Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

Japan's space agency said Monday it aims to engage from around the mid-2030s in lunar exploration using hydrogen generated by water extracted from the Moon's ice deposits as fuel.

Using the water-derived fuel is expected to cut costs compared with transporting fuel from Earth. While liquid water does not exist on the Moon's surface, past research suggests there may be ice at a crater near the lunar south pole, which has never been exposed to sunlight.

Japan plans to work with the United States in building the lunar orbit space station Gateway in the 2020s and construct by around 2035 a fuel factory at the lunar south pole.

 “Kyodo”