France and Italy team up to create the Lunar Multi-Purpose Habitat (MPH), a permanent Moon habitat.
Thales Alenia Space just made a deal with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to start the design of a living module for the Moon.
This new agreement shows that Italy is playing a crucial role in both manned and robotic space exploration on the Moon and beyond. They call it the Multi-Purpose Habitat (MPH), and the goal is to make it the first long-term home on the Moon.
Franco Fenoglio, Head of human planetary exploration and robotics programs at Thales Alenia Space, explains:
“MPH will mark a historic milestone as the first Italian habitation module to operate on the lunar surface. This is a matter of great pride for our company, which has the unique technical and organizational skills to overcome challenges of this kind.”
In mid-October, the importance of the Multi-Purpose Habitat (MPH) was affirmed through NASA’s Element Initiation Review. This review recognized the essential functions of the Italian MPH module in the lunar surface architecture of the Artemis program.
Artemis aims to establish a lasting human presence on the Moon, serving as a foundation for future missions to Mars.
Thales Alenia Space possesses a leading position in lunar exploration, as it’s busy developing three special modules for the Lunar Gateway project: ESPRIT and I-HAB for ESA and HALO for Northrop Grumman.
Image credit Thales Alenia
source Thales Alenia
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