Toyota Motor executives on Friday unveiled plans to use regenerative fuel cell technology to power a manned lunar rover — an innovative move that raises the exciting prospect of harnessing lunar water ice as a potential energy source in the coming years.
Japan has significantly accelerated its space ambitions under the leadership of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
As part of the NASA Artemis program, Japan is actively involved and has ambitious plans to land an astronaut on the lunar space station known as Gateway during the latter half of the 2020s.
Since 2019, Toyota has been working on a manned lunar rover, which they have named the Lunar Cruiser, in collaboration with Japan’s space agency.
The rover is targeted to be deployed on the Moon by 2029. This collaboration represents an important step in advancing space exploration and potential future missions that may rely on lunar resources for sustainable energy solutions.
“To conduct long-term and stable research on the lunar surface, we aim to search for various objects at the site for a long period of time,” said Ken Yamashita, head of lunar exploration projects at Toyota.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has committed to providing a lunar rover for NASA’s Artemis program, with a targeted launch date of 2029, according to presentation materials released Friday.
The rover will be developed using fuel cell technology, which works like an electric vehicle but is powered by a fuel stack that splits hydrogen through a catalyst to generate electricity.
The world’s largest carmaker by sales plans to use solar energy and water to produce hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis during daylight hours.
The fuel cells will then use this stored energy to provide electricity during the lunar night, which lasts about 14 Earth days. Thanks to this advanced technology, the lunar rover will be able to operate for long periods even in dark and extremely cold conditions.
Toyota aims to receive orders for the manned lunar rover by autumn next year.
The vehicle’s design will allow it to accommodate two astronauts for up to 42 days per mission and operate for an impressive duration of ten years.
This important contribution represents a major advance in space exploration and demonstrates the potential for sustainable energy solutions beyond Earth.
