IAC-19.A3.2A.

Current Status of Japanese Lunar Polar Exploration Mission

Takeshi Hoshino a*, Sachiko Wakabayashia, Makiko Ohtakea, Yuzuru Karoujia, Takahiro Hayashia,
Hitoshi Morimotoa, Hiroaki Shiraishia, Takanobu Shimadaa, Tatsuaki Hashimotob, Hiroka Inoueb
Hiroyasu Mizunoc, Ryo Hirasawad, Yoji Shirasawad and Hiroshi Kanamorie

a
JAXA Space Exploration Center, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Ochanomizu Sola City, 4-6
Kandasurugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8008, Japan, hoshino.takeshi@jaxa.jp
b
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Chuo-ku,
Sagamihara 252-5210, Japan
c
Human Spaceflight Technology Directorate, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 2-1-1 Sengen, Tsukuba-shi,
Ibaraki 305-8505, Japan
d
Research and Development Directorate, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 2-1-1 Sengen, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki
305-8505, Japan
e
Space Exploration Innovation Hub Center, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Chuo-ku,
Sagamihara 252-5210, Japan
* Corresponding Author

Abstract
Recently, several polar explorations of the Moon are planned, because it has been suggested that water ice might be
present in the lunar polar region based on remote sensing observation of the lunar surface using a neutron
spectrometer and visible to infrared spectrometer. However, the precise amount and state of the water ice are still
unknown. At the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), we are also studying on exploration to the lunar
polar regions for resources, especially cold-trapped volatiles such as water ice using a rover. Volatile materials are
expected to be useful for future human activity on the Moon and there is strong interest in the origin and
concentration mechanism of the water ice. Additionally, the polar regions are among the best candidates for long-
term activity because of their long sunlight duration. To realize the mission, we are currently developing various
technologies peculiar to exploration of lunar polar regions. This paper details the present status of the Japanese Lunar
Polar Exploration Mission.
Keywords: lunar pole, lunar water, volatile, landing exploration,

1. Introduction (OMOTENASHI)[3] mission. It will be the world’s

The moon is considered the next area of human
activity. The orbit of the manned space station succeeding
the International Space Station (ISS) circling in low Earth
orbit is cislunar space. The new space station is called
the ”Gateway”. It is also studying the possibility of
manned lunar surface exploration via the Gateway in the
Global Exploration Roadmap 3rd Edition (GER 3) [1],
published by the International Space Exploration
Coordination Group (ISECG) in January 2018. In fact,
The United States has recently announced a plan to
conduct a manned lunar landing around the lunar south
pole in 2024 [2]. Prior to these manned space exploration,
many countries are planning unmanned missions.
Under the circumstances, the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA) is also planning activities
aimed at human lunar exploration in the future. Figure 1
shows JAXA’s near-term exploration scenario. In the
scenario, lunar landings are considered as the next step
for the lunar orbiter Kaguya (SELENE). One is the
Outstanding MOon exploration TEchnologies
demonstrated by NAno Semi-Hard Impactor
smallest lunar lander and will be launched by the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Space
Launch System (SLS) Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1)
with the spacecraft Orion. The mission of
OMOTENASHI is to demonstrate nano-lander
technology and observe the radiation in the cislunar
region. Another is the Smart Lander for Investigating the
Moon (SLIM)[4] mission. It intends to demonstrate the
pinpoint-landing technology needed for future lunar and
planetary surface exploration with a small spacecraft. In
addition, JAXA is planning a landing mission to
investigate lunar volatiles such as water ice using a rover.
Many polar exploration missions of the Moon are
planned owing to the existence of volatiles. There are two
main reasons why lunar exploration is focused. The first
reason is the possibility of the existence of water-ice as a
resource. Specifically, if it is possible to use water ice
expected in the polar regions as a propellant, it will
greatly affect future exploration and activities. Recently,
detailed analysis of remote sensing data showed the
existence of water [5,6]. However, the precise amount and

IAC-19.A3.2A.6 Page 1 of 6
state of the water ice are unknown. The availability of
water-ice as a propellant is believed to have a major
impact on future exploration scenarios and activities using
the Moon. The second reason is from the viewpoint of
energy resources that can be easily obtained compared to
other areas of the lunar surface. From the point of view of
energy, it has been known that some hills and crater rims
in the polar regions of the Moon can obtain more than a
half-year of continuous sunshine and more than 80%
sunshine ratio [7].
In this situation, JAXA is planning a lunar polar
exploration mission that aims mainly to confirm the
abundance of water-ice resources and to establish the
technology of planetary surface exploration. We expect
the mission to contribute to not only JAXA’s but also
international space exploration. This paper describes the
research and developmental status of the Japanese lunar
polar exploration mission in detail.
2. JAXA’s Vision
Fig.2 shows JAXA’s Vision for International Space
Exploration. Though this figure includes all elements, the
actual exploration scenario proceeds step-by-step. In this
scenario, the reusable lander and the fuel plant (bottom
center) play an important role. Most of the cost of
exploring the lunar surface relates to carrying a payload
from the Earth to the Moon. If we can use on-site
materials effectively such as lunar water, then supplies
from the Earth can be greatly reduced. Water-ice is
expected to exist especially in the polar regions of the
Moon. If hydrogen and oxygen are produced from lunar
water and LH2/LOX propellant is used for ascent from the
JAXA’s Space Exploration Scenario (Near Term)
Mars, others
Kaguya
©JAXA
SLIM
Moon Pinpoint Landing
JFY2021
OMOTENASHI EQUULEUS
CubeSat  Innovative
launched by  small mission
SLS/EM1
Earth
©NASA
Fig. 1. JAXA’s near term scenario for space exploration
IAC-19.A3.2A.6
surface, the mass of the spacecraft can be appreciably
reduced. This would also reduce launch costs. Moreover,
if refueling a spacecraft becomes possible, the lander will
be reusable, and the cost of the lander and assent module
will be eliminated. The same concept can be applicable to
Mars exploration.
When LH2/LOX is produced as a propellant for a
reusable lander, the mass of the water must be at least a
few tens of tons. Therefore, the total abundance of lunar
water is an important issue. To use water for propellant,
the cost of production on the lunar surface must be
compared with that of transportation from the Earth. The
production cost covers the facilities and operations
required for mining water-ice, extracting water,
electrolysis from water to hydrogen/oxygen, liquefaction
of hydrogen and oxygen, storage in tanks, and refueling a
reusable lander. JAXA has explored the cost trade-off
between using disposable landers and using a reusable
lander with a propellant production plant. As a result, we
have found that the cost strongly depends on the water
content of the lunar soil. Per the results to date, we
estimate that the lunar soil composition needs to be at
least 0.5% water by weight for this concept to be cost-
effective.
However, the water concentration estimated from
remote sensing data to date varies from less than 0.1% to
more than 10% by weight. It is thus important to clarify
the concentration of lunar water. In other words, in this
scenario, lunar polar exploration is required at first in
order to determine the availability of the lunar water-ice
as a resource.
Activities on/beyond Mars
©JAXA
MMX JFY2024
©JAXA
©JAXA ©JAXA
Lunar Polar Exploration
Water Prospecting
Robotic Sample Return Sustainable
Technology Demo
Early 2020’s Exploration/Utilization
Approx.2026‐‐
HTV‐X derivatives Gateway
Approx. 2026‐ Operation
Gateway (construction phase)
2022‐
Promote Commercialization
International Space Station
Page 2 of 6
3. Lunar Polar Exploration Mission
3.1 Study history
JAXA has studied lunar missions with landers and
rovers for several years [8,11]. Since 2006, the SELENE-2
mission, which consists of a lander, an orbiter and rover,
had been studied as a Japanese first lunar landing mission
following KAGUYA orbiter. After that, JAXA had
conducted a feasibility study of the polar lander with the
NASA Resource Prospector mission. Unfortunately, the
joint study with NASA ended in March 2017. Through
these histories, JAXA has been conducting a feasibility
study on lunar polar exploration with the Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) since December 2017.
Based on the results of joint study, ISRO and JAXA held
the joint mission definition review in December 2018. At
present, we are continuing joint study aiming to realize
the mission.
3.2 Mission objectives
To realize the above vision, the most important matter
is to know whether the amount of water in the lunar polar
region is sufficient for fuel. In addition, it is also
important that the water condition is suitable for utilize as
a resource. Therefore, from the viewpoint of prospecting
lunar resources, the mission objectives are defined as
follows:
- Obtain data on the quantity and quality of lunar
water to clarify whether it can be used for future
activities.
- Obtain data to understand the principle of the water
distribution and concentration to estimate the
quantity and quality of water across the Moon.
Though resource investigation is the main objective
technology demonstration and environmental
investigation will also be conducted. From a
technological viewpoint, the Moon is the best place for
demonstrating new technologies of planetary exploration,
especially for surface activities. In addition, surface
temperature, sunshine and radiation environment will be
investigated in preparation for future manned exploration.

Erath Sample Return
Robotic Exploration

【Transportation between  Full‐fledged  
earth and moon orbit】 Crew Vehicle Exploration
(NASA, Russia)
Lunar Orbiting Platform
Large Human Rated  Mars
Rocket Gateway
(NASA, Russia) International
Cooperation
Logistics Vehicle
Cargo Rocket

Human Lunar Lander
(JAXA, etc.）
【Transportation between moon 
orbit and Moon surface】
Lunar  Logistics  Full‐fledged Lunar 
Exploration 
Vehicle Human  Exploration and 
Support Lunar Infra Utilization
【Transportation 
Fuel  between sites】
Resupply Pressurized 
ISS
Small Scientific  Rover
Instrument Deploy

Full‐fledged Lunar 
Exploration and Utilization

Moon
Fig. 2. JAXA’s Vision for International Space Exploration.

IAC-19.A3.2A.6 Page 3 of 6
3.3 Mission outline and spacecraft configuration
As mentioned above, this mission is being studied in
collaboration with ISRO. The outline of the mission is
shown in Table 1. A schematic image of the spacecraft on
the Moon is shown in Fig. 3.
The spacecraft system comprises a lander system and a
rover system. The system does not have a communication
relay satellite but is based on direct communication with Rocket Rover Lander
the Earth. The minimum target for the landing payload
mass is more than 350 kg. The landing site is planned for JAXA ISRO
a long-term sunlit area close to the permanently shadowed
region (PSR) around the lunar south pole. Therefore, the Fig. 4. Assignment of roles and responsibilities.
mission duration is assumed to be more than half a year
because sunshine continues around the landing site. The launch orbit is the same as the KAGUYA launch
The current assignment of roles and responsibilities for orbit. After the spacecraft reaches the Moon it is
spacecraft developments are shown in Fig. 4. As shown in inserted into a circular orbit having a 100-km altitude
this figure, the ISRO side will provide the lander and the via a few orbital changes. In the lunar orbit, it waits
JAXA side will provide the rover and launch rocket. This until the orbital plane passes over the landing site, then
plan is the current baseline and may change as the joint transitions to an orbit of landing preparation. In the
study progresses. powered-descent phase, the lander decelerates by
continuous thruster injection and control of the velocity
Table1: Mission outline in the horizontal direction relative to the lunar surface
Launch year Early 2020s to about 0 m/s. During this phase, the position of the
Launcher H3 lander is estimated by landmark navigation. In the
Launch orbit Same as KAGUYA
vertical-descent phase, the lander performs altitude
Launch mass Around 6 ton
Mission duration One half year
control and obstacle avoidance and corrects the position
Landing site Lunar polar region error generated in the powered-descent phase. It shuts
Rover and instruments for water down all thrusters immediately before landing on the
Payloads prospecting and environmental lunar surface. After landing, the rover is deployed on
observation the lunar surface using ramps. The rover then prospects
water ice with its observation instruments.

