Chapter 274 - 267 Selene, Activate!_1

European Space Agency.

Nearly three months since the initiation of the Selene Project, Italy and France had a hard time lobbying the other nine countries, but they finally made some achievements.

Apart from them, Spain, Germany, Germany, Henan, Norway, and Switzerland expressed positive support, willing to contribute money and technology, while the rest of the countries were mainly wavering.

In fact, the UK was the biggest target of their efforts, but the UK’s economy was not doing well at the moment, and even though they were very interested in the Selene Project, they were quite worried about the European Space Agency’s execution abilities.

After all, the European Space Agency is not a Union government entity and could not ensure that the plan would be carried out with ironclad enforcement across the nations, leading to too many uncertainties.

In the past, Europe had launched too many joint projects, which either failed to come to fruition due to numerous changes mid-way or were delayed due to budget overruns and poor coordination—hardly any were successfully smooth operations.

With both Italy and France, two industrial powerhouses, in agreement, and the UK believing that the technical issues were manageable, the real concern was the budget.

According to preliminary estimates, the cost of launching once with the Veneto 1 rocket bundled with four EAP boosters was around 250 million US Dollars, mainly because the solid boosters were a consumable cost, but the core stage Veneto One was recoverable and therefore more cost-effective.

A heavy-lift rocket with a LEO capacity of over 60 tons costing only 250 million US Dollars was still very satisfactory to the European Space Agency, with two rocket launches for a Moon landing amounting to no more than 500 million US Dollars.

In the first phase of the Selene Project, that is, before the first Moon landing, four heavy-lift rockets need to be launched: one test rocket, one carrying a crewed spacecraft to orbit the Moon, one to send the lander, and one to launch the actual Moon landing crewed spacecraft.

Then the lander and the crewed spacecraft would dock in Moon orbit, complete the Moon landing mission, and return.

The Veneto One bound with four boosters was temporarily named the HVE (Heavy-Veneto-EAP) rocket, with a total expenditure estimated at 2 billion US Dollars.

The lander was led by France and Germany, with research funding of about 1 billion US Dollars.

As for the crewed spacecraft, the European Space Agency was still in a dilemma.

France wanted to resurrect its Hermes spacecraft, abandoned during the Cold War, with a mass of about 25 tons, capable of carrying 4 to 6 astronauts, and could be sent to Moon orbit by the HVE rocket.

The preliminary studies for the Hermes spacecraft were already quite thorough, and with funding, it could enter the actual development phase, projected to have its first flight in 2019, with no issues meeting the 2020 Moon landing schedule.

Meanwhile, the UK and Germany were more inclined towards the traditional "Kepler" crewed spaceship, its size and layout, similar to mainstream second-generation crewed spacecraft, able to carry a maximum of 7 people, with a capacity for 4 during Moon missions.

That was where the divergence lay.

Antoine, the representative from France’s space agency, was attending the twelfth presentation meeting of the Selene Project, where he had to decide which direction to choose in this meeting and could not afford to keep arguing.

He looked at the more than twenty representatives seated before him and read out the assessment reports for both options with a heavy head:

"The Hermes project will be undertaken by France, accounting for 80% of the development task, with a total estimated cost of 20 to 25 billion US Dollars. The member countries of the European Space Agency need to contribute 10 to 12 billion US Dollars. We guarantee completion of the maiden flight and circumlunar mission by 2019,

The Hermes spacecraft will be launched by the Veneto rocket, with a single launch cost not exceeding 300 million US Dollars, and can be used for near-Earth missions and ISS maintenance;

The Kepler project has an estimated cost of about 1 billion US Dollars, achieving its first flight in 2018, being reusable, and featuring a sea recovery plan. France will undertake 70% of the development task, the European Space Agency to gather 500 million US Dollars in funds, using the Orion’s ESM service module, with a total mass of 21 tons and a single launch cost not exceeding 250 million US Dollars."

