How ESA's Moonlight program aims to provide navigation and communications services on the Moon
The European Space Agency (ESA) has released new details regarding its international, cooperative effort to establish reliable communication and navigation capabilities on the Moon. Dubbed 'Moonlight,' the program aims to create infrastructure that meets worldwide standards and serves collaborators like the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA. With NASA planning to establish a Moon Base with its international partners by the end of the decade, and over 400 lunar missions in the pipeline over the next two decades, the Moonlight program is intended to ensure sovereign lunar access for Europe while providing vital services for global research.
Sustained human presence on the Moon will require infrastructure.
— European Space Agency (@esa) July 21, 2026
Our Moonlight programme will provide continuous communications and navigation services between Earth and the Moon.
From high-speed communications to precise navigation at the lunar south pole, Moonlight is… pic.twitter.com/NceriMnJ9f
Moonlight will initially deploy a constellation of five spacecraft into lunar orbit: four navigation satellites and one communications satellite. Over time, more satellites may be added to the operations. Currently, this five-satellite suite is intended to take up positions in highly elliptical orbits around the Moon. By doing so, the constellation will keep astronauts on the lunar surface perpetually connected to Earth. It will also work in conjunction with uncrewed spacecraft traversing the harsh terrain, such as NASA's MoonFall hopping drones and autonomous lunar rovers deploying in advance of human crews.
The Moonlight satellites will enable lunar surface navigation with an accuracy of up to three meters (roughly 10 feet). They will also have enough bandwidth to facilitate high-quality video calls between astronauts on the Moon and mission control centers across the world. Because the entire system is designed to comply with an international connectivity architecture, its framework—called LunaNet—will ensure compatibility for a global customer base of aerospace companies, regardless of whether they are directly affiliated with ESA. Ultimately, ESA aims for the initiative to become "the first off-planet commercial telecoms and satellite navigation provider."
Developed at NASA Langley, SCALPSS, or Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies, will fly on four commercial lunar landers in 2028 as part of NASA’s Moon Base Program.
— NASA Langley Research Center (@NASALangley) July 2, 2026
The instrument helps researchers understand crater formation and the characteristics of ejected… pic.twitter.com/erWR928zoC
The Moonlight program will work alongside communication and navigation infrastructure already under development across multiple NASA centers in the US. Further, industry partners like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Astrobotic, and Firefly Aerospace are actively building spacecraft and lunar landers to support NASA and ESA's ambitions for a sustained lunar presence. The need for this widespread, interoperable infrastructure is palpable, especially in light of the modern space race developing between the United States and China. Beijing has its own ambitious lunar architecture, with plans to set up a basic model of the International Lunar Research Station by 2030.
More on Starlust:
Can NASA restrict China's access around its Moon Base? Here's what space law says
The space race then and now: From the erstwhile US-Soviet rivalry to the current China factor
