Israel and Germany have teamed up on lunar exploration. German space technology group OHB SE has signed a memorandum of understanding with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Israeli startup Helios to include Helios' technology for producing oxygen on the lunar surface in OHB's first three Lunar Surface Access Service (LSAS) missions to the moon.
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Helios is an Israeli company founded in 2018 and has the backing of the Israeli Space Agency, the Ministry of Energy and the Israeli Innovation Authority.The company's vision is to enable sustainable human life on Earth and beyond. Among its core developments are reactors to produce oxygen on the lunar surface and reactors to produce iron and silicon on Earth with zero carbon emissions.
"Production of oxygen on the lunar surface is key to enable the expansion of humanity beyond Earth and to dramatically reduce the cost of space exploration. Oxygen is going to be the most sought after consumable in space as it makes up over 60% of the mass of any fully loaded space vehicle designated for lunar missions and beyond," explains Helios CEO Jonathan Geifman. "Helios' lunar mission with OHB serves to mature its oxygen production technology under real lunar environment, and is a significant step to realize the upcoming cislunar industry."
"Returning and establishing a permanent base on the Moon requires international cooperation and the creation of partnerships between space agencies and privately-held companies", says Director-General of the Israeli Space Agency Uri Oron. "The Israeli Space Agency welcomes the cooperation between OHB SE, Helios and Israel Aerospace Industries. This cooperation demonstrates the strong, long-lasting relationship between Germany and Israel, and the contribution this partnership can yield to the space industry."
"With this memorandum of understanding, Helios is taking an important step towards being able to test hardware for in-situ resource utilization on the Moon at an early stage," says Dr. Timo Stuffler, head of Business Development at OHB. "In the future, ice on the moon will also be used to build rocket refueling stations and energy stations by splitting it into oxygen and hydrogen."
OHB and IAI are making every effort to bring scientific and commercial payloads to the lunar surface with the LSAS lunar transfer starting in 2025.
"In all, customers' payloads may have a total mass of between 80-110 kilograms (176-242 lbs.), depending on the mission type. We are pleased that more than 100 interested parties from science and industry have already contacted us," says Séverine Jacquet, who fields initial customer contacts for OHB.
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