The Artemis program is also enriched in its lunar architecture thanks to Italy's contribution. The design proposed to build the first habitation module proposed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) for the surface of our satellite - MPH (Multi Purpose Habitation module) - has passed another evaluation test in Washington by the NASA Board.

For MPH, which will be built by Thales Alenia Space in Italy after work began at the end of January 2024, the U.S. space agency gave its positive opinion, deeming the requirements of the Artemis program to be fully met and a level of design maturity such that the go-ahead was given for the next phase.

The meeting, conducted by a special body (MCR Board) mandated by NASA and chaired by Catherine Koerner (Associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate), opened the door to the start of work toward the definition and design of the lunar module. It will now take about two years to reach the development phase for the future astronaut home.

“A few weeks after the meeting in Rome with Nasa engineers, we record a new and important step,” commented ASI President Teodoro Valente. “This was a very complicated examination, an event that once again recognizes the great capacity of national industry and ASI's ability to coordinate complex programs in a context of international collaboration that will help consolidate relations between Italy and the U.S. also through the ASI-NASA collaboration. We do not consider this achievement as a point of arrival, but rather the starting point: from now on, engineering, scientific and technological challenges await us to confirm the validity of the Italian project and to continue toward the implementation phase. A race against time to make sure that our MPH habitation module is the first element in the process of permanent installations on the lunar surface.”

With the Artemis program, NASA is leading the human exploration of the Moon. Italy was among the first eight signatories to the Artemis Accords in 2020, putting itself forward as a stakeholder involved in several crucial parts of the program.