Venturi Space (Monaco), company, which is collaborating with Astrolab on lunar rover concepts, presented an all-European rover design called Mona Luna at an event during the Paris Air Show 16 June. The robotic rover has a length 2,5 and width 1,64 meters, and the weight 750 kilograms.
Mona Luna was developed by Venturi Space as a conceptual proposal for the European Space Agency and the French space agency CNES, as well as potential commercial customers, as a larger rover, able to better cope with the lunar terrain and survive the moonlit night.
The lunar rover is equipped with suspension and steering systems, which cope better with the lunar terrain. It is designed to drive at speeds up to 20 kilometers per hour. These systems and other key components are housed inside the rover, as close to the center as possible for better thermoregulation during extreme temperature changes between lunar day and night.
Venturi has received some support from the ESA for key technologies, necessary for the lunar rover. The company hopes to win support for the lunar rover project at the ESA ministerial conference at the end of November, when member states will decide on the funding of the agency's programs for the next three years.
Mona Luna is designed to deliver payloads to the lunar surface using the European Space Agency's Argonaut lander, which will be launched on an Ariane rocket 64.
Currently, Europe does not have a lunar rover exploration program. There is an Argonaut lander and an Ariane rocket 64, that is why Venturi Space is trying very hard to convince the ESA, that it is important.
One of the approaches to the development of a rover can be a public-private partnership, similar to that, what NASA is doing with the LTV program, where companies will pay part of its costs. Private companies in Europe have also shown interest in the project.
Source: https://spacenews.com