The space robot Resilience, developed by Japanese company ispace, is scheduled to land on the Moon in early June, carrying with it a small Luxembourg-built rover named Tenacious, aiming to explore the lunar surface and collect samples of regolith, the Moon’s loose surface material.

The European headquarters of ispace is based in Luxembourg City’s Gare district inside a former logistics facility – once operated by Paul Wurth. Within, a small but highly international team – about 40 people representing roughly 30 nationalities – have been dedicated to developing lunar rovers over the past several years.

The facility includes a technical design centre, a fabrication lab, a mission control room, and a testing area that replicates lunar conditions. The test area covers around 100 square metres and features simulated lunar terrain with craters, rocks, and basaltic sand. While it’s not a perfect replica of the Moon, system engineer Antoine Bocquier explains that it is an essential tool for training and validating the rovers in realistic conditions.

Made in Luxembourg

Creating rovers for lunar exploration is at the core of the work carried out by ispace Europe’s engineers. Their latest creation, Tenacious, is a compact, high-tech vehicle no larger than a shoebox, which now finds itself  en route to the Moon. Bocquier highlights the challenge: building a five-kilogram machine capable of generating its own energy, driving on the Moon’s surface, operating cameras, and carrying scientific payloads, all while withstanding harsh mechanical and thermal conditions. He adds that soon “a little piece of Luxembourg” will be on the Moon.

Following a two-month journey through space and over a million kilometres of travel, Resilience successfully entered lunar orbit on 7 May. It was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on 15 January from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

For the ispace team, the mission is a point of pride and a major milestone. Robotics engineer Yamin Merabet described it as a collective achievement, not only for Luxembourg but for Europe as a whole, symbolising a shared journey towards the Moon.

He explained that Luxembourg has played a crucial role in supporting the project, not only by offering facilities but also by leading in the field of space legislation. According to Merabet, Luxembourg was the first European country to fully embrace the development of space law, which attracted a wave of investors and helped establish the country as a hub for space innovation.

Over the next four to five months, Resilience will travel to its landing site on the Moon. In addition to carrying Tenacious, the lander also hosts scientific equipment developed by other companies. These include a water electrolysis system, a food production experiment, a deep space radiation probe, and an artistic model of a house created by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg. The team at ispace aims to carry out on-site demonstrations of several of these technologies once on the lunar surface.

A second attempt at the Moon

This mission marks ispace’s second attempt to land on the Moon. In April 2023, their first lunar lander suffered a crash landing, abruptly ending their goal of becoming the first private company to successfully land on the Moon.

Shortly after, US-based Intuitive Machines achieved a successful (though imperfect) landing, with its robotic spacecraft arriving at a difficult angle but still able to carry out experiments and transmit images. While ispace may not be the first, it remains determined to claim its place in the new era of lunar exploration, at a time when both governments and private enterprises are racing to the Moon.

There are still many milestones left to achieve. As Bocquier points out, this marks the first time a European-built rover has been sent into space. He also notes that Luxembourg, while home to long-standing players like satellite operator SES, has seen a notable expansion in recent years.

Over the past five to ten years, an increasing number of space companies have chosen to establish themselves in Luxembourg, diversifying both the technological landscape and the commercial offerings, said Merabet. This, he continues, has already had a significant impact on the country’s economy and job market, and how it evolves over the next decade will be something to watch closely.

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