Japan plans to set up a hydrogen production plant on the...

The Japanese Agency for Aerospace and Space Studies has revealed its intention to establish a plant on the moon to produce hydrogen fuel by 2035, the agency reported on September 28. Kyodo The Japanese news agency stated that the plant is expected to be established in the south pole region of the moon, which is supposed to contain reserves of water ice from which drinking water will be extracted, as well as oxygen and hydrogen..

Hydrogen can also be used as fuel in roofers traveling on the surface of the moon, as well as in rockets that transport humans and the useful payload from the moon’s orbit to its surface back and forth, and preliminary calculations showed that this would require an amount of water ranging between 21 and 37 tons..

The Japanese Space Agency said that the purpose of establishing the plant is to reduce the expenditures required to transport fuel from the Earth to the moon, and in addition, the realization of the project will allow to accelerate the process of reclamation of the moon..

It is noteworthy that Japan announced last year its decision to join the NASA lunar program and signed a cooperation agreement with it in the field of studying the moon. Japan aims to send astronauts to the moon in the latter half of the 21st century.

Japan’s Kyodo News reported that Koichi Hajiyoda, the Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Technology, and Jim Bridenstine, director of the US Aerospace and Aviation Administration, signed the joint exploration declaration during a hypothetical meeting..

Ministry officials said the two sides will discuss details such as the number of Japanese astronauts and their activities on the surface of the moon, and for its part, NASA said in a statement that the document describes the planned cooperation for the Artemis program of the US Aerospace and Space Administration, including Japanese contributions to the platform and exploration of the lunar surface..