Europe will have to be more Tenacious to land its first rover on the moon

Europe's aspirations to land its inaugural rover on the moon have encountered a significant hurdle. The rover, named Tenacious, was aboard a lander that lost contact during its descent, indicating that something may have gone awry. If this incident is confirmed, it would mark the second setback for the HAKUTO-R commercial lunar exploration program, following a previous crash that dashed hopes two years ago. This loss impacts not only Japan, where ispace, the company behind HAKUTO-R and the missing Resilience lander, is based, but also Europe, as the European Space Agency (ESA) supported the mission. Designed and built by ispace-EUROPE in Luxembourg, Tenacious was set to capture video and collect lunar soil, known as regolith, under a contract with NASA, which would have transferred the samples to the agency. “This mission is crucial for understanding how to commercialize space resources effectively,” remarked ispace-EUROPE CEO Julien Lamamy ahead of the landing. The contract with NASA represented a significant achievement for a European company, and Lamamy highlighted the collaborative efforts of his diverse team. The lightweight scoop for collecting regolith was produced by Epiroc, a Swedish mining company, showcasing the integration of terrestrial industries in space exploration. Luxembourg's space sector has gained momentum since the enactment of the Space Resources Law in 2017, enabling companies to own resources extracted from space. The Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA) has been instrumental in fostering this growth through funding and support, with initiatives like LuxIMPULSE aiding both startups and larger firms. Tenacious was designed to be compact and lightweight, weighing around five kilograms, which is half the weight of NASA's Sojourner Mars rover. This design choice allowed for efficient manufacturing and reduced launch costs. The rover's payload included the essential scoop for NASA's mission and a symbolic miniature red house known as The Moonhouse, intended to be the first house on the moon. Unfortunately, the mission's failure means that these aspirations, both scientific and artistic, will have to be postponed.