The European Space Agency has outlined a programme of lunar science investigations and technology demonstrations intended to prepare for sustained human and robotic activity on the Moon, according to an ESA article published on 26 October 2026.

Among the missions described is LandCam-X, which will fly on Voyager's Griffin-1 lander and record imagery of the lunar landscape during descent to support autonomous landing systems. On Intuitive Machines' IM-3 mission, MPAc will use laser ranging to measure the Earth-Moon distance, while Scanway's SOP120 telescope will survey landing sites. Lunar Pathfinder is presented as Europe's first dedicated lunar communications relay satellite and the first element of Moonlight, ESA's planned communications and navigation service; it will be placed in lunar orbit during Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 2.

ESA's Prospect package, on Intuitive Machines' IM-4 mission, is to drill up to one metre beneath the south polar surface to collect samples that may contain water ice and other volatiles. The Exploration Mass Spectrometer will study the Moon's thin exosphere on the LUPEX mission, and the Rover Permittivity Sensor will search for subsurface ice from a wheel of the Rashid-3 rover. OASIS is described as a small lunar service station providing power, communications and data handling through the lunar night, with ECHO planned as its first payload.