Lunar Pathfinder. https://www.sstl.co.uk/what-we-do/lunar-mission-services https://www.sstl.co.uk/what-we-do/lunar-mission-services QUOTE: A constellation

Lunar Pathfinder. https://www.sstl.co.uk/what-we-do/lunar-mission-services https://www.sstl.co.uk/what-we-do/lunar-mission-services QUOTE: A constellation of interconnected lunar orbiters will enable surface missions operating on the far side of the Moon, without direct to Earth line of sight, to keep constant contact with Earth. It will also provide lunar navigation signals to support critical mission phases such as precision landing of scientific equipment and the operation of rovers. In addition to communication services, the Lunar Pathfinder spacecraft has been selected by ESA and NASA to host a number of experimental payloads: An ESA GNSS receiver capable of detecting weak signals coming from the Earth GNSS infrastructure (GPS and Galileo), demonstrating its potential role into Lunar navigation A NASA retro-reflector to demonstrate laser ranging capabilities An ESA radiation monitor to study orbital radiation conditions Acting both as technology and service demonstrator, Lunar Pathfinder is the opportunity for scientific and commercial mission developers to support the development, test and standardisation of Lunar communication infrastructure, and for emerging off-planet telcos to acquire experience of lunar asset operations and off-planet service delivery. Lunar Pathfinder is due to operate in an Elliptical Lunar Frozen Orbit (ELFO) for an operational lifetime of 8 years. The spacecraft can operate 2 simultaneous channels of communication with lunar assets: 1 in S-band and 1 in UHF. Performance, such as coverage and data-rate, depend both on the relative position of the user asset to Pathfinder at the moment of the connection, as well as the capabilities of the communication module onboard the user asset. Once safely retrieved onboard Lunar Pathfinder, communications are relayed back to Earth ground stations in X-band.