Ever since the start of aviation, those involved in the industry have poured countless amounts of time and money into pushing the sector to new heights. A recent obsession among the world’s major airlines has been the development of longer and longer nonstop routes, but, now, Japan Airlines is looking to go a step further. Indeed, it has become the first airline to launch a lunar transport service.

The Japanese flag carrier has teamed up with ispace to bring what it is calling the ‘Argo Project’ to life. This deal comes around six months after the members of the wider Japan Airlines Group signed a memorandum of understanding with ispace “to explore collaboration in the fields of lunar transportation and operations.” Let’s take a closer look at the finer details of the agreement, and why it is important.

The First Deal Of Its Kind

Credit: Japan Airlines

The deal between JAL and ispace specifically concerns the latter’s next lunar landing mission. This, Japan Airlines explains, is “currently scheduled for 2028.” As of yesterday, the payload service agreement between the two groups now allows JAL to sell payload transport capacity for the next mission, with a view to delivering this cargo to the lunar surface in a Möbius Ark transportation container.

This transport capacity will be made available to both local governments and private companies. However, regardless of who takes JAL up on its offer, the Japanese flag carrier sees the Argo Project as “an initiative to pass on Earth’s culture on the Moon for future generations, utilizing ispace lunar landers” first and foremost. This culture can be depicted in a wide variety of forms, as Japan Airlines explains:

“JAL will collaborate with local governments and companies throughout Japan to collect items that reflect modern culture, such as regional specialties and products representative of local businesses.”

More On The Argo Project

Credit: Japan Airlines

As previously noted, JAL has named this initiative the Argo Project. Its full name is ‘The ARGO Trans-Lunar Heritage Project,’ wth ARGO itself standing for ‘The Ark Relaying for Generations Onward.’ In addition to serving as a catchy acronym, the project also shares its name with a constellation known as Argo Navis. This, the Japanese flag carrier explained this week, “represents a great sailing ship.”

As such, it serves as an apt name for JAL’s latest lunar project, given that the airline’s new initiative “aims to pass on precious cultural heritage and human activities to future lunar inhabitants.” The carrier also believes that sending artefacts of human culture to the moon could be a good way of preserving them for future generations, as “disasters, conflicts, and other factors” put them at risk on Earth.

The transport container that JAL has devised for this mission is known as the Möbius Ark, and it would be a relatively small vessel, measuring just 20 x 20 x 10 cm (eight x eight x four inches). Consisting of various internal compartments, its design “uses materials capable of withstanding the lunar environment to protect the contents.” Naturally, the golden box also features a Japan Airlines logo.

Two Years To Go

Credit: Japan Airlines

While it is still going to be another two years before the next ispace lunar mission, time moves very quickly in the wonderful world of aviation. With this in mind, JAL has devised a four-phase roadmap that will take its vision from announcement to reality in the required time. As detailed in the graphic above, the first phase begins now: JAL is developing the container and calling for payload items.

All four of the phases are named after one of the smaller constellations that make up the aforementioned wider Argo Navis constellation. The other three phases are all set to take place in 2028, when the landing mission hits the skies. The first of these will see ispace launch its rocket, with the second being the lunar landing and container placement. Thereafter, the fourth phase is the storage and preservation.