NASA chooses US and Japanese companies to collect lunar samples

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

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

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

“We are delighted to receive these two awards from NASA for what will be a historic moment for humanity,” Takeshi Hakamada, CEO and founder of Ispace, said in a press release. “This marks the beginning of a cislunar economy in which it is possible to create economic value on the Moon, apart from the Earth, but for the benefit of the Earth economy.”

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the 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 on the collection site in addition to the recovered material.

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

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

As part of the Artemis lunar exploration project, NASA is working towards its goal of sending astronauts back to the surface of the moon by 2024 and establishing sustainable exploration of the lunar surface with its trading and international partners by 2028.

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