaboration for the exploration of the satellite is part of the Artemis program, which involves the return of astronauts to the soil of the Moon, the creation of a space station in lunar orbit, and of a habitat on the surface that guarantees the possibility of a stable human presence. However, a series of delays and technological difficulties have complicated the timeline of the mission: initially the return of man to the Moon was scheduled for next year, but now we are talking about at least 2028, and even this date is yet to be confirmed given that SpaceX has not yet managed to successfully test its Starship, the mega-rocket that should carry the Orion capsule with the astronauts on board along the last leg of the journey to the surface.
The contribution
And it is precisely to Orion that Italy owes, at least in part, its privileged place in the next missions directed towards the Moon. Europe obtained seats on NASA spacecraft thanks to a collaboration that involves the supply of key technologies for the mission: the European service modules guarantee energy and propulsion to the Orion capsule, and the lunar station, the Lunar Gateway, will also depend on the living modules provided by the European agency. Both technologies are highly dependent on the Italian contribution, because they are largely created in the Turin factories of Thales Alenia Space. And also for this reason, probably, we managed to grab one of the first places available for the great return of the human species to the Moon.