Monthly Recap | June 2021
Hummus, mining and roadmaps to the Moon. China and Russia team up to build a Moon base.
This month, there was an unexpected amount of news about various industries eyeing lunar business.
“if you’re going to have a sustained presence on the Moon…it’s going to take industries beyond aerospace to make that happen”
Kicking things off this month, in an interview on Bloomberg TV, Lisa Callahan, vice president and general manager at Lockheed Martin, said, “this non-aerospace industry partnership is something I think we’re going to see more and more of as we move into the future,” speaking in reference to the news from May about the General Motors-Lockheed Martin collaboration to develop a lunar vehicle. She continued, “because if you’re going to have a sustained presence on the Moon, or other planets like Mars, it’s going to take industries beyond aerospace to make that happen.”
Israelis offer protection and hummus for lunar astronauts
Lockheed Martin is also developing Orion, a human space capsule, which the company is aiming to launch on the first flight of NASA’s SLS rocket targeted for the end of 2021. The launch, known as Artemis 1, is the first of many planned launches as part of NASA’s Artemis Program, which aims to enable a sustained human presence on the Moon. If all goes according to plan, Orion will take a month-long orbit around the Moon. No humans will be riding inside that capsule, but there will be two model human torsos “made from materials that mimic human bones, soft tissues, and organs of an adult female,” according to NASA. Those torsos will be outfitted with another commercial collaboration Lockheed Martin is involved in: AstroRad vests. These vests were designed in partnership with Israeli company StemRad to protect astronauts from space radiation.1 The vests, which are produced at a cost of about $1 million each, have also been distributed by the company to doctors and radiologists on Earth who face elevated radiation exposure in their work.2
In another story this month, Yonatan Winetraub, SpaceIL co-founder and Ph.D. candidate at Stanford, is aspiring to grow chickpeas on the Moon for future lunar astronauts to be able to enjoy a nutritious hummus snack. First, he is working on sending a miniature greenhouse experiment to the International Space Station as part of his “hummus in space” project. The project is receiving financial backing and expertise from Strauss Group, the Israeli company that owns Sabra hummus. Winetraub’s SpaceIL was one of the five finalists of the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition who successfully launched a lunar lander that ultimately crashed on the lunar surface. Though the lander crashed, Israel became the seventh country to make lunar orbit and the fourth country to attempt a soft landing on the Moon.3
Australian industry getting a push toward the Moon
This month, the Australia Space Agency (ASA) opened a tender called “Moon to Mars Supply Chain Facilitation”. The program aims to assist Australian companies to enter space supply chains. It’s part of Australia’s five-year “Moon to Mars” initiative to “create demand for new capabilities and technologies that fuel economic growth.” With a focus on space technology, manufacturing, resources, and defense businesses, Australia is helping its local industry to inject their products and services into national and international space supply chains. Australia anticipates this endeavor will create up to 20,000 jobs; triple the size of Australia’s space sector to $12 billion AUD by 2030; and, develop technologies that make life easier on Earth.4
ASA aims to be “one of the most industry-focused space agencies in the world.”
In 2019, Bloomberg reported that Australia is aiming to “leverage the country’s industrial skills in mining remote locations” to support this initiative. ASA Deputy Head, Anthony Murfett, said that ASA aims to be “one of the most industry-focused space agencies in the world.” Andrew Dempster, director of space engineering research at the University of New South Wales, said he is focused on reducing the investment risk for big resources companies to mine water on the moon.
Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s biggest listed oil and gas producer, reportedly partnered with NASA to use robot technology on Earth and plans to collaborate with ASA to apply its expertise in space. Rio Tinto said it was considering how its mining technology could be used in space, according to the article. The link to that report is not available and there is no further public information to confirm it. However, The Australian reported that Rio Tinto is collaborating with ASA on how its mining technology can be used to extract resources on the Moon.5 The head of ASA, Megan Clark, is a non-executive director of Rio Tinto.
