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OffWorld Europe and the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA) recently signed an important agreement to launch a comprehensive, multi-year development program for a water ice-based in situ resource processing system (ISRU). This essential system will pave the way for sustainable lunar exploration by supporting the extraction, processing and storage of vital resources directly from the lunar surface. Overseen by the European Space Agency, the project will rely on OffWorld’s state-of-the-art robotic modules capable of performing a range of functions including prospecting, mining, processing, storage and delivery of oxygen, hydrogen and other volatiles to customers the lunar surface. The program has already started and the first demonstration mission on the lunar surface is planned for 2027.
OffWorld’s high-tech swarm robotic systems are used to transport the treatment modules to a perpetually shadowed region of the lunar surface where water ice appears to form and accumulate. OffWorld Europe’s goal is to process all essential excavated materials and develop systems capable of converting lunar volatiles and regolith into valuable consumables such as oxygen, propellant and water for the supply of radiation protection, hydroponics and other vital systems.
This project has the potential to take the space industry to new heights, pave the way for human expansion into the rest of the solar system, and enhance life on Earth by driving innovation in robotics, technology, and resource processing. OffWorld has commissioned the world’s first autonomous excavation robot at an operating mine. The company is now the first company to win a mining contract on two celestial bodies, the Earth and the Moon. The company will be moving closer to its customers over the next few months and plans to fly this payload on one of SpaceX’s spacecraft’s first missions to the moon.
OffWorld CEO and Co-Founder Jim Keravala says: This collaboration is exciting for OffWorld Europe and this new project demonstrates how our Robotic Swarm Mining platform applications can be customized and adapted to a variety of customers, use cases and environments. Our autonomous robots currently serve mining operations on Earth and our technology subsystem of ISRU is a subset of the overall concept of OffWorld aimed at the extraction of extraterrestrial regolith for volatiles, minerals and the global development of basic manufacturing industries on other celestial bodies. I look forward to seeing the achievements of our robotic platforms in uncharted territories we once thought we could never step foot in.
Kyle Acierno, Managing Director of OffWorld Europe says: This partnership demonstrates the strength of international collaboration in space exploration. By collaborating with the Luxembourg Space Agency and the European Space Agency, we are advancing in situ resource utilization technologies and strengthening Luxembourg’s position within the international space ecosystem.
LSA CEO Marc Serres says: The exploitation of space resources is likely to revolutionize space activities. The technology developed by OffWorld will play an essential role in space and will also be widely used on Earth. We look forward to the next phases of the project, which will also help to strengthen Luxembourg’s position in the exploitation of space resources.
About OffWorld:
OffWorld is a private company that designs, develops and manufactures AI-powered robotic platforms. The company is based in Pasadena, California with offices in South Africa, Australia and Luxembourg. OffWorld was founded in 2016 with the goal of expanding human civilization beyond Earth with the help of thousands of intelligent robots. The company is reinventing the mining, manufacturing and construction industries by developing a new generation of swarm robots that can withstand extreme conditions and work together in an eco-friendly approach while keeping humans out of the way.
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Press release sent on April 19, 2023 at 1:20 p.m. and distributed by:
