Countries around the world are planning exploration activities aimed at establishing sustainable operational bases on the Moon (e.g., the Artemis program by the U.S.). One of the greatest challenges in building infrastructure for future human activities on the Moon is the high cost associated with transporting supplies from Earth. To overcome this challenge, establishing technologies to locally procure resources present on the Moon, such as water and metallic elements, is essential. This project will develop four observation devices capable of measuring the concentration and mineral composition of elements expected to be lunar resources directly on the lunar surface. It will conduct resource exploration on the Moon and acquire resource data. The four observation devices that this team will develop are a wide-angle spectroscopic camera, a neutron/gamma-ray sensor, a laser-induced plasma emission spectrometer, and a microscopic spectroscopy camera. By combining these components, we aim to demonstrate a unique observation method capable of discovering resource elements, evaluating their concentration and total quantity, and even identifying their presence forms, such as "which elements are concentrated in which minerals".
Furthermore, this observation system is expected to contribute to acquiring lunar environmental data, such as geological and soil characteristics and radiation environments, which will be essential for planning future human lunar activities and lunar base construction.
To advance this project, an industry-academia collaboration team has been formed. It centers on researchers with experience in developing observation instruments for planetary exploration missions like Hayabusa2 and SLIM, and includes companies with extensive experience in the space sector and in possessing ground sensor technologies. This team will also contribute to strengthening the technological foundation for future lunar development and expanding the base of related fields.（excerpt from an external file published on the website of the Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo）。

Lead institution: The University of Tokyo
Collaborating institutions: The Ritsumeikan Trust, Kyoto University, Topcon Corporation, Vectology, Inc., HyTILA Corporation, Rans View Corporation, Systems Engineering Consultants Co., Ltd., Okayama University of Science
Cooperating institutions: Okayama University, RIKEN(Institute of Physical and Chemical Research), Nagoya University, Kanagawa University, Japan Atomic Energy Agency(JAEA), ispace, inc., Obayashi Corporation
Participating Organizations: Japan Manned Space Systems Corporation(JAMSS)
Affiliated Institution of Collaborator: St. Marianna University School of Medicine

Ritsumeikan University will be represented by Associate Professor Hiroshi Nagaoka of the Ritsumeikan University Research Organization of Science and Engineering and the Earth & Space Exploration Center (ESEC), who was involved in the SLIM mission. Joined by Associate Professor Yusuke Nakauchi, Associate Professor Atsushi Kakogawa, and Assistant Professor Takamasa Kominami, the Ritsumeikan team will develop two spacecraft-mounted instruments: a wide-field spectroscopic camera and a microscopic spectroscopic camera. The wide-field spectroscopic camera is an observation instrument that utilizes sunlight reflected from lunar rocks and regolith to conduct multi-wavelength imaging from the visible to near-infrared range, enabling the mapping of mineral resources within the area visible from the landing site. It will enable the detection of rock-forming minerals rich in iron, titanium, aluminum, and calcium, which are expected to serve as valuable metallic resources. The microscopic spectroscopic camera is equipped with its own light source and does not rely on sunlight, allowing it to illuminate and observe objects in close proximity that would normally be in the shadow of a lander or rover. Using spectral reflectance data obtained from the target materials, the system can detect micrometer-scale minerals contained in the regolith covering the lunar surface. The development of the two cameras involves forming a collaborative industry-academia team comprising Ritsumeikan University, Systems Engineering Consultants Co., Ltd., and Okayama University, which will undertake the development while also contributing to expanding the reach into related fields.

When I was a graduate student, I traveled to Tanegashima to witness the launch of the lunar exploration satellite Kaguya. Since then, I have experienced orbital exploration via Kaguya and landing exploration through my work on SLIM, and I find it deeply moving to now be involved in this project, which represents a new phase of lunar surface activities. The cameras to be deployed on the Moon will serve as our eyes, revealing new worlds on the lunar surface that cannot be seen from Earth. Based on the knowledge gained from these observations, we will work in close cooperation with our partner companies and academic institutions to accelerate humanity’s further advancement on the Moon, and we are fully committed to pursuing this new challenge with our utmost dedication.