Space Strategic Fund Program (Phase II): Space Quarters Adopted as Collaborative Organization for “Elemental Technologies Contributing to Lunar Infrastructure Construction”
Space Quarters has been selected as a collaborative organization for the project to develop "Elemental Technologies Contributing to Lunar Infrastructure Construction" led by Specially Appointed Professor Kazuya Yoshida of Tohoku University, under JAXA's "Space Strategic Fund Program, Exploration, etc. (Phase II)". The company will be responsible for developing electron beam irradiation devices and electron beam regolith melting/solidification technology.
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- 📰 Published: April 28, 2026 at 03:05
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株式会社Space Quarters (Head office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director: Shogo Ohnishi, hereinafter "Space Quarters") announces that it has been selected as a collaborative organization for the technology development project "Elemental Technologies Contributing to Lunar Infrastructure Construction", led by Specially Appointed Professor Kazuya Yoshida of Tohoku University, a national university corporation, under the "Space Strategic Fund Program, Exploration, etc. (Phase II)" publicly solicited by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
(Project name: "Development of Electron Beam Regolith Solidification Technology and Lunar Mobile Robotic System")
1. Overview
In recent years, lunar exploration plans by national space agencies and private companies have been rapidly advancing towards the construction of sustainable activity bases on the Moon. For future lunar activities, the establishment of infrastructure to support landing, mobility, and habitation is essential. However, one of the biggest challenges in achieving this is the extremely high cost of transporting materials from Earth. To solve this problem, it is crucial to establish technology to utilize the widely available regolith on the Moon as an on-site material to construct structures.
This project aims to establish fundamental technology for directly forming infrastructure such as landing pads and roadways on the Moon, by demonstrating that structural materials can be produced on the lunar surface by melting and solidifying regolith using an electron beam. Furthermore, by developing a multi-functional lunar mobile robotic system (see Figure 1) to carry out this construction and demonstrating construction techniques under simulated real-world conditions, the project seeks to establish the technological framework necessary for lunar base construction.
For the promotion of this project, Specially Appointed Professor Kazuya Yoshida of Tohoku University, who previously technically led Team HAKUTO in the Google Lunar XPRIZE and more recently served as project manager for Moonshot Research and Development Project Goal 3, will serve as the research representative. Technology development will be carried out by an industry-academia collaboration team comprising five private companies, including Space Quarters. Furthermore, with an eye towards installation on a high-precision lander developed by operators selected for the "High-Precision Landing Technology in Lunar Polar Regions" technology development theme of the Space Strategic Fund Program, Exploration, etc. (Phase II), the project aims to develop a lunar demonstration model.
In this project, Space Quarters will be responsible for the core mission of developing electron beam irradiation devices and electron beam regolith melting/solidification technology. Leveraging its high-voltage electron beam technology developed since its inception, and the electron beam regolith melting/solidification technology that Space Quarters pioneered and demonstrated globally, the company will contribute to the success of this mission, which is a touchstone for construction technology using lunar resources, and to humanity's lunar exploration and Japan's improved international competitiveness.
(Figure 1: Planned diagram of the lunar robot to be developed in this project. A robot equipped with an electron beam generator irradiates the lunar surface directly beneath it with a beam to conduct heating and melting experiments on regolith (lunar sand).)
2. Advantages of Mobile Robot x Electron Beam Regolith Melting/Solidification Technology
The background to developing lunar infrastructure construction technology using regolith (lunar sand), a lunar resource, is the challenge of how to minimize extremely high transportation costs. Transporting 1 kg from Earth to the Moon is said to cost 150 to 200 million yen, and there are also limits to the transportable weight and size. In addition to these Earth-to-Moon transportation costs, lunar surface transportation costs must also be considered. Due to communication and energy issues, as well as the lunar soil environment and topography, transporting large quantities of materials on the Moon is not easy. From this, construction technology using regolith, a lunar resource that does not require the transportation of construction materials from Earth, and moreover, construction technology that uses regolith found exactly at the construction site, is considered ideal.
When processing regolith for construction, a challenge is the low thermal conductivity of regolith. Regolith is a mixture of very fine ceramics, and its material thermal conductivity is very low, a characteristic particularly pronounced in a vacuum environment. In past research using lasers, even with tests conducted using outputs of 10 kW or more, only the surface was heated, and it was a major challenge to introduce heat to a sufficient depth. Furthermore, even when heated and melted/solidified to a certain thickness over a long period, significant warping and cracking occurred due to temperature differences in the depth direction.
