Last week, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Thales Alenia Space signed with executives from Nammo to secure the deal, positioning Nammo’s high-performance, bipropellant Rocket Engine for Lunar and Interplanetary Anglo-Norwegian Commercial Exploitation (RELIANCE) engine at the centre of the program.
“This marks a major step forward for the RELIANCE development, Nammo’s ambitions and European capabilities,” said Robert Selby, vice president of Nammo Space.
“We are honoured to be selected, and this is a testament to the remarkable team we have. We’re proud to contribute cutting-edge propulsion technology to the Argonaut mission and play a pivotal role in landing Europe on the moon for the first time.”
The 6kN RELIANCE engine features a large range throttleable design, hypergolic propellants and integrated engine controller, offering enhanced mission control for precise landings.
“The RELIANCE engine is under development at the Westcott Space Cluster, continuing the proud heritage of that site for British rocket propulsion technologies and creating highly skilled jobs,” said Dr Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency.
“The innovative system could also support a wide range of further missions as we continue to work with our national and international partners to deliver the benefits of space to Earth.”
ESA’s Argonaut lunar lander is set to be used as a part of NASA’s Artemis program through transporting cargo, resources, food and scientific equipment to crews that hope to re-establish a human presence on the moon for the first time since the Apollo mission in 1972.
Nammo has successfully been used in lunar and interplanetary missions, including in March this year when Firefly Aerospace successfully landed the first commercial lunar lander, Blue Ghost, powered by Nammo’s LEROS 4 engine.