Deputy Prime Minister Étienne Schneider is heading for Japan today for a working visit dedicated exclusively to the space sector. 

During the trip, Minister Schneider will meet Japan’s minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology, Toshiei Mizuochi, and Yosuke Tsuroho, the secretary of state for space policy, with a view to building future collaborations between Japan and Luxembourg within the framework of the Luxembourg initiative SpaceResources.lu.

Minster Schneider’s trip will include visits to the Japanese company ispace, and to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). 

As part of the Spaceresources.lu initiative, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in March between the Luxembourg Government and ispace whose European branch is due to set up shop in the Grand Duchy. Through the collaboration with ispace, Luxembourg will be part of the launch of a small robot on the moon before the end of this year.

Image: Etienne Schneider with Takeshi Hakamada, CEO of ispace, in March this year. © MECO