{"id":66076,"date":"2019-08-01T11:27:32","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T02:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/?p=66076"},"modified":"2019-09-24T14:43:47","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T05:43:47","slug":"%e6%9c%88%e3%81%ab%e7%9c%a0%e3%81%a3%e3%81%a6%e3%81%84%e3%82%8b-%e6%b0%b4%e8%b3%87%e6%ba%90%e3%82%92%e6%8e%a2%e6%9f%bb%e3%81%99%e3%82%8b-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/news\/66076","title":{"rendered":"Space resources: Water exploration on Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Natural resources on earth are limited in amount and are currently depleting faster than our planet can replenish them. From making electricity use more efficient to improving recycling systems, there are many things we can do to resolve natural resource depletion. Among these solutions, one of them is to look into space for more natural resources.<\/p>\n<p>To find out more, Waseda\u2019s public relations magazine <em>CampusNow<\/em> had a short interview with Katsuaki Tanaka, a Waseda alumnus who currently works for a private lunar robotic exploration company called ispace. Accordingly to Tanaka, ispace\u2019s ultimate goal is to expand the sphere of human habitation to space but the first step to realizing it is to look into exploration of water resources on the moon.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_65940\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-65940\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2019\/07\/e96fd231b04daa7f456418cff45162ee.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"466\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2019\/07\/e96fd231b04daa7f456418cff45162ee.jpg 1126w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2019\/07\/e96fd231b04daa7f456418cff45162ee-610x406.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2019\/07\/e96fd231b04daa7f456418cff45162ee-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Katsuaki Tanaka (left)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cIf we could obtain water which can be broken down into oxygen and hydrogen on the moon, we would be able to supply energy to spaceships and satellites from the moon. The water will not only be essential for human beings to live on the moon but can also be used as fuel cell to generate electricity and heat. By doing so, we would also be able to reduce the cost incurred in supplying energy to the moon from the earth by as much as 99%,\u201d said Tanaka.<\/p>\n<p>Tanaka\u2019s main role in his team lies in rover mobility design for moon exploration. In order for robots to explore on the moon, these robots must be able to withstand pressure during a launch and be able to move freely on moon\u2019s unique surface and physical environment. The team is very particular about the overall robotic design and the parts used in moon exploration robots, even to the extent of scrutinizing the type and characteristics of the screws used to hold the robots intact.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 50%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-66076 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/%e7%94%b0%e4%b8%ad%e5%85%8b%e6%98%8e%e3%81%95%e3%82%93-2'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"360\" height=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2019\/07\/b2cf8a183ef3177dcdc5ab4c154bce32-360x270.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2019\/07\/b2cf8a183ef3177dcdc5ab4c154bce32-360x270.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2019\/07\/b2cf8a183ef3177dcdc5ab4c154bce32-720x540.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/%e7%94%b0%e4%b8%ad%e5%85%8b%e6%98%8e%e3%81%95%e3%82%93-4'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"360\" height=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2019\/07\/56ff58a8abf155f0a14cc10f5de3f085-360x270.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2019\/07\/56ff58a8abf155f0a14cc10f5de3f085-360x270.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2019\/07\/56ff58a8abf155f0a14cc10f5de3f085-720x540.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>\u201cWhen I was a student, I\u2019ve done research on and developed small robots that can move freely by themselves in forests which are filled with obstacles and uneven surfaces. Such research experience was really a great help in helping me design robots for moon exploration,\u201d said Tanaka on how his research and studies at Waseda were beneficial in his current project.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSophisticated technical expertise is required in the aerospace industry. As countries around the world compete in technology in resource development, higher level expertise would be required and seen across countries. As we carry the hope that undiscovered resources would enrich our life, we need to make sure that we possess the latest technology and expertise to compete with the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Natural resources on earth are limited in amount and are currently depleting faster than our planet can replen [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65945,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,117],"tags":[45,178],"class_list":["post-66076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-topic","tag-alumni-en","tag-research-en","lang-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}