Canada's space and resources legacies could come together, and Moon Trades is building the blueprint.

The Canadian Space Agency is defining Canada's strategy for lunar resource utilization. Moon Trades earned a spot on the team helping map this vision. 

News release

The Canadian Space Agency's Lunar Surface Exploration Initiative (LSEI) aims to define how humans will live and work on the moon. At its core is a simple but profound question: can we use what the moon already has, its water, its metals, its resources, to sustain long-duration missions and reduce our dependence on Earth? 

A link to CSA’s Award Notice is available here: Preparing the future of Moon exploration | Canadian Space Agency.

"The countries that define lunar resource utilization will define the next century of space exploration,” says Dr. Wintta Ghebreiyesus, Founder and CEO, Moon Trades Technologies. “Canada has the resource management heritage, the technology, and the talent to lead that effort. We are here to make sure it does."

"We are living through a moment where people are genuinely asking what comes next, for our economy, for our resources, for our future. Those are not abstract questions. Space is one of the most concrete answers we have. The technology we are building to find critical minerals in the most unforgiving environments on Earth is the same technology that will do it on the moon. That connection is intentional and that has always been the vision." 

Four consortia have been selected to answer that question through comprehensive architecture studies, and Moon Trades Technologies is proud to be a part of the Space Development In-situ Resource Technologies Inc. (SpaceDIRT) team that secured one of those awards, in the Mining and In-Situ Resource Utilization capability area. 

The LSEI Architecture Studies, awarded by the Canadian Space Agency, tasks the consortium with producing a comprehensive assessment of in-situ resource utilization sub-architecture on the lunar surface. The study is designed to evaluate the technical feasibility of ISRU technologies and inform future space exploration planning, with findings intended to shape how Canada and its partners approach resource utilization on the moon for years to come. 

Within the consortium, Moon Trades serves as the autonomous prospecting lead. Dr. Ghebreiyesus and her team will be contributing to areas such as Resource Prospecting and Characterization, engaging Canadian mining industry stakeholders, and leading the dual-use technology transfer analysis connecting lunar prospecting architectures to terrestrial applications. Moon Trades' PEBBLE platform integrates autonomous navigation in contested environments, sensor fusion for geochemical characterization, and georeferenced target prediction. Active field programs include an OCI-supported project at Cambrian College's Smart Mining Facility in Sudbury.

The consortium is led by SpaceDIRT, a BC-based systems integrator with deep experience in hardware development through its SLED rover product line. The US-based partner, Unleashed Robotics, brings two NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase I Fellowships and thousands of hours of aerospace fabrication experience to lead study execution and international research community engagement. 

Three companies, two Canadian-led, have been brought together to address mining and in-situ resource utilization, the work of defining how Canada unlocks the moon's vast and largely untouched resources.

Consortium team

SpaceDIRT Inc.

Langley, British Columbia

Unleashed Robotics

Seattle, Washington

Moon Trades Technologies

Toronto, Ontario

About SpaceDIRT

Space Development In-situ Resource Technologies Inc. (SpaceDIRT) is an autonomy company for resource development on Earth and beyond. Their technology brings exploration-scale drilling and material haulage into human-led resource operations, to increase site productivity. Building on Earth today, and in Space tomorrow. See their website at spacedirt.ca.

About Unleashed Robotics

Unleashed Robotics develops NASA-funded autonomous drilling technology for subsurface resource prospecting on Earth and in space. Their patent-pending FractalMining approach deploys swarms of Borebot drilling robots to conduct precise subsurface surveys in the most remote regions of the planet, born from a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts award for Mars deep-drilling exploration. See their website at unleashedrobotics.com.

About Moon Trades Technologies

Moon Trades Technologies builds AI-powered exploration intelligence for resource discovery on Earth and in space. Their technology autonomously predicts where to drill, making discovery faster, safer, and more cost-effective in the most extreme environments. See their website at moontrades.space.