“I would never have believed that my room, at my parents’ house, in Plabennec (29), would one day serve as a space control center! » Antoine Bocquier laughs about it but that’s what happened before Christmas, when he remotely updated the software of the rover (a mobile explorer robot) Tenacious, which will take off this Wednesday, January 15 2025, from Cape Canaveral, Florida (United States), at 7:11 a.m. French time. Placed in the Resilience moon lander, it will coexist in a SpaceX launcher with a project from an American company. It is due to land in June. And Antoine, 28, will be in charge from Luxembourg where he works. Keyboard on hand, screens and a (lunar!) response time of just four seconds.
First European lunar rover
The North Finistère, a systems engineer, has worked for six years for the European branch of the Japanese company ispace, based in Tokyo, with two branches (the other being in Denver, an American city twinned with Brest). He is one of the fifteen designers of this five-kilo machine, the size of a shoebox, with four wheels, a camera at the front and one at the rear, a solar panel to supply it with energy, an antenna to communicate by radio with the lander module. It was tested in Toulouse, at Airbus, in Türkiye, in Japan, in Tenerife. It is the first European lunar rover.
The goal is to demonstrate the company’s ability to create a reliable (and regular, annual?) trip to the moon. And thus reassure investors. A first mission, in 2023, saw the lander crash. “We know why and we have remedied the problem,” announces the Finisterian. And since, statistically, one in two moon landings fails, we must hope that the second will be successful. A third is planned, later, to place a Romanian antenna intended to locate a robot on site.
Prove the existence of ice on the moon?
Satellite observations suggest that there is ice on the moon, at the poles: confirming this physically, for the first time, by taking samples would also be an achievement for this company and its employees. During another future mission, closer to the South Pole. Ultimately, the objective would be to extract, with other actors, oxygen and hydrogen to provide the astronauts present on site with oxygen and water.
Let’s come back to earth. Antoine Bocquier, who also loves hiking and likes to return to Brittany (“what a quality of life!”), is not content with his job. He also created, five years ago, the Summer Space Festival, the summer space festival, with the European Commission as a partner and the participation of astronauts. In Lille, Brussels, then Luxembourg – the festival rotates between these cities – it brought together up to 5,800 people.
Colleague with a Riécoise met in Washington
“The objective is to inspire the next generation, to interest lawyers, artists, architects in the subject,” continues Charlotte Nassey, 29, from Riec-sur-Bélon (29). A volunteer, like him, for this festival, she is his colleague in Luxembourg. They met in Washington, during a space conference. The IAF (International Astronautical Federation) named her among its fifteen emerging space leaders for 2019. She worked for the European Space Agency.
A lawyer in space law, Charlotte, as enthusiastic as Antoine about this adventure, is in charge of government relations at ispace. Very few countries have legislation on the commercialization of space resources, in collaboration with governments. However, ispace will sell regolith (pieces of lunar soil) recovered by an excavator on board the rover to NASA. They will stay on the moon.
“It is illusory to wish to bring rare metals or other resources back to earth,” explains Antoine Bocquier. It would be necessary to be able to transport enormous quantities, at an exorbitant cost. “What is on the moon will be used there to develop an activity.” And prepare, in particular, the exploration of the planet Mars.
