NASA has plans to send humans to the Moon, and China already has its robot exploring the far side of the Moon, and Mexico wants to join the hunt. Dereum Labs, a technology group, plans to send Mexicans to the Moon using the expertise of Airbus. Carlos Mariscal is CEO of Dereum Labs. He says: "In a few years, the industries that today are not related to Space will be doing business on the Moon, Mars and beyond." He elaborates that if people have to travel to the Moon, they will adapt to long-term living on the alien surface.

To survive, they have to depend on whatever is available there or carry them from the Earth. Hence, it is necessary to search for and locate natural resources that could meet the requirements.

Auto Evolution says the focus would be to extract resources like oxygen, water and fuel from the surface layer, known as regolith. It would be a process beginning with regolith identification and ending with the extraction of valuable resources. In October 2020, NASA confirmed the availability of water on the sunny side of the Moon.

Airbus to play a major role in Mexico's Moon mission

Mexico hopes to become another player in the field after America, Europe and China.

All of them want to mine the riches from the Moon. America and China have moon rocks with them. Mexico, in partnership with Airbus, wants to leave a mark in the field of space exploration. The long-term vision of Dereum Labs is to explore the red planet Mars and asteroids. It says the project would begin by gathering data to map out potential resources and will depend on Mexican capabilities. Robotics would come into play in a big way with a combination of Artificial Intelligence and renewable energy. These three are invaluable in missions like tapping the natural resources on the Moon. Auto Evolution mentions Airbus will assist with the necessary technology to get these vehicles to the Moon.

It is also working on ROXY. This is a system to extract metal and oxygen from lunar resources.

Extracting resources from the Moon

According to The Register, Mexico wants to enter the field of space exploration. The Mexican Space Agency (MSA) would tie-up with Airbus and collaborate on natural resources on the Moon. Their focus would be on extracting oxygen and metal or establish facilities to mine water. Dereum, a company of Mexico, would finance the project, and it plans to launch a pair of rovers to the Moon in 2022. However, there is no information on the agency that would launch them.

Airbus has experience in handling Moon related matters

In the opinion of The Register, Airbus is in a comparatively better position to reach the Moon.

It has its Ariane launchers that are reliable. It also has experience of building satellites, cargo craft and components of the International Space Station (ISS). Apart from the above, Airbus has links to the European Space Agency for orbit communication satellites around the Moon. Obviously, a joint venture between Airbus and Mexico would benefit the space community. In September last year, NASA set the ball rolling for business ventures associated with Moon rocks. The American Space Agency is also working to send astronauts to the Moon by 2024. There would be a woman in the team. There are other countries in the fray to lay hands-on natural resources on the Moon and Mars. America is way ahead of others because it has created an enviable infrastructure over decades to reach this stage.