The EDEN Team of the Planetary Infrastructure Research Group at the DLR Institute of Space Systems, had the honor of hosting Hayato Okuma from JAXA: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, together with Yoshitoki Tanaka and Soichi Mori from JGC.
The visit centered on future collaboration in space agriculture and bioregenerative life support systems (BLSS). The participants were inspired by Japan’s Space Foodsphere consortium — a partnership between academia and industry that launched the Stardust Program under the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). The initiative aims to build sustainable, resource-recycling food systems for long-duration lunar missions, foster an emerging space food market, and promote co-creative platforms and cross-sector collaboration.
The LUNA and Lunar Agriculture Module – Ground Test Demonstrator (LAM-GTD) teams shared their objectives and current development progress, followed by a tour of the EDEN facilities. The visit concluded with an engaging discussions on potential future collaboration toward sustainable food production for human space exploration.
Sincere thanks to our visitors from Japan for an inspiring exchange on space food research and facility development. We look forward to building future partnerships toward our shared vision of sustainable space exploration.
