Japan’s Slow and Steady Long-Term Lunar Roadmap
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Japan’s journey to the Moon is being shaped not only by national space programs but also by bold commercial ventures. At the forefront is ispace, a private company leading the charge with its upcoming RESILIENCE mission, which aims to demonstrate critical technologies like water processing, regolith collection, and radiation measurement. These early efforts signal Japan’s broader commitment to playing a meaningful role in the emerging lunar economy.
On June 4, 2025, ispace’s second attempt to land on the Moon will take place. The RESILENCE lander will deliver a micro-rover equipped to collect up regolith and a package of commercial demonstration payloads, including water processing, food production, and deep space radiation measurement, a humble start to Japan’s long-term plans to be an active participant in the future lunar economy.
Some clues on where Japan is going can be found on ispace’s website. Kurita Water Industries has signed an MOU with the Tokyo-based company to deliver a water purification demonstration system to the lunar surface for testing on a future mission after 2027. Water purification is a big deal for future resource extraction involving mining ice from the polar regions or larger scale processing of tons of lunar dirt and rock to squeeze water out of the regolith, while the water processing payload RESILENCE is carrying was built by Takasago Thermal Engineering.
Water will be a key part of the lunar economy for life support and potentially energy generation. Earlier this month, Honda announced it would be testing a regenerative fuel cell system on the International Space Station for use on the Moon. The system would use solar energy during the lunar day to produce hydrogen and oxygen from water. When the lunar night arrived, some of the oxygen would be used for life support while the remainer would be fed with the saved hydrogen back into the fuel cell to generate electricity and produce water as a byproduct. The water would be recycled back into the system when lunar day returned, making it a closed-loop energy cycle for the most part.
Larger scale operations to mine ice and other resources are envisioned by both Takasago and Komatsu. Takasago plans to leverage its heat utilization technology to develop what has dubbed “thermal mining,” extracting water from the lunar regolith from the soil directly rather than having to scrap it up, move it around, and load it into a machine to bake the ice out.
Heavy equipment manufacturer Komatsu demonstrated its interest in lunar operations at CES 2025, as previously chronicled in this blog. Komatsu’s interest in off-planet operations was first expressed in 2019 blog post, “The future of mining: Four trends.” With trend #4 listed as “New frontiers: deep sea, space, and rediscovery.” The lengthy piece referenced operations on asteroids and Mars as possibilities before swinging back to the Moon along with the possibility that robotic mining could also open abandoned mines that were closed due to flooding and other causes. In some respects, operating on the surface of the Moon would be a relatively benign environment compared to the challenges involved operating underground in a flooded mine.
Some credit for Japanese commercial interest in lunar operations has to go to the nation’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, supporting and encouraging firms to apply their experience, technology, and imagination to the challenges of operating on the lunar surface, as discussed by Kyodo News. Near-term participation in the U.S. Artemis program may lead to a long-term stake in construction and operations of a permanent lunar base for the benefit of all mankind and the shareholders of the companies that can provide the equipment and solutions for success.
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