Space mining is steadily becoming a reality with a new collaboration between Japanese lunar exploration company ispace and lunar prospecting company Magna Petra. On December 10, the two companies announced a memorandum of understanding to work together on utilizing the moon’s resources to benefit Earth’s economy.
The partnership aims to extract lunar resources sustainably. Magna Petra plans to harvest helium-3 isotopes from the moon’s regolith—its surface soil layer—for commercial use on Earth, where the resource is in critical short supply. This rare isotope holds promise for potential energy applications, including clean nuclear fusion.
The agreement coincides with ispace’s preparations for its second lunar lander mission. This mission follows their first attempt, which ended in a crash due to a fault in the lander’s altitude sensor. For the upcoming mission, ispace reports that necessary software improvements have been made to avoid similar issues. If successful, the Resilience lunar lander will deploy ispace’s Tenacious micro rover to traverse the lunar surface and collect regolith samples. The launch is scheduled for no earlier than January 2025.
Magna Petra views this demonstration as a key step toward validating the technology needed to collect and transport large quantities of helium-3 back to Earth. Jeffrey Max, CEO of Magna Petra, expressed confidence in ispace’s capabilities, highlighting their proven track record and global presence as vital to the mission’s success.
Takeshi Hakamada, Founder and CEO of ispace, shared his enthusiasm for the partnership, emphasizing the importance of extracting various lunar resources beyond water. Hakamada noted that developing a robust cislunar economy—the economy of activities occurring in space between Earth and the moon—will depend on the sustainable use of these resources.
The moon’s resource potential has ignited a modern space race, particularly due to the water-ice deposits at its south pole. Both NASA’s Artemis Program and China’s lunar exploration initiatives aim to leverage this resource for uses ranging from astronaut hydration to the creation of rocket fuel. However, as Hakamada pointed out, water is just one of many valuable lunar resources.
“This collaboration with Magna Petra is a step toward building the infrastructure necessary for a thriving cislunar economy,” Hakamada said. “ispace is committed to supporting companies and organizations in developing this new space-based economy, enabling the sustainable use of lunar resources for future generations.”