25 March 2025 – Viasat joined the European Space Agency’s Moonlight project (“Moonlight”), alongside program lead Telespazio. Moonlight is the European Space Agency’s (ESA) program to develop a lunar orbiting Navigation and Communication system that will greatly enhance combined navigation and communications services for European and international missions both on the surface of the Moon and in lunar orbit. The Moonlight communications system will act as a data highway on and around the Moon, and between Earth and the Moon. People, spacecraft, and lunar vehicles can access that data highway to simplify and speed communications among themselves and back to earth to better enable their scientific and exploration projects including their position over the Moon. Over time, Moonlight is anticipated to support additional commercial activities on the Moon such as space tourism, and manufacturing programs leveraging rare materials found on the lunar surface. Read more