Micro Rover named “TENACIOUS” scheduled to fly
on RESILIENCE Lander for Mission 2
ispace EUROPE S.A. (ispace-EUROPE), the Luxembourg-based
subsidiary of ispace, inc. (ispace)(TOKYO: 9348) announced today
that the flight model of its European designed, manufactured, and
assembled lunar micro rover has been completed and is being
prepared for delivery to Japan for integration into the HAKUTO-R
Mission 2 RESILIENCE lunar lander.
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A photo of the flight model of the
TENACIOUS lunar micro rover. (Photo: Business Wire)
The announcement was made today by Julien Lamamy, CEO of
ispace-Europe at a press conference in Luxembourg, attended by Lex
Delles, Luxembourg’s Minister of the Economy, SME, Energy and
Tourism; Tadahiro Matsubara, Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary of Japan in Luxembourg; Mathias Link, Deputy CEO of
the Luxembourg Space Agency; and Atsushi Saiki, CRO of ispace,
inc.
A TENACIOUS European-built Rover
The lunar micro rover was designed, manufactured, and assembled
with co-funding from the Luxembourg Space Agency through a European
Space Agency contract with the Luxembourg National Space Programme,
LuxIMPULSE.
The lunar micro rover, intended to be lowered to the lunar
surface from the RESILIENCE lunar lander and conduct exploration of
the area around the landing site, is named TENACIOUS. The name
embodies both the human characteristics of the small-in-stature,
yet unrelenting enterprise of the rover as well as the
ispace-EUROPE team that has been developing it based on the ispace
heritage of rover design and manufacturing.
Luxembourg’s Minister of the Economy, SMEs, Energy and Tourism,
Lex Delles, commented: “Our ambition is to develop a space sector
that is highly integrated with our industries on earth and opens up
new market opportunities, both in space and on earth. We are
continuously increasing our efforts to establish fruitful
collaborations with companies in the sector as well as with our
international partners. And ispace is a concrete example of this
excellent collaboration. With this micro rover, the very first to
be developed and assembled in Luxembourg, ispace is helping to
establish Luxembourg as a pioneer in the exploration and use of
space resources.”
“I am delighted to witness the completion of the first European
rover designed, manufactured and actually going to the Moon, today
in Luxembourg,” said Tadahiro Matsubara, Ambassador Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary of Japan in Luxembourg. “This is a significant
step for the Luxembourg government that is actively promoting the
industrialization of space resources. We hope ispace's continuous
challenge will further deepen the goodwill between Japan and the
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.”
“ispace was one of the very first companies to set up in
Luxembourg as part of the SpaceResources.lu initiative and ispace’s
vision has always been very much in line with the one of
Luxembourg. We would like to congratulate the entire team on this
achievement, and on the work that has enabled this fruitful
international collaboration between Luxembourg, Japan, and the
USA,” said Mathias Link, Deputy CEO of the Luxembourg Space
Agency.
“Tenacious perfectly captures the spirit of this small rover,
poised to achieve groundbreaking milestones. It is the first lunar
rover built in Europe and will be the first to transport European
customers to the Moon’s surface and collect space resources under
Luxembourg’s 2017 Space Resources Law,” said Julien Lamamy, CEO of
ispace-EUROPE.
“As the world’s interest in lunar exploration grows, we are very
pleased to contribute, through our European subsidiary, to the
development of the European Space Agency and the Luxembourg Space
Agency for the future utilization of lunar resources,” said Takeshi
Hakamada, Founder and CEO of ispace. “All of us at ispace are
dedicated to success as we prepare the RESILIENCE lander and
TENACIOUS rover for Mission 2.”
TENACIOUS measures 26 cm tall, 31.5 cm wide, 54 cm long, and
weighs approximately 5 kg. Its lightweight frame is made of carbon
fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP) that are able to withstand the
rocket launch and other vibrations during transit to the lunar
surface.
The lunar micro rover is equipped with a forward-mounted HD
camera that can capture images on the lunar surface. The wheels are
shaped in such a way so that the rover can traverse lunar regolith
in a stable manner. Commands and data will be sent and received
from the mission control center via the lander.
HAKUTO-R Mission 2
Mission 2, ispace’s second lunar exploration mission, is
expected to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral,
Fla., in Winter 2024. RESILIENCE will deliver commercial and
scientific equipment to the lunar surface and is expected to
contribute to the NASA-led Artemis program. In addition to
operation of its commercial payloads, the mission will include
TENACIOUS, which will deploy from the lunar lander and conduct
surface exploration including the collection of lunar regolith.
In December 2020, ispace-EUROPE was selected by NASA to acquire
regolith from the lunar surface to be purchased by the space
agency. Once on the lunar surface, ispace operators plan to use a
shovel to collect a sample of lunar regolith and photograph the
collection with the camera mounted on the rover.
ispace is leveraging its global presence through its three
business units in Japan, the U.S., and Luxembourg, for the
simultaneous development of upcoming missions. Mission 2 is led by
the ispace Japan entity. Mission 3, debuting the APEX 1.0 lunar
lander, is led by the ispace U.S. entity and is expected to launch
in 2026. Mission 6, which will utilize the Series 3 lander,
currently being designed in Japan, is scheduled to be launched by
2027.
# # #
About ispace, inc. (https://ispace-inc.com)
ispace, a global lunar exploration company with the vision,
“Expand our planet. Expand our future.”, specializes in designing
and building lunar landers and rovers. ispace aims to extend the
sphere of human life into space and create a sustainable world by
providing high-frequency, low-cost transportation services to the
Moon. The company has business entities in Japan, Luxembourg, and
the United States with approximately 300 employees worldwide. For
more information, visit: www.ispace-inc.com and follow us on X:
@ispace_inc.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240725797700/en/
Andrew C. Ames Global Communication Specialist ispace, inc.
a-ames@ispace-inc.com
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