ispace is a Japanese lunar exploration company that aims to provide low-cost and frequent transportation services to the Moon. They specialize in designing and building lunar landers and rovers for payload delivery and data collection. ispace has partnerships with organizations like JAXA and ESA, and their customers include government space agencies, research institutions, and private companies. The company's vision is to expand human presence beyond Earth by enabling the utilization of lunar resources.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched and deployed two Moon landers on January 15, 2026: Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost and ispace Japan’s Hakuto-R.
Firefly Aerospace and ispace are competing to win business for sending payloads to the Moon.
SpaceX is targeting a shared Falcon 9 launch on January 15 for the ispace Japan and Firefly Aerospace Moon lander duo.
The Falcon 9 will also carry HAKUTO-R M2, or Resilience, the second lunar lander by Japanese company ispace.
ispace cannot directly bid on NASA payloads but has a partnership with Draper for one CLPS mission.
ispace adhered to explicit pre-defined success criteria during its first Moon mission despite a failed landing.
iSpace (Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology Ltd.) plans to launch the 69-meter-long kerolox Hyperbola-3 in 2025 with a recovered payload capacity of 8,500 kg to LEO and eventual plans for reusability.
ispace operates three business units in Japan, the United States, and Luxembourg.
ispace, inc. and the Taiwan Space Agency signed a memorandum of understanding to enter into dialogues for a potential strategic collaboration on lunar exploration on 2024-12-19.
ispace’s Mission 2 features the RESILIENCE lunar lander and the TENACIOUS micro rover and is led by ispace Japan with a launch scheduled no earlier than mid-January 2025.
ispace was part of a delegation that hosted the Taiwan Space Agency during a visit to Japan leading to the memorandum of understanding.
ispace’s Mission 3 debuts the APEX 1.0 lunar lander, is led by ispace-U.S., and is expected to launch in 2026.
ispace’s Mission 6 will utilize the Series 3 lander currently being designed in Japan and is scheduled to launch by 2027.
The signing ceremony for the memorandum of understanding between ispace and the Taiwan Space Agency took place at the 2024 Taiwan International Assembly of Space Science, Technology, and Industry (TASTI).
ispace Mission 2 will launch to the Moon on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket alongside Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 during a six-day window that opens no earlier than mid-January 2025.
ispace obtained Lunar Insurance for Mission 2 from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, Limited.
ispace released its SMBC x HAKUTO-R Venture Moon Mission 2 Milestones & Ventures on 2024-12-18 and opened a six-day launch window mid-2025-01-01.
TENACIOUS will be operated by ispace-EUROPE once deployed on the lunar surface and will undertake ventures including delivering the MoonHouse payload to the lunar surface.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander will separate first from the Falcon 9, after which the Falcon 9 upper stage will perform another burn and then ispace’s Resilience lander will be deployed.
Mission 3 will debut the APEX 1.0 lunar lander, will be led by ispace-U.S., and is expected to launch in 2026.