In contrast, the electron beam regolith melting/solidification technology developed in this project has highly superior characteristics. The electron beam utilizes its high energy density to dig into the melted area, allowing heat to be directly introduced deep inside. This enables heating regolith to a certain depth in a short time, regardless of the thermal conductivity of the target material.
(Project name: "Development of Electron Beam Regolith Solidification Technology and Lunar Mobile Robotic System")
1. Overview
In recent years, lunar exploration plans by national space agencies and private companies have been rapidly advancing towards the construction of sustainable activity bases on the Moon. For future lunar activities, the establishment of infrastructure to support landing, mobility, and habitation is essential. However, one of the biggest challenges in achieving this is the extremely high cost of transporting materials from Earth. To solve this problem, it is crucial to establish technology to utilize the widely available regolith on the Moon as an on-site material to construct structures.
This project aims to establish fundamental technology for directly forming infrastructure such as landing pads and roadways on the Moon, by demonstrating that structural materials can be produced on the lunar surface by melting and solidifying regolith using an electron beam. Furthermore, by developing a multi-functional lunar mobile robotic system (see Figure 1) to carry out this construction and demonstrating construction techniques under simulated real-world conditions, the project seeks to establish the technological framework necessary for lunar base construction.
For the promotion of this project, Specially Appointed Professor Kazuya Yoshida of Tohoku University, who previously technically led Team HAKUTO in the Google Lunar XPRIZE and more recently served as project manager for Moonshot Research and Development Project Goal 3, will serve as the research representative. Technology development will be carried out by an industry-academia collaboration team comprising five private companies, including Space Quarters. Furthermore, with an eye towards installation on a high-precision lander developed by operators selected for the "High-Precision Landing Technology in Lunar Polar Regions" technology development theme of the Space Strategic Fund Program, Exploration, etc. (Phase II), the project aims to develop a lunar demonstration model.
In this project, Space Quarters will be responsible for the core mission of developing electron beam irradiation devices and electron beam regolith melting/solidification technology. Leveraging its high-voltage electron beam technology developed since its inception, and the electron beam regolith melting/solidification technology that Space Quarters pioneered and demonstrated globally, the company will contribute to the success of this mission, which is a touchstone for construction technology using lunar resources, and to humanity's lunar exploration and Japan's improved international competitiveness.
(Figure 1: Planned diagram of the lunar robot to be developed in this project. A robot equipped with an electron beam generator irradiates the lunar surface directly beneath it with a beam to conduct heating and melting experiments on regolith (lunar sand).)
2. Advantages of Mobile Robot x Electron Beam Regolith Melting/Solidification Technology
The background to developing lunar infrastructure construction technology using regolith (lunar sand), a lunar resource, is the challenge of how to minimize extremely high transportation costs. Transporting 1 kg from Earth to the Moon is said to cost 150 to 200 million yen, and there are also limits to the transportable weight and size. In addition to these Earth-to-Moon transportation costs, lunar surface transportation costs must also be considered. Due to communication and energy issues, as well as the lunar soil environment and topography, transporting large quantities of materials on the Moon is not easy. From this, construction technology using regolith, a lunar resource that does not require the transportation of construction materials from Earth, and moreover, construction technology that uses regolith found exactly at the construction site, is considered ideal.
When processing regolith for construction, a challenge is the low thermal conductivity of regolith. Regolith is a mixture of very fine ceramics, and its material thermal conductivity is very low, a characteristic particularly pronounced in a vacuum environment. In past research using lasers, even with tests conducted using outputs of 10 kW or more, only the surface was heated, and it was a major challenge to introduce heat to a sufficient depth. Furthermore, even when heated and melted/solidified to a certain thickness over a long period, significant warping and cracking occurred due to temperature differences in the depth direction.
In contrast, the electron beam regolith melting/solidification technology developed in this project has highly superior characteristics. The electron beam utilizes its high energy density to dig into the melted area, allowing heat to be directly introduced deep inside. This enables heating regolith to a certain depth in a short time, regardless of the thermal conductivity of the target material.