NASA chooses American and Japanese companies to collect lunar samples

Washington – NASA said Thursday that it has selected four companies, including Japanese startup Ispace Inc. and its subsidiary in Luxembourg, to collect samples from the moon’s surface as part of the US space agency’s lunar exploration program.

Ispace in Tokyo has proposed a $ 5,000 price tag for collecting space resources after it places a lander on the northeast side of the Moon facing Earth in 2022. Ispace Europe SA plans to send a lander to the lunar south pole in 2023 for collection, with the same price tag per sample.

The remaining two companies, which are based in the United States, aim to send landers to the lunar south pole in 2023.

“We are pleased to receive these two awards from NASA for what will be a historic moment for humanity,” said Takeshi Hakamada, CEO and founder of Ispace, in a press release. “This marks the beginning of a cislunar economy where economic value can be created on the Moon, apart from Earth, but for the benefit of Earth’s economy.”

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, companies are tasked with collecting a small amount of lunar regolith from anywhere on the Moon, providing NASA with images of the collection and data at the collection site, in addition to the recovered material. .

An “on-site” transfer of ownership of the lunar deposits will then take place to NASA.

The agency said it will determine the recovery methods for the transferred samples at a later date.

Under the Artemis lunar exploration project, NASA is working toward its goals of sending astronauts back to the surface of the Moon by 2024 and establishing sustainable exploration of the lunar surface with its commercial and international partners by 2028.

Through the exploration of the Moon, NASA says it wants to find and use water and other critical resources needed for long-term exploration and test technologies that will be useful for its eventual goal of sending astronauts on missions to Mars, the voyage of round trip it can take. to three years.