The Japanese maker of a sports drink mix says it will be the first company to advertise its product on the moon, by placing a version of its product on the lunar surface.
Beverage company Otsuku says it plans to send a can of its Pocari Sweat drink to the moon as part of a planned commercial moon-landing undertaking set for October 2015.
The company, citing evidence in NASA studies that water could be present under the moon's surface, says it's hoping future astronauts can avail themselves of the drink by mixing the powder with that water -- assuming any is ever discovered.
A 2.2-pound version of a Pocari Sweat can will be the delivery capsule, which will also contain messages composed by 38,000 children around Asia, Otsuku says.
The messages will be laser-etched on titanium plates for the trip to the moon in the capsule.
The first commercial product placed on another world as a marketing effort could inspire youngsters to consider becoming astronauts, the company said.
Otsuku says the capsule would be carried aboard a Falcon 9 rocket built by commercial space flight firm SpaceX.
Although Falcon 9 rockets have already completed three successful missions to deliver supplies to the International Space Station, the 2015 launch would be its first attempt to make the four-day, 236,121-mile trip to take a payload to our moon.
A lander built by the private firm Astrobotic Technology would take the Pocari-branded canister to a soft landing on the lunar surface, Otsuku said.
Funding from Otsuku may help Astrobotic in its quest to claim the Lunar X prize, the $20-million award offered by Google for the first group to put a lander on the lunar surface capable of traveling at least 500 yards while beaming high-definition pictures to Earth.
The canister is designed to withstand the stresses of launch and touchdown as well as changes in temperature and high levels of solar radiation.
"This capsule was created by bringing together elements of Japan's craftsmanship," Otsuku Vice President Masayuki Umeno said.
It will be deposited in the Lacus Mortin pit, a lava plain in the northeast region of the moon.
The Otsuku company had declined to say how much it will be spending to put a Pocari Sweat can -- or at least a capsule meant to look like one -- on the moon.
