PROFILE
remote sensing satellite missions and developed robotics and micro-rover technology for JAXA ’ s Hayabusa I and II sample-return missions . It is also a leader in planetary rovers and on-orbit robotics . SRL has developed several generations of prototype planetary rovers . SRL is also a leader in field robotics . Its notable achievements are collaborative R & D of the first Japanese robot operating in the Fukushima nuclear plant after the disaster and volcano exploration and observation robotic systems combining both ground vehicles and drones . The ispace rovers are the end result of over ten years of rover development . At SRL , up to twenty students and researchers are actively performing research for ispace ’ s Hakuto project .
Funase Lab , University of Tokyo Dr . Funase is an associate Professor at University of Tokyo . He led the first small satellite deep space exploration mission ( PROCYON ) successfully , and his lab has been the leading lab in the field of cubesat and microsat in the world .
He is advising ispace for development of deep space spacecraft for future mining mission . ispace and Funase-lab agreed a joint research contract for spacecraft design , and the lab assigned two top level graduate students for this joint research .
Dr . Funase ’ s interest is a flexible transportation system from LEO / GTO to deep space .
Other Partnerships ispace is also collaborating with several corporations , space agencies and governmental bodies .
Do you feel the value in the potential resources that you could explore and excavate on the moon could transform the way we look at mineral exploration ? Yes , of course
Talk me through the goal of the three-phase mission ? The 3 key steps of any space resource development activities are :
1 ) Transportation to the Moon or asteroids By minimizing and miniaturizing components , ispace is able to
22 March 2017