LEO (Lunarer Erkundungsorbiter - engl.: Lunar Exploration Orbiter) is the name of a proposed German mission to the Moon, announced by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.) Director Walter Doellinger on March 2, 2007.

Precise characteristics of the mission will be announced in early 2008 and estimated costs are 350 million euros ($513.6 million) over five years, however the mission will involve a lunar orbiter that DLR intends to build and launch in 2012 to map the lunar surface.

It would be the first German mission to the Moon and the first European mission to the Moon since SMART-1.

Due to the fact that the needed money for the year 2009 will not be availabel the start of the project was delayed

Design

Experiments will measure lunar gravitational and magnetic fields. The main satellite will carry a microwave radar to probe beneath the lunar surface up to a depth of a few hundred meters. At maximum depth the radar will be able to resolve structures up to two meters.

Science objectives

The duration of the mission around the Moon will be four years. The entire surface will be charted for the first time. The survey is to be three-dimensional and in colour.

"The probe will examine the moon's surface and provide indications of significant geological formations that could later be of interest for drilling," Doellinger said.

The probe will also investigate the moon's magnetic and gravity fields, look for water and analyse the minerals on its surface. It will use the best camera currently available, the best radar sensors and unique spectrum sensors for measuring the mineral composition.

External links

• Germany plans unmanned lunar orbit. Reuters 11.07.2007
• Germany plans unmanned moon mission
• Germany Mulls Sending Own Mission to the Moon. Deutsche Welle 04.03.2007