Ukrainian technology is going to the moon.
The U.K.-based startup Spacebit, founded by Ukrainian entrepreneur Pavlo Tanasyuk, will send a sensor suite to the lunar surface in 2022 to study the feasibility of human settlement.
The box-shaped device, which measures 10 by 15 centimeters and weighs a kilogram, is loaded with cameras and radiation detectors, manufactured with the help of Ukrainian space firms, including the state-owned design bureau Pivdenne, developer of radiation detection equipment Ecotests, titanium supplier Titanera and aircraft manufacturer Merydian.
On a subsequent flight, the company also plans to send a spider-shaped robot to explore lunar caves.
Spacebit will become the first Ukrainian-founded company to land its equipment on the Moon’s surface, Tanasyuk said on Aug. 30.
“It is very important to know how the level of radiation differs on the Moon’s surface to build settlements there and send astronauts,” Tanasyuk said.
Spacebit’s contraption will travel to space from Cape Canaveral in Florida on the lunar lander Peregrine manufactured by the U.S. firm Astrobotic, using the Vulcan Centaur rocket developed by private U.S. space firm United Launch Alliance. It will cost Spacebit $1.5 million to hitch a ride.
Spacebit will participate in three missions to the Moon next year. During the second lunar mission, in July-September, Spacebit will send its spider-shaped rover Asagumo, whose chassis will be 3D-printed in Ukraine, according to Anatoliy Amelin, cofounder at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future.
The photo shows a spider-shaped lunar rover Asagumo designed by Ukrainian space startup Spacebit. (Spacebit/Facebook)
Landing technology on the surface of the Moon is important for Ukraine, Amelin said. As of today, only the U.S. and China have the most recent data about the Moon’s radiation level, temperature and soil samples. “Now Ukraine will also have it,” he said.
Although Tanasyuk founded his company in the U.K., he works closely with Ukrainian and international space firms. “Gone are the days when only one country could achieve something in space. Today, our partners in the U.S. and other countries work in collaboration with each other,” Tanasyuk said.
In 2006, Tanasyuk moved to London from Zhytomyr, a city of 266,100 people 140 kilometers west of Kyiv. He founded Spacebit in 2015 after selling his first company, the payment system Monexy, founded in the U.K. in 2010.
Over the last six years, Spacebit has attracted nearly $10 million from private firms, including the Ukrainian alcohol brand Nemiroff and DTEK Academy, a corporate university of Ukraine’s energy company DTEK.
Spacebit doesn’t generate profits but has enough income to reinvest in the development of new tech. “That is how we increase our valuation,” Tanasyuk said.
For Tanasyuk, the U.K. was an obvious choice to establish Spacebit.
“If you want to do something in space, you should come to the U.K.,” he said in an interview with Forbes in 2019. As of today, the company employs 25 people based in Ukraine, the U.S., Japan and Luxembourg.
The company’s goal is to deliver cargo to the moon, which will be able to host a small permanent settlement in the next 10 years, according to Tanasyuk’s vision.
“We see the advantages of mining and industrial development on the Moon — it’s not as far away as we think. In the next 10-15 years, there will be a lot of things to do there. It is an endless field of opportunities for private businesses,” Tanasyuk said.
