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.
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ispace assembled the STM in April 2021 at a Japan Airlines facility near Narita International Airport before subjecting it to vibration, acoustics, and thermal vacuum tests at a facility near Tokyo.
Assembly and integration of ispace Mission 1 payloads are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021.
ispace obtained approximately $17,900,000 (USD) in bank loans.
Private company iSpace experienced a Hyperbola-1 solid rocket failure in early February 2021 and a return-to-flight was expected in July 2021.
Chinese commercial companies planning launches in 2021 include Landspace, iSpace, Deep Blue Aerospace, Expace and CAS Space.
Other Chinese state-owned and commercial companies planning launches in 2021 include Landspace, iSpace, Deep Blue Aerospace, Expace, and CAS Space.
In 2017, ispace opened a subsidiary office in Luxembourg and signed a memorandum of understanding with the country for cooperation within the SpaceResources.lu initiative.
ispace has stated that utilizing resources on the Moon could enable the development of a cislunar economy and provide benefits on Earth while establishing a launch pad for deeper space access.
ispace, inc. is a Japanese lunar exploration company with a stated vision to utilize lunar resources such as water to expand human presence into outer space and create a sustainable future for humankind.
Takasago Thermal Engineering has developed an integrated water electrolysis and fuel cell unit and is considering conducting a mission to produce hydrogen and oxygen on the Moon using ispace’s upcoming lunar missions.
In 2016, ispace signed a memorandum of understanding with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to jointly create a roadmap for lunar resource development.
ispace has signed a HAKUTO-R corporate partnership with Takasago Thermal Engineering to develop water electrolysis equipment for lunar applications.
In 2020, NASA awarded contracts to ispace and ispace Europe S.A. to acquire regolith from the lunar surface to be purchased by the space agency.
In 2019, ispace Europe was selected by the European Space Agency to be part of the Science Team for the PROSPECT program to extract water on the Moon.
As of 2021-05-31, ispace’s total amount of bank loans reached $20,000,000 (USD) including an existing loan from Japan Finance and Dai-ichi Kangyo Credit Cooperative.
ispace has raised approximately $129,600,000 (USD) through Seed funding, a Series A round, and a Series B round.
ispace signed loan agreements totaling $17,900,000 (USD) with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, MUFG Bank, Ltd., Resona Bank, Limited, and Japan Finance Corporation on 2021-06-08 in Tokyo, Japan.
ispace plans to use the newly secured loans as backup funds to build the lander flight model for Mission 1, which is scheduled to launch in 2022.
ispace plans to use the newly secured loans to make up-front development investments for a lunar lander to be used in Mission 2, which is scheduled to launch in 2023.
ispace will transport a robot provided by JAXA to the Moon on ispace’s lunar lander during ispace’s Mission 1 planned to launch in 2022 as part of the HAKUTO-R commercial lunar exploration program.