MINING ON THE MOON AND BACK company ) Takahiro launched 4 businesses - leading two of them - including SUMO , a moving service , and a business for elderly people . Takahiro joined ispace in 2011 after an initial volunteer role , and is now the acting COO .
Can you tell me a little more about the mission / vision of ispace , what are your plans with the minerals and information you retrieve through space prospecting ? Expand our planet , Expand our Future — our vision is to create a sustainable ecosystem in outer space and extend the human presence throughout the solar system . The first step is to develop space resources and establish an economy in space . ispace sees the Moon as a prominent destination in any plans for space resource utilization beyond geostationary orbit because of three principle attributes : it is near to the Earth , it has millions of metric tons of water ice and other valuable resources , and scientifically it is extremely important . In the near future , numerous space agencies and commercial companies intend to pursue exploration on the lunar surface . ispace will not only serve these international players , but also work alongside them to begin a third industrial revolution .
How does this impact the mining industries / resource excavation industry as a whole ? Do you feel through the resource exploration on the moon that terrestrial mining companies could be influenced by what you and other companies are doing in space ? Any space resource development activities would have to apply terrestrial mining technologies . The space resource development could then further improve these existing technologies by playing within the harsh restriction of outer space environment . Terrestrial mining companies could potentially benefit from technologies used for the space resource development , as they must be efficient and operate with minimum human intervention . ispace plans to develop lunar exploration and utilization technology that will span the entire mining ecosystem from scouting potential targets , to
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