Japanese companies prepare to mine the Moon
This month, Japan became the fourth country to pass legislation permitting its private sector to to engage in the exploration and development of space resources, such as water and minerals on the Moon. As such, Japanese companies can now carry out extraction, storage, and processing operations necessary for the development of space resources. Japan joins the United States, Luxembourg, and the United Arab Emirates in passing this kind of legislation.6 Reportedly, countries such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are also currently considering similar legislation. Japan is also one of 12 signatories of the US-led Artemis Accords, an internationally shared framework on civil space exploration activities and the use of outer space. This month, New Zealand and Brazil both joined the Accords.78
ispace, a lunar exploration company in Japan, is poised to benefit from this development as the company aspires to utilize water resources on the Moon as part of its longer term business. ispace has offices in Japan, the United States, and Luxembourg, all of which possess legislation permitting domestic companies to engage in space resources business; it is the only company in its industry to be in such a position. ispace announced that Japanese company Takasago Thermal Engineering has developed an integrated water electrolysis and fuel cell unit, and is considering conducting a mission to produce hydrogen and oxygen on the Moon by utilizing ispace’s upcoming lunar missions.†
Japanese automaker Honda, or Honda R&D to be precise, announced this month it will begin a joint study with JAXA on a “circulative renewable energy system” designed to supply oxygen, hydrogen, and electricity for human outposts and rovers on the Moon. Honda, leveraging its water electrolysis and fuel cell technologies, is involved in a three-year research project with JAXA to provide this kind of system for the Gateway, a planned space station in lunar orbit, and the lunar surface.9
Australia and Japan aren’t the only ones looking to mine the Moon
Masten Space Systems in the US revealed its proposed rocket mining system in a fascinating video released this month. The concept, called Rocket M, is a rover that would be designed to use rocket pulses to break up ice in the lunar surface.10
The concept system was designed in collaboration with Lunar Outpost and Honeybee Robotics as part of NASA’s ‘Break the Ice Lunar Challenge’, in which the space agency called for companies to pitch ideas on how to extract frozen water reserves at the Moon’s South Pole. Supposedly, the team is aiming to generate some buzz before the judging round in July and winners are announced in August.
Earlier in the month, Lunar Outpost was also selected by Amazon Web Services as one of the first 10 startups awarded in the AWS Space Accelerator program. For the program, AWS provide technical, business, and mentoring resources in collaboration with Seraphim, an investment group focused exclusively on the space industry.11
Updated timelines for commercial lunar landers
Perhaps, the timing of Masten’s announcement might have also been strategic as it occurred just a few days before the US lander company announced that it would delay its first lunar mission by 12 months from 2022 to 2023.12
It was also reported this month that another US lander company, Astrobotic, would be delaying its planned 2021 launch for some time in 2022. This was according to United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno, whose company Astrobotic signed up with to launch their lander.13
In April of this year, Intuitive Machines also announced a delay of their planned 2021 launch to the first quarter of 2022.14
The UAE enters the game
The United Arab Emirates revealed a long-term lunar exploration roadmap this month. The country plans to send two lunar rovers to the Moon by 2025; build and launch lunar orbiters; and put Emirati astronauts on the Moon’s surface.15 In April, MBRSC said it will send its first rover to the Moon by 2022 on ispace’s lunar lander.†
“In the next mission, we do see interest from commercial players and from start-up companies in the UAE that we want to support and endorse.”
Salem Al Marri, deputy director general of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), a Dubai government space organization, detailed the lunar roadmap at a conference in Russia this month. Talking on industry collaboration, he said, “in the next mission, we do see interest from commercial players and from start-up companies in the UAE that we want to support and endorse.” He also said, “I think in the coming years we’ll see smaller countries who haven’t previously explored the Moon take that challenge and do it effectively.”
Team US vs. Team China-Russia
NASA’s Artemis Accords and the China-Russia proposal to build a Lunar Research Station are two recent programs that are expected to impact the long-term vision of humans on the Moon.
Maybe the biggest story of the month, though not directly focused on lunar business, involves developments in the perceived lunar “race” between the US and the China-Russia alliance. As written in an op-ed in The Space Review, “NASA’s Artemis Accords and the China-Russia proposal to build a Lunar Research Station are two recent programs that are expected to impact the long-term vision of humans on the Moon.”
This month, China and Russia revealed their roadmap to develop their jointly-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). Across three phases, stretching from 2021 to beyond 2036, the roadmap involves multiple data gathering missions; a variety of orbital and surface spacecraft; two stages of construction; cargo deliveries; crewed landings; and, activities related to energy, communications, and mining.16 Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, also published a highly detailed concept video explaining the entire roadmap.
