ESA awards €65 million contract to ispace‑EUROPE for Europe’s first lunar polar ice rover

The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded a €65 million Phase 2 contract to Luxembourg‑based ispace‑EUROPE S.A. for the development, delivery and operation of MAGPIE – the Mission for Advanced Geophysics and Polar Ice Exploration, Europe’s first lunar rover designed to study water ice and volatiles at the Moon’s south pole. The contract covers rover and payload development, testing, transport to the lunar surface and surface operations, with the rover slated to fly aboard ispace’s Mission 4 lander in 2029. Transportation will be provided through an ESA‑JAXA collaboration that funds the Japanese launch service. Sophia Casanova, senior lunar exploration scientist at ispace‑EUROPE, will serve as the principal investigator, while CEO Julien‑Alexandre Lamamy highlighted the mission as a major step forward for European lunar exploration and a new model for small, agile missions.