NGen launches program to support Canada’s development of lunar mining solutions

Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen) has launched its Moonshot 4 Mining, Minerals and Manufacturing (M4M3) initiative, a C$5.5 million program designed to support the development of novel in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) solutions for mining, minerals and manufacturing for both lunar and terrestrial environments.

NGen is the industry-led not-for-profit organization that leads Canada’s Global Innovation Cluster for Advanced Manufacturing. Its mandate is to help build world-leading advanced manufacturing capabilities for the benefit of Canadians.

The organization seeks projects with dual-use applications that will strengthen Canada’s technological leadership in space and help revitalize the long-term competitiveness of the nation’s most important industrial sectors.

The M4M3 program is expected lead to next-generation innovations that help tackle the challenges of establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon, leveraging Canada’s strengths in fields like artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum sensing, and additive manufacturing that can then be re-applied back on earth.

These innovations will have direct and positive impacts on environmental sustainability, productivity, talent and job creation in Canada’s mining, energy, and advanced manufacturing sectors, NGen said.

This initiative is undertaken with the financial support of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) following an announcement of opportunity. NGen’s call for projects will support ISRU solutions and commercialization in the following areas: mining, critical minerals and manufacturing.

“NGen wants to draw on Canada’s expertise in space and advanced manufacturing technologies to build world-leading solutions for lunar resource development while contributing to the competitiveness of Canada’s critical manufacturing and mining sectors,” NGen NGen Jayson Myers said a statement.

“New solutions are needed for these dual-purpose applications that promise to put Canada at the forefront of industrial innovation in space and on earth.”