Citizen x ispace: The moon mission continues

Citizen x ispace: The moon mission continues

The first commercial lunar landing was scheduled to take place on June 5 of this year, carried out by the Japanese startup ispace. Citizen has been its technology partner since 2019, contributing its expertise in titanium.

The material is extremely lightweight and durable – and has become indispensable in space travel. Citizen's material portfolio is no different. As a titanium pioneer with 55 years of experience and in-house developments, the cornerstone of the partnership with ispace is patented Super Titanium. This is a pure titanium material that, thanks to Citizen's proprietary Duratect surface technology, exhibits properties ideal for use on the moon.

Therefore, corresponding titanium components were used in the lunar module Resilience and the rovers for exploring the Earth's satellite.

On Earth, Citizen uses Super Titanium in many watch collections, most recently in the new models of the “Zenshin” series with automatic or Eco-Drive transmission.

Citizen and the Moon: The mission continues

Unfortunately, as in the 2023 attempt, the landing maneuver was unsuccessful, and the lunar module crashed into the lunar surface. This was likely due to faulty data from the laser altimeter.

The first commercial landing on the moon with Citizen technology on board is still a long way off. But the fact that it didn't work this time is clearly not due to Citizen's Super Titanium.

Titanium was chosen by ispace's engineers for its light weight and strength. Super Titanium, developed by Citizen, is also particularly suitable for a lunar mission thanks to ion plating, cold plasma, glass hardening, and duplex coating. Among other things, it is six times harder than stainless steel, particularly durable, abrasion-resistant, and very lightweight.

With HAKUTO-R, Citizen's Super Titanium returned to its roots. The brand drew inspiration for the world's first titanium watch, the "X-8 Chronometer" from 1970, from space exploration. As early as the 1960s, the brand began testing the material's suitability for watch production.

But the watch manufacturer wasn't satisfied with "plain" titanium. So they developed Super Titanium, which they have been using since 2000. Thanks to the Duratect surface treatment, it is extremely scratch-resistant, extremely lightweight, highly temperature-resistant, and completely hypoallergenic. Furthermore, it can be achieved in a wide variety of colors and a smooth, mirror-like surface.