Private sector increasingly involved in lunar exploration

CGTN Europe

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, founded in 1985 by spacecraft pioneer Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, will launch the Lunar Pathfinder satellite in 2026. It will be the first of a constellation of interconnected lunar orbiters that will provide data-relay services for communication and navigation around the Moon.  Watch the full RAZOR episode on how the discovery of water on the moon has been a catalyst for a new era of space exploration on our YouTube channel - just look for RAZOR science show.

Transcript

00:00There is another difference about this new push for the Moon.

00:05Private companies are also involved.

00:08In the UK, a small satellite manufacturer is helping with communications infrastructure.

00:14I'm actually a child of the Apollo era because I watched the Moon landings when I was an

00:19early teenager and that's what stimulated me.

00:22But things have really changed a lot because if you have a look over the next, I think,

00:27ten years, there's something like a hundred different missions being planned to go around

00:32the Moon, some of them on the Moon, either for exploration or for scientific purposes.

00:38And the potential for an economic activity on the Moon is seen particularly by the private

00:44sector.

00:45The SSTL Lunar Pathfinder Satellite will be the first of a constellation of interconnected

00:51lunar orbiters that will provide data relay services for communication and navigation

00:57around the Moon.

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Transcript

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