Monday's agenda of minister Franz Fayot's economic mission in Dubai was centred around space. While the authorities presented the now complete ecosystem on the sidelines of the international aeronautics congress, one of the companies part of Luxembourg’s stand, the Japanese company iSpace, announced an extension of its Series C funding round on 4 August.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to compare the $195.5m announced in August with the $200m announced on Monday. In other words, the new investors in this round of funding, Airbus Ventures and Axiom Asia Ventures Partners, have added $4.5m.

"Whether it's Moon-made solar panels, catalysts for Earth's hydrogen future, or off-world mining and manufacturing that alleviate the cumulative stresses on Earth's climate and biodiversity, we see Moon development as a key solution to humanity's planetary system crises. We are therefore particularly pleased to invest in iSpace, whose growing ability to analyse the Moon's resources and provide key data on behalf of our home world is a great first step towards building a functional and sustainable Earth-Moon system," commented Lewis Pinault, Airbus Ventures Partner for Japan and Pacific Asia.

The Google Lunar XPRIZE finalist has developed a flight-ready lunar Rover and iSpace is now planning its first lunar landing next year, before a second mission the following year. Designed in Japan, the Rover is currently being assembled in Germany. It will be launched by SpaceX.

On its first mission, iSpace's Rover will deliver payloads to the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and three companies that have received awards under the Canadian Space Agency's Lunar Exploration Accelerator programme.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.