Venturi Space, collaborating with Astrolab on lunar rover projects, showcased its all-European rover design, Mona Luna, at the Paris Air Show. This robotic rover, measuring 2.5 meters long and 1.64 meters wide, boasts a weight of 750 kilograms.
Designed for the European Space Agency (ESA) and the French space agency CNES, along with potential commercial clients, Mona Luna is built to tackle challenging lunar terrain and withstand the extreme temperature variations of lunar nights. “On the moon we have a lot of slopes and loose soil, so you need an ATV,” or all-terrain vehicle, explained Antonio Delfino, Venturi Space's director of space affairs. “Nobody at the moment is doing an ATV.”
The rover's advanced suspension and steering systems, housed centrally for optimal thermal management, allow for speeds of up to 20 kilometers per hour. Its size is also key, according to Delfino: “In the future, if you want to mine the moon, explore the moon, you need a massive rover,” he stated. “When we talk about a massive rover, the technology addressed with it is totally different from the technology for a small rover.”
Mona Luna utilizes battery and “hyper-deformable” wheel technologies, also provided to Astrolab for its lunar rover developments, including NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) program. Delfino emphasized the entirely European origin of Mona Luna's technologies and the strict separation from Astrolab's projects. Venturi seeks ESA support, aiming for a development project green light at the November ministerial conference.
Delfino highlighted a gap in Europe's lunar exploration: “In Europe at the moment there is no program to explore the moon with a rover,” he said. “There is the Argonaut lander and we have the Ariane 64, but a rover is missing, so we are pushing very hard to convince them this is important.” A public-private partnership, mirroring NASA’s LTV approach, is a potential development path, a suggestion Delfino shared with ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and Director of Human and Robotic Exploration Daniel Neuenschwander, receiving positive feedback. Private sector interest, both within and outside Europe, has also been expressed.