A Sudbury-based space tech company is partnering with a Florida space transport company on future mining opportunities in outer space and for moon missions.
Deltion Innovations Ltd and Moon Express, Inc., announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding, Oct. 10, to collaborate on providing drilling equipment and transportation solutions for private companies and government agencies engaged in space exploration.
Deltion CEO Dale Boucher explained they had been working on this partnership for about two years.
“We talked with them for quite some time to be able to provide a one-stop shop for lunar science and lunar mining activities,” he said in an interview with Northern Ontario Business.
“Moon Express is more about transport and said they didn't want to get into the business of building drills and excavators. So we said, 'We will.'”
Deltion is based in the Sudbury suburb of Capreol.
Their technology includes drilling/excavation systems, processing, power systems, mobility systems, remote operations and sub-surface exploration equipment. The team approaches technology development from an Earth-based mining perspective and works on the transfer of technology between the terrestrial and space sectors.
This partnership allows both companies to offer a complete suite of services, as well as equipment that can be used to create standard procedures for future exploration.
Moon Express offers lunar commercial robotic spacecraft transportation and data services, with a long-term goal of exploring and developing the Moon’s resources.
Their engineering and test facilities are located at Space Launch Complexes 17 and 18 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station neighbouring NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"We are very happy that Deltion is our first Canadian industry MOU,” said Bob Richards, Moon Express Founder and CEO in a statement. “We are confident that this partnership will allow Moon Express to offer services to our customers to meet their science and exploration needs, especially in the area of lunar resources.”
Northern Ontario Business will update this story tomorrow.
