A Japanese starter space for launching landing missions on SpaceX rockets

An illustration of the LG landing place Japanese space artist and mobile (on the ramp) on the surface of the moon.

(Ispace)

A Japanese company that aims to help humanity explore and install the moon will perform its first two lunar missions with SpaceX.

The Tokyo-based start-up, ispace, is committed to launching its lunar lander and its mini-rovers as secondary payloads on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets in 2020 and 2021, announced today. representatives of both companies (26 September).

"We share the vision with SpaceX to allow humans to live in space, and we are very pleased that they are joining us in this first leg of our journey," said Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of ispace. [Moon Base Visions: How to Build a Lunar Colony (Images)]

The first step in two phases is called Hakuto-Reboot or Hakuto-R for short. The name refers to Team Hakuto, a participant managed by ispace in the now-defunct Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP), a contest that promised prizes worth $ 30 million for the first teams to manage to land private rovers on the moon . The GLXP has ended earlier this year without winners.

The 2020 space mission will be considered a success if the LG reaches the lunar orbit, said company representatives. The following year, the goal is to gently land a lander on the surface of the moon and deploy data collection rovers from the craft.

These two missions – which ispace finances with its record investment of over $ 90 million in Series A – are technology demonstrations designed to pave the way for the start-up's ambitious future plans. Finally, ispace aims to set up a robotic lunar transport service and use its bantam rovers to identify and help exploit the resources available on the nearest neighbor to Earth, such as water ice.

Such work could contribute to the establishment of a permanent human settlement on the moon in the not too distant future, said representatives of the company.

ispace has also released images of its recently redesigned lunar lander and rover today. The company had already stated that the LG would be able to carry 66 pounds. (30 kilograms) of payload to the moon, and that the rover would be heavily based on the 9-lb. (4 kg) vehicle that the Hakuto team was planning to launch under the GLXP.

ispace is not the only company interested in selling transport services on the surface of the moon and exploiting lunar resources. For example, the plans of the American companies Astrobotic, Blue Origin and Moon Express all seem to overlap at least with those of space.

"We are entering a new era in space exploration, and SpaceX is proud to have been chosen by ispace to launch its first lunar missions," said SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell in the same release. . "We are looking forward to delivering their innovative spacecraft to the moon."

Originally published on Space.com.