NASA: Contract with ispace: Artemis Program
NASA:
On December 3rd, NASA announced four private companies that “send a spacecraft to the surface of the moon, take samples, and provide them to NASA.”
Japanese venture companies were also selected.
Artemis Program:
NASA, as part of the Artemis program
Collected by a private company with its own spacecraft,
Samples of moon rocks and sand,
We are announcing the purchase plan.
The Japanese company “ispace” and its Luxembourg subsidiary were selected.
“Ispace”:
A venture company headquartered in Tokyo that promotes the development of lunar explorers.
We are aiming for lunar landing in 2022 and lunar exploration in 2023.
NASA will buy ownership after receiving a sample photo of evidence from a private company.
TBS NEWS
https://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye4143118.html
NASA Selects Companies to Collect Lunar Resources for Artemis
NASA has selected four companies to collect space resources and transfer ownership to the agency:
Lunar Outpost of Golden, Colorado;
Masten Space Systems of Mojave,California;
ispace Europe of Luxembourg;
and ispace Japan of Tokyo.
Overall, the new NASA contracts with these companies totals $25,001.
Space resources
will play a key role in NASA’s Artemis program and future space exploration.
The ability to extract and use extraterrestrial resources
will ensure Artemis operations can be conducted safely and sustainably in support of establishing human lunar exploration.
Moreover, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) will play a vital role in a future human mission to Mars.
Like many other operations, ISRU activities
will be tested and developed on the Moon, building the required knowledge to implement new capabilities that will be necessary to overcome the challenges of a human mission to Mars.
NASA