11:00 AM - 11:15 AM
[PPS06-07] Plan outline of Lunar Exploration Augmentation and Demonstration (LEAD)
★Invited Papers
Keywords:Lunar exploration, LEAD, Science mission, LNSS demonstration, precise landing
International space exploration activities are remarkably in progress especially for lunar missions such as resuming human landing on the moon, construction of international space station called Gateway in lunar orbit in the Artemis program, aiming to realize sustainable lunar exploration.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is actively engaged in international space exploration and proposes Japan’s international space exploration scenario that outlines the roadmap to explore the Moon and Mars. In the scenario, JAXA plans to initiate Lunar Exploration Augmentation and Demonstration (LEAD) mission to perform a couple of science missions expecting top-level outcome worldwide and technical demonstration missions for the future sustainable moon exploration.
The LEAD mission is expected to be launched every two-to-three years and its first flight is expected to be no earlier than 2028. The LEAD mission consists of two major elements, i.e. on-board mission payloads and the transportation system composed of H3 launch vehicle and a small lander expecting business operationalization in the future.
As for the on-board mission payloads for the first flight, there are currently several candidates such as seismic observations, sample return and lunar telescope as for science mission as well as technical demonstration mission for lunar navigation satellite systems (LNSS).
From the point of view of the technical demonstration, the guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) technology for precise landing at lunar polar region is one of the key technologies. JAXA also plans to demonstrate the precise landing capability in the LEAD mission utilizing related GN&C technologies developed for Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) project and looking ahead to future larger landers that will be one of Japan’s major contributions to human lunar exploration in the Artemis program.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is actively engaged in international space exploration and proposes Japan’s international space exploration scenario that outlines the roadmap to explore the Moon and Mars. In the scenario, JAXA plans to initiate Lunar Exploration Augmentation and Demonstration (LEAD) mission to perform a couple of science missions expecting top-level outcome worldwide and technical demonstration missions for the future sustainable moon exploration.
The LEAD mission is expected to be launched every two-to-three years and its first flight is expected to be no earlier than 2028. The LEAD mission consists of two major elements, i.e. on-board mission payloads and the transportation system composed of H3 launch vehicle and a small lander expecting business operationalization in the future.
As for the on-board mission payloads for the first flight, there are currently several candidates such as seismic observations, sample return and lunar telescope as for science mission as well as technical demonstration mission for lunar navigation satellite systems (LNSS).
From the point of view of the technical demonstration, the guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) technology for precise landing at lunar polar region is one of the key technologies. JAXA also plans to demonstrate the precise landing capability in the LEAD mission utilizing related GN&C technologies developed for Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) project and looking ahead to future larger landers that will be one of Japan’s major contributions to human lunar exploration in the Artemis program.