Italy to make 2 moon station modules

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 14 - Italy is to make two modules for the future gateway space station orbiting the moon in NASA's Artemis program, sources said Wednesday.
    The modules will be among the main ones at the future space station.
    They will be made by Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between aerospace firms Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%).
    The modules are the I-Hab (International Habitat), which will house the astronauts, and the Esprit, for communications and supplies.
    They constitute the European Space Agency's (ESA) contribution to the Artemis program.
    The first tranche of the contract for I-Hab, signed with ESA, is worth some 36 million euros out of an overall total of 327 million.
    Development of Esprit has already started and the relevant contact is expected to be signed by the end of this year.
    With the Artemis program, NASA says it will land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before.
    Then, it says it will use whatit learns on and around the Moon to take the next giant leap - sending astronauts to Mars.
    (ANSA).