Luxembourg on the Moon: Tenacious ready for landing as part of the Japanese mission

The summer of 2025 could be a turning point in space history for Luxembourg. Tenacious, a miniature lunar rover developed in the country, is preparing for its first lunar landing. It is on board the Japanese Resilience landing module, launched in January 2025 by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. If the mission is successful, Luxembourg will become a direct participant in a lunar expedition for the first time.

The Tenacious rover is tiny by the standards of planet rovers: only 50 cm long. It is equipped with a camera and a bucket, with which it will explore the lunar regolith - dust and rocks on the Moon's surface - and transmit data back to Earth. It is scheduled to land between 6 and 8 June, in the Moon's northern hemisphere.

The vehicle is being transported by ispace, a Japanese company that specialises in building automated lunar platforms. Its Hakuto-R Mission 2, also known as Resilience, was a continuation of the 2023 attempt, which ended unsuccessfully: then the landing module crashed during descent. The reason is the difficulty of the landing itself: there is no atmosphere on the Moon, and therefore no parachute braking. Instead, it has to rely on precise engine operation and navigation over a complex landscape.

While Luxembourg is taking the first steps, other powers are already planning a full-scale return to the Moon. NASA is working on the Artemis III mission, which plans to send astronauts to the lunar surface by 2027-2028. The Chinese Space Agency (CMSA) has already officially announced that it expects to conduct its first manned lunar mission in 2030. And the European Space Agency (ESA) is developing the Argonaut landing module, with the help of which it plans to land on the Moon in 2031.

Against this background, Luxembourg's participation - albeit through a modestly sized vehicle - looks like a strategic bid for a place in the future lunar landscape, where small nations seek to contribute to space exploration.