Canada, Australia, Japan combine for Moon mining MoU

Four organisations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on a moon mining rover with a multipurpose robotics arm using virtual reality. It will be for “in situ resource utilization” (ISRU) activities on the Moon.

The four are: ispace (including ispace Europe SA), Stardust Technologies, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and EXPLOR Space Technologies.

The proposed collaboration will cover both the development of the robotics arm along with the software to control the arm (using VR), mentioned above, along with the use of haptic feedback “for STEM educational purposes”.

Stardust and the Australian UTS and EXPLOR will also look ro equip a robotic arm and 3D camera to a rover developed by iSpace, to be transported to the Moon on ispace’s lunar lander (pictured above) as rover payload customers on one of iSpace’s upcoming missions.

The agreement also covers the acquisition and exchange of lunar data and analytics. And finally, joint applications to both the Canadian Space Agency and Australian Space Agency for potential grants for future lunar missions.

Moon mining

“In order for humanity to succeed in space it is vital that we establish partnerships such as this one which will ultimately benefit and empower countless of generations to come,” said Jason Michaud, the founder and of CEO of Canada-based Stardust Technologies. “Therefore, we are honored to sign this MoU with ispace, UTS, and EXPLOR towards empowering the future of humankind in space.”

A timeline for the implementation of the activities in the MoU, outlined above, has not yet been disclosed.

“We’re pleased to sign this MoU with Stardust, UTS and EXPLOR for this exciting initiative,” said Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of ispace. “I believe this kind of collaboration is necessary to accelerate interest in lunar resources utilization among a broad spectrum of stakeholders.”

See also: ispace announces its next-gen larger lunar lander