Fig. 3. Schematic image of the spacecraft

IAC-19.A3.2A.6 Page 4 of 6
3.4 Operational plan of observation
Though various methods can be considered for
observation of water-ice, the following observation
instruments and their operation are considered as an
example.
A) Coarse observation (Fig. 5)
- The rover runs around the waypoint in the pre-defined
exploration area.
- At this time, the rover observes lunar surface and blow
water distribution with an underground radar, a neutron
spectrometer and imaging spectroscopic camera.
- Based on these data, an area where water-ice may exist
is identified.
Fig. 5: Coarse observation
B) Fine observation (Fig. 6)
- The following observations will be made using samples
acquired while excavating up to 1.5 m underground by
an earth auger.
 Soil temperature measurement.
 Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of the sample
(measuring the content of volatile substances from
the mass loss with heating).
 Analyzing volatile molecular species by a mass
spectrometer.
 D/H ratio measurement by a cavity ringdown
spectroscopy.
In the observation series, steps A and B are repeated at
each predefined waypoint in the exploration area.
Fig. 6: Fine observation
IAC-19.A3.2A.6
4. R&D of enabling technologies
We currently focus on technologies to realize
exploration of lunar polar regions and are promoting the
following research and development.
A) Power system
The sunshine in the polar regions is mostly from the
horizontal direction. In addition, the point where the
possibility of water ice is high does not have much
sunshine. Therefore, the surface temperature is generally
low. To meet these conditions, we aim to realize a tower-
like solar cell for power generation and a high-energy-
density lithium-ion battery for heating.
Support arm
Sun trucking
Thin‐film  solar  cell 
Solar  cell  container
Deployment  mast
Fig. 7 Solar cell tower deployment test
B) Image-based navigation
As mentioned above, the polar sunshine is mostly from the
horizontal direction. At the time of landing, it might be
difficult to use terrain such as a crater for image-based
navigation. Therefore, we are considering shadow-image-
based navigation using shadows caused by terrain.
Fig. 8 Image-based navigation using the feature points
of shadows.
Page 5 of 6
C) Rover system Acknowledgments
In addition to observation instruments, various The authors would like to thank the members of the
functions such as lunar drilling and sample ISRO team for their contributions to the concept study
collection/transport are required for water ice prospecting. described in this paper.
Therefore, we are developing a rover test model equipped
with an earth auger drill for exploring subsurface water References
ice to examine required functions (Fig. 9). [1] The International Space Exploration Coordination
We have also conducted a long-distance traveling test Group (ISECG), Global Exploration Roadmap (3rd
of the wheel system in a vacuum-regolith environment to edition), January 2018,
increase the reliability and travel distance of the rover https://www.globalspaceexploration.org/wordpress/
(Fig.10). In the test, simulated lunar soil, FJS-1, is used. wp-content/isecg/GER_2018_small_mobile.pdf
(accessed 15.09.18).
[2] Sending American Astronauts to Moon in 2024,
NASA Accepts Challenge,
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/sending-american-
astronauts-to-moon-in-2024-nasa-accepts-challenge
(accessed April 22, 2019)
[3] T. Hashimoto et al., System design of CubeSat
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18,A3,IP,9,x42452, Bremen, Germany, 2018.
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Precise Lunar Landing, 26th International
Symposium on Space Flight Dynamics, Matsuyama,
Japan, ISTS-2017-d-053 / ISSFD-2017-053.ISTS
2017, 2017
[5] S. Li et al., Direct evidence of surface exposed water
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JAXA is planning a lunar polar exploration mission in Mission -SELENE-R, 68th International
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abundance of water-ice. In this paper, we have reported Adelaide, Australia, 2017.
on the current study status of the mission. We expect the [11] T. Hoshino et al., Japanese Lunar Polar Exploration
mission to contribute to the international space Mission: 69th International Astronautical Congress,
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2020s.

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