LEO (space probe)
| LEO | |
|---|---|
| Mission goal | Earth's moon (50 km high orbit) |
| Client | DLR |
| construction | |
| Takeoff mass | approx. 650 kg (main and secondary probe) |
| Instruments | |
|
HRSC camera , microwave radar etc. a. |
|
| Course of the mission | |
| Start date | 2012 (planned) |
| End date | 2016 (planned) |
LEO ( L unarer E rkundungs o rbiter) was a proposal of the German Center for Aerospace (DLR) for an unmanned research mission to the moon should start with purely German brands, which had in 2012. However, the mission was not financed.
If implemented as planned, LEO would have been the first independent German lunar mission and, after SMART-1, the second European lunar mission.
Mission planning
LEO should consist of two satellites. The main probe should weigh about 500 kg and be accompanied by a sub-satellite weighing about 150 kg. Both were to orbit the moon at the low altitude of 50 km for four years.
As the first mission ever, LEO should have made it possible to produce a three-dimensional, colored map of the entire surface of the moon. The HRSC camera intended for the recordings should be similar to the one that had been in operation on board the Mars Express probe since 2003 . This camera was developed by DLR and built by EADS Astrium . Other planned measurements related to the moon's magnetic and gravity fields and its near-surface subsurface, which was to be explored using microwave radar at a depth of up to several hundred meters. A search for signs of water was also planned.
Cooperation partners should be the German companies EADS Astrium and OHB-Systems .
cancellation
The project was presented to some German parliamentarians in February 2007 and at the European Planetary Science Congress in August 2007 .
The cost of the project was estimated at around 350 million euros, spread over around five years. This included the planning, construction, launch and operation of a lunar orbiter . The Ministry of Research was no longer responsible for the financing as before, but the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology under Michael Glos ( CSU ).
In July 2008, however, the project was canceled. Although the German government raised under the First Merkel Cabinet in the budget 2009, the space budget, but the extra money was flowing in a robotics center at DLR Oberpfaffenhofen . In the course of budget consolidation, no funds were made available for LEO.
In a declaration, numerous well-known planetary researchers, such as B. Gerhard Neukum , Ralf Jaumann and Tilman Spohn, against the deferral. Attention was drawn to the fact that numerous, scientifically leading and yet relatively inexperienced countries such as Japan , the People's Republic of China or India could gain a lead that could no longer be gained over Germany and Europe as a center of knowledge.
Web links
- Article on Space.com (English)
- "German moon mission should bring a leadership role", interview with Döllinger. Deutschlandradio Kultur March 2, 2007
- "With a late bloomer to the moon", Deutschlandfunk August 27, 2007
Individual evidence
- ↑ Markus Becker: Germany is planning its own moon mission. Spiegel Online, February 28, 2007, accessed October 13, 2009 .
- ↑ Martin Ollrom: Germany's contribution to lunar exploration. Raumfahrer.net, August 27, 2007, accessed October 13, 2009 .
- ↑ Christoph Seidler: Glos collects German moon mission. Spiegel Online, July 12, 2008, accessed October 13, 2009 .
- ↑ Axel Orth: German moon mission deleted. Raumfahrer.net, July 13, 2008, accessed October 13, 2009 .
- ↑ Europlanet: Declaration on the statement by the Federal Minister of Economics and Technology to postpone the Lunar Exploration Orbiter (LEO) proposed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) ( Memento from September 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )