Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency plans to build a hydrogen fuel plant on the moon by 2035.
The South Pole of the Moon was chosen as an indicative location. In this place there are impressive reserves of ice, from which they will get water. The water split into hydrogen and oxygen will be used to generate electricity.
The main motive of Japanese scientists to locate the plant on the Moon is to reduce the cost of delivering fuel from Earth. In addition, this step will make it possible to move on the Moon for thousands of kilometers and globally bring humanity closer to space exploration.
Japanese hydrogen isn't just for space
As the world strives to move to clean energy, companies are increasingly turning to zero-footprint hydrogen. Unlike oil and coal, it can be used without harmful CO2 emissions. This spring, Japan completed construction and opened one of the world's largest hydrogen-producing facilities. Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field operates in the village of Namie, located north of the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. The public-private partnership includes Toshiba, Tohoku Electric Power and natural gas distributor Iwatani.
The plant is being used as an experimental site for testing new technology. The technology is based on traditional electrolysis, water is decomposed into oxygen and hydrogen using electricity from a local solar power plant with a capacity of 20 MW. It is assumed that the plant will produce 1200 cubic meters of hydrogen per hour.
hydrogen will be transported by tank trucks. They intend to use it as the main fuel for the movement of personnel and participants in the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The resource is also used to generate electricity in the Olympic Village.
In Japan, in 2017, the Basic Hydrogen Strategy was adopted, according to which the transition to a hydrogen-powered society is taking place. Such a society uses hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels. Hydrogen becomes for him the main element for the production of energy sources and the functioning of vehicles.
Japan + NASA
In 2019, NASA announced a new Artemis lunar exploration program . The program consists of three stages.
The first stage - Artemis I - unmanned flight of the Orion spacecraft mounted on a Space Launch System rocket. The ship will fly around the moon and back to Earth. Scheduled for 2021.
second stage - Artemis II - flight around the moon with a crew. Planned in 2022.
The third stage - Artemis III - landing the crew on the Moon in 2024 and then sending astronauts to Mars in 2035.
Japan announced its intention to join the NASA program in October 2019. In July 2020, Japan and NASA signed a declaration of cooperation in the lunar exploration program. In addition, they will participate in the creation of the Gateway lunar station.
It also became known that the other day a cooperation agreement with NASA on the Artemis program was signedItaly. She became the first European country to decide, together with NASA, to explore the moon. In addition to scientific and technical contributions, the participant will work on the creation of landing systems .