Hmm, one of the key factors for the UK and Germany supporting the Kepler spacecraft was its affordability. The Kepler spacecraft was a sort of an adapter, taking the ESM service module developed for the Orion spacecraft and slap on a spaceship to claim as their own.

It saved a significant amount of expenses, with costs only half of what the Hermes project would require, which was very appealing to the other countries of the European Space Agency.

Of course, France would prefer the spacecraft; they were the strongest in capacity and had the strongest independence intentions. A country that accounted for nearly 80% of the European Space Agency’s launch tasks—everyone is developing spacecraft, how could they not follow suit?

Italy’s influence in Europe was also quite good, and their aspirations had risen to support the spacecraft as well.

But the opinions of the other 20 member states were also important, so they had to vote by show of hands.

Badis was the first to raise his hand:

"Italy can provide 500 million US Dollars in funding for the Hermes project, let’s discuss and come to a conclusion today. If the number of supporters reaches 15, it will be passed directly."

UK representative: "Wait, according to the original budget of 10 billion US Dollars, how many people can we send to the Moon?"

Antoine: "If we include the development costs, after completing the first mission, we should be able to carry out another 6 to 7 manned missions, sending a total of 14 to 16 astronauts to the lunar surface.

The cost of executing each subsequent mission is roughly 700 to 800 million US Dollars, with the lander carrying 2 people each time."

Spanish representative: "So you mean, if we want every one of the 22 member countries to have an astronaut land on the Moon, we will need at least 11 launch missions. That averages 3 to 4 hundred million US Dollars per astronaut landing on the Moon, totaling no more than 90 billion US Dollars, right?"

Badis: "Between 15 and 20 billion US Dollars, enough to allow every European Space Agency member country to set foot on the lunar surface."

Antoine: "I want to remind you all that the more missions we have, the more cost-effective the Hermes spacecraft becomes. The value of the ESM service module, worth 240 million US Dollars, is thrown away every mission with the Kepler spacecraft, and even in mass production, it would not be less than 150 million US Dollars, whereas the Hermes spacecraft can save this money."

"Hmm..."

The representatives attending the meeting all fell into thought. Europe was wealthy, and it wasn’t difficult for the 22 countries to come up with 20 billion US Dollars. Even 20 billion Euros wasn’t too much, especially since the first phase of the Selene project would take at least four to five years, easing the pressure with staggered funding.

However, unlike domestic investments, the return from the Selene project was not much, which meant the investments were limited.

The meeting on November 20th lasted the whole day, with three recesses for representatives to contact their domestic counterparts. Finally, at 19:00, the last vote took place.

ESA Director General John Derrick stood up and said solemnly:

"Now, let’s vote on the first phase of the Selene project. I request the European Space Agency to invest a total of 9 billion Euros in this project over the next four years."

The 22 representatives unanimously approved.

Derrick nodded and continued to the next item:

"The next decision is regarding the development of a manned lunar spacecraft: between the Hermes spacecraft and Kepler spacecraft, if the former is chosen, an additional investment of 1 billion Euros will be required. Let’s start the vote now."

Antoine immediately raised his hand, while also looking around at the others.

"One, two, three... sixteen... fantastic!"

Derrick quickly confirmed the results. Out of the 22 delegates, 16 countries supported the Hermes spacecraft, 2 delegates abstained, and 4 delegates supported the Kepler spacecraft.

Germany also supported the Hermes spacecraft.

John Derrick: "Therefore, the European Space Agency’s November 20th meeting has approved the first phase of the Selene project, with a total investment of 10 billion Euros. France, Italy, and Germany will be the main countries developing the Hermes spacecraft, with Italy and Germany responsible for the development of the lander, and the remaining tasks will be defined within the next week.

I hereby declare that the European manned lunar mission and reusable spacecraft project have officially begun. ESA will send an astronaut from each member country to the surface of the Moon!"

Badis, excited, ran his hands through his hair and slowly stood up, embracing the representatives on either side of him.

No matter what difficulties future cooperation might encounter, the Selene project had indeed painted a bright future for the European Space Agency; everyone began to applaud, and the applause grew stronger and stronger.