Russia and China are welcoming international collaboration in the project and have stated that there is interest from a number of countries and organizations, with discussions having taken place with the European Space Agency, France, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.171819 With regard to commercial collaboration, Roscosmos’ Deputy Director General for International Cooperation said, “For now, we have not formalized any guidelines concerning private companies, but we don’t rule out the participation of private business. This is a matter of future work.”20
Meanwhile in the US, as The Washington Post wrote this month:
Bill Nelson, President Biden’s new NASA administrator, has carried on that hawkish rhetoric, casting China as “a very aggressive competitor” that has big ambitions in space and is challenging America’s leadership. “Watch the Chinese,” he recently warned. Nelson’s strategy, like the Trump administration’s, is to cast China as a competitor racing not only to the moon, but for leadership in space more broadly.
…
Nelson has sought to leverage China’s space ambitions as a way to get Congress to fund NASA’s plans to return to the moon, while the space agency works to build an international coalition of its own.
Unlike previous cases, where a change in the US presidential administration can mean a change in focus for NASA’s space exploration objectives, Nelson has embraced the Artemis program and ambitious timeline set by the Trump Administration to fly US astronauts to the Moon in the coming years. As such, he has been busy lobbying Congress for the funds to accomplish the objectives laid out in the program. Speaking to POLITICO, Nelson said he is "very optimistic" NASA can secure beyond its $24.8 billion request for FY2022 to beef up the Artemis program.
“The U.S. and China will not stop investing in space, they have identified it as a strategic element.”
The Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA) told POLITICO this month, “the U.S. and China will not stop investing in space, they have identified it as a strategic element.” He said Europe needs an investment plan for space projects, including potential new missions to the Moon, otherwise it risks being “left out of this race.” ESA plans to convene its 22-member countries to decide on a detailed plan.
Other interesting lunar industry news in June
Turkey reiterated plans it announced earlier this year to send a rocket to the Moon in 2023 and land a rover on the surface before 2030.21
Citizen Watch, a Japanese watch company, will release two limited-edition watches in collaboration with ispace’s commercial lunar exploration program known as HAKUTO-R. The same titanium material used in the watches is planned to be used in the legs of ispace’s lunar lander.†2223
Alan Boyle provided an in-depth write-up in GeekWire about the argument for nuclear reactors on the Moon.
Rochester Institute of Technology won an award from NASA to develop a game design training system to help lunar astronauts prepare for lunar life.
Forbes published an interview with a law associate who proposes a tax for Moon-based activity.
CNN ran a feature about Barron Hilton’s former plans to build a hotel on the Moon, called Lunar Hilton.
† The author of this newsletter is employed by ispace. I do my best to be fair and objective. All opinions and analysis are my own. Read full disclaimer in the newsletter About section.
NASA sends human dummies on Artemis I Moon mission, and you can name one; The Jerusalem Post, June 17 2021.
New radiation vest technology protects astronauts, doctors; UPI, Dec 24 2020.
Can you grow hummus on the moon? This Israeli at Stanford is going to find out.; The Jewish News of Northern California, June 1 2021.
Moon to Mars: opportunities for Australian businesses; Australian Government.
Rio Tinto, Australian Space Agency to research space mining; S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Japan passes space resources law; SpaceNews, June 17 2021.
Brazil Signs Artemis Accords; NASA, June 16, 2021.
JAXA and Honda to Begin a Feasibility Study on a Circulative Renewable Energy System; JAXA, June 14 2021.
Rocket mining system blasts water from beneath the Moon's surface; New Atlas, June 21 2021.
Space startups selected for Amazon Web Services accelerator; SpaceNews, June 10 2021.
Masten mission to lunar south pole: Schedule shift to 2023; Masten, June 23 2021.
Podcast: Interview With ULA’s Tory Bruno; Aviation Week, June 24 2021.
Intuitive Machines’ first lunar lander mission slips to 2022; SpaceNews, April 28 2021.
UAE reveals long-term Moon exploration plan at global space conference; The National, June 27 2021.
China, Russia reveal roadmap for international moon base; SpaceNews, June 16 2021.
China, Russia reveal roadmap for international moon base; SpaceNews, June 16 2021.
Russia, China negotiate with many partners on lunar station project — Roscosmos; TASS, June 16 2021.
France May Join Russia, China In Lunar Space Station Project – Roscosmos; The Eurasian Times, June 9 2021.
Turkey aims to send rocket to moon in three years, land lunar rover by 2030; Space.com, June 18 2021.
『シチズン アテッサ』から月の淡い光と暗闇を表現する民間月面探査プログラム「HAKUTO-R」とのコラボレーションモデルが登場 ～2021年7月8日発売～; Citizen, June 16 2021.