The next generation of companies heading to the Moon are going in search of water—a requirement for setting up shop long term on the lunar surface. Japanese lunar infrastructure company ispace has just notched a new partnership in service of that goal.
Last week, ispace announced a partnership with Kurita Water Industries, a company that focuses on water extraction and treatment.
“The search for and utilization of water resources on the lunar surface is essential to support the development of the cislunar economy that ispace envisions,” Takeshi Hakamada, CEO of ispace, said in a release. “We are confident that the fusion of ispace’s lunar transportation and operations technology with Kurita Water Industries’ advanced water resource and treatment technology will pioneer new possibilities for the space industry.”
Under the partnership, the two companies will pursue three key areas of exploration:
- Developing a strategic business model for lunar water resource extraction
- Payload development and validation
- Using ispace landers for water demos on the lunar surface
This is the second MoU ispace has signed with Kurita, and the company allotted ¥2B ($12.9M) in shares to Kurita in October.
The big picture: It’s the latest step in ispace’s efforts to build a team that can be a leader in the lunar market. In September, the company announced a new partnership with fellow Japanese startup ElevationSpace to conduct a mission to bring rocks back to Earth from the lunar surface.
For ispace, the job is about responding to demand signals from the Japanese government—and on that level, it’s getting strong signs. Japan is highly interested in resource extraction on the lunar surface and is working closely with ispace to make that happen.
