PARIS, June 15, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - The European Space Agency and NASA on 
Wednesday talked up the prospect of putting the first European on the Moon, 
as they signed a deal strengthening collaboration for future lunar 
exploration.

The space agencies had already agreed that three European astronauts would 
fly on the Orion spacecraft to NASA's Gateway, a space station that will 
orbit the Moon as part of the Artemis programme.

Now it seems one of those astronauts will go a step further.

"We look forward to having an ESA astronaut join us on the surface of the 
Moon and continuing to build on our longstanding, critical partnership," NASA 
Administrator Bill Nelson said after attending an ESA council meeting in the 
Netherlands.

"NASA is counting on cooperation with ESA to propel exploration of the Moon 
through the Artemis programme," Nelson said in a statement, adding that "the 
European Service Module is the powerhouse of the Orion spacecraft".

The agencies also signed a deal on the Lunar Pathfinder, a planned 
communications satellite being built by British firm SSTL.

The ESA bought SSTL's services last year and will provide NASA with lunar 
communication under the deal. In exchange, NASA will launch the Pathfinder 
into orbit.

The two space agencies will also carry out joint tests to create a satellite 
navigation network on the Moon, "just as today we navigate using Galileo and 
GPS on Earth," the ESA statement said.

They also discussed the future of the ESA's ExoMars mission, after its 
planned launch on a Russian rocket later this year was cancelled due to 
Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The ESA has previously said it hopes to work with NASA to launch the mission, 
which will drill for signs of life on Mars.

Nelson said that "NASA is determining how best to support our European 
friends on the ExoMars mission".

ESA director general Josef Aschbacher told a press conference that "intense 
discussion" was being held on the subject.

"It's going the right way and I am very confident that we find a good 
partnership on ExoMars," he added.