Georgia set to join lunar mission in Touch Summit23 and Spacebit collaboration

Georgia is set to join a mission to the moon through a collaborative effort between Touch, the Tbilisi-based platform connecting digital professionals, startups, business and investors, and the United Kingdom-based Spacebit robotics technology company for lunar and planetary missions. 

The announcement from Touch came on Tuesday as part of the Touch Summit23, the largest tech conference in the South Caucasus, scheduled to run between December 7-8. The event will enable delegates to participate in lunar exploration thanks to the platform's cooperation with the British company.

The Summit programme will involve over 50 speakers including Spacebit founder and CEO Pavlo Tanasyuk, as well as more than 60 sessions, workshops, a startup challenge, an exposition, mentoring sessions and entertainment events.

Tanasyuk is expected to share insights into the historic mission, set to launch on December 24, marking the first lunar expedition since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s historic 1969 landing in the Apollo 11 programme.

The mission, conducted in cooperation with NASA, will see Georgia join forces with Ukraine and Great Britain to send a rover robot to the moon. Named Asagumo - meaning morning cloud in Japanese - the rover moves on legs instead of wheels. If successful, it will spend eight days on the lunar surface, meticulously studying and exploring its terrain, the platform said. 

Touch Summit23 delegates will have an opportunity to send digital letters to the moon, facilitated through a dedicated website created for the purpose. The messages by individuals from countries including Georgia will be deposited on the lunar soil by Asagumo.

The delegates will also have the opportunity of witnessing live footage of the spacecraft's launch from the Earth's surface through a closed link.