Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Toyota sign 3-year deal to develop a fuel cell Moon rover

Toyota will work with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on a fuel cell Moon rover vehicle, with a target launch date of a Moon mission currently set for 2029. The two previously announced their collaboration, but on Tuesday they signed a formal agreement, which defines a three-year joint research agreement to co-develop pressurized lunar rover prototypes. Each year will see the partnership focus on a different phase of the prototype's development, with 2019 all about identifying technical requirements and drawing up spec docs; next year, the goal will be to build test parts and then actually put together a rover prototype; finally, in fiscal 2021, the partners will test both the rover parts and rover prototype in order to evaluate the results for potential full production.