The European Space Agency's small missions initiative, renamed Moon Explore, is advancing several lower-cost lunar concepts that aim to deliver results within a few years by accepting higher risk. The programme began with an open call for affordable missions with scientific or exploration value and attracted over 60 ideas from across Europe.

MAGPIE, planned for launch in 2029 and developed by ispace-Europe in Luxembourg, is set to become the first European rover to explore the Moon. Operating near the lunar south pole for around 10 days, it will search for water and other volatile resources using a drill, neutron detector, volatile analyser and ground-penetrating radar.

The University of Copenhagen leads Máni, an orbiter that will photograph selected regions from multiple angles to map the Moon's topography and surface reflectivity, supporting landing-site assessments and route planning. Moonraker, proposed by German company NUVIEW, would use LiDAR laser measurements to build three-dimensional maps of the lunar poles and investigate permanently shadowed regions that may hold water ice.

MoonRAD, led by Hungarian company Remred, is a planned orbiter that would monitor radiation, energetic particles and plasma around the Moon over several years, aiming to improve space-weather models and help protect astronauts, spacecraft electronics and lunar infrastructure.