Dereum Labs

Dereum Labs, founded in 2021 and headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico, is a space technology startup focused on In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) — the extraction and processing of water ice, oxygen, and metals from lunar regolith to support sustained human presence on the Moon. The company represents Mexico's and Latin America's most prominent entry into the lunar economy, bringing regional engineering talent into the global new space sector.

The company's core focus is developing lunar mining and processing systems capable of operating in the extreme thermal cycling, hard vacuum, and low-gravity environment of the lunar surface. Water ice — confirmed in permanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles by NASA's LCROSS and LRO missions — is ISRU's most valuable target because it can be electrolyzed into hydrogen and oxygen, providing both life support and rocket propellant without resupply from Earth. Dereum's technology roadmap targets the extraction, purification, and storage of lunar water as a precursor to a self-sustaining lunar propellant economy.

Dereum has partnered with Airbus Defence and Space, one of Europe's largest aerospace manufacturers, to co-develop ISRU hardware and benefit from Airbus's experience in spacecraft systems engineering and ESA mission integration. The partnership with Mexico's Agencia Espacial Mexicana (AEM) provides institutional support and positions Dereum as a national champion for Mexico's emerging space sector, which has been expanding state capacity since AEM's founding in 2010.

The company has participated in international space accelerators and been recognized within the growing Latin American new space ecosystem alongside Brazilian companies like Sputnik and Visiona. As NASA's Artemis program drives commercial ISRU demand through programs like the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) and future tipping point awards, Dereum is positioning itself as an international supplier capable of contributing ISRU subsystems to the broader Artemis architecture. The company competes in the ISRU space with Masten Space Systems (acquired by Astrobotic), Lunar Resources, and Pioneer Astronautics.