ispace

ispace

ispace

Lunar robotic exploration company that is developing micro-robotic technology to provide a low-cost and frequent transportation service to and from Moon.

Created: 2018-11-22

Updated: 2025-01-05

Company - ispace

Founded
Country
2010
Japan,Luxembourg,USA
Funding
$320M+
Website
https://ispace-inc.com/
Social
ispace

Product/Service - HAKUTO-R, Blueprint Moon, Series 1, Series 2

Classification
Cargo Transportation & Landers
Category
Transport Service (LEO-Moon)
Commercial Lunar Lander
Lunar Data Analytics
Fields
Moon
Status
Development, Launched
First launch
2022

The lunar lander is being built by ispace within ArianeGroup’s large clean room in Lampoldshausen, Germany. ArianeGroup is supplying components for the propulsion system, and also helping with integration and testing (including the avionics, solar panels and various payloads). In particular, the integration of the propellant tanks was a key step in the final integration process.

HAKUTO-R Mission 1 launched in late 2022. The Series 1 Lander has been optimized for light weight, small size and reliability, aiming to succeed in the first commercial lunar landing.

This lunar lander model is planned to be used by ispace for two lunar exploration missions by 2024* as part of the HAKUTO-R program, also dubbed “white rabbit” in reference to the character in a popular legend in which the shape of a rabbit can be seen in the dark markings on the Moon.

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., subsidiary of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, Inc. based in Tokyo, Japan, has reached an agreement with ispace, inc. (ispace), a global lunar exploration company, to provide the world’s first “Lunar Insurance” policy that comprehensively covers risks arising from ispace’s Mission 1, from the launch of the rocket to the lunar landing.

Series 1

A small commercial lunar lander used for delivering customer payloads to the Moon.

The lunar lander is a spacecraft designed to land on the Moon. With the capacity to carry instruments and other supplies, it acts as a transportation system to the Moon. ispace is designing a small, unmanned lander for low-cost, high-frequency transportation to the Moon. By reducing the mass of the lander, ispace is able to ride as a secondary payload on a rocket, dramatically decreasing launch costs.

Series 2

Our Series 2 lunar lander, a vehicle that is planned to be designed, manufactured, and launched in the United States, is intended to serve a large and diverse market including national and international scientists, government agencies, and commercial organizations. Our Series 2 lander is intended to provide low-cost and high-utility access to the lunar surface and should be well suited for a wide variety of payloads that range from scientific investigations to technology demonstrations.

News and Updates

Status Comment / Notes

Controllers lost contact with a lunar lander developed by a Japanese company moments before its scheduled touchdown, making it likely the spacecraft crashed during its final descent (SpaceNews, 2023-04-25)..

Link

Product/Service - Rover

Classification
Surface Spacecraft
Category
Commercial Rover
Fields
Lunar Rover
Moon
Status
Development
First launch
2025

Rover

We released the concept of a micro rover (a small lunar rover), which is scheduled to be installed for the first time in Mission 2.

Mission 2 is currently scheduled to be launched in 2024 . Taking into account the situation inside and outside the company, this time, we have changed from the originally scheduled 2023.

Mission 2 will transport a micro rover (small lunar rover) to the moon as a payload. ispace continues to develop smaller and lighter rovers, and in the future it is assumed that multiple micro rovers will be transported to the lunar surface for exploration and data collection. 

The micro rover was designed by ispace Europe in Luxembourg, and utilizes its accumulated rover development knowledge. It is also being co-funded with the Luxembourg Space Agency as part of the LuxIMPULSE program managed by the Luxembourg Space Agency and implemented by the European Space Agency. ispace Europe currently has more than 20 staff members and will celebrate its 5th anniversary this year.

ispace-EUROPE Announces Completion of Testing on Micro Rover Qualification Model, 2024-04-12.

Created: 2023-02-10

Updated: 2025-01-09

Link

Product/Service

Classification
Space Utilities
Category
In-Space Communications Relay
Status
Development
First launch
2026

Announced the official launch of a new data relay service enabled by two relay satellites that are expected to be deployed during ispace-U.S.’s Mission 3 scheduled in 2026. 

The two lunar relay satellites will enable communications to and from the Earth, and the APEX 1.0 lunar lander, which is expected to touch down in the Schrödinger Basin on the Lunar Far Side, a large impact crater near the Moon’s South Pole. The lander is designed to support the Draper-led Commercial Lunar Payload Services Task Order CP-12 by delivering and operating NASA payloads to the lunar surface for scientific investigations. The relay satellites will be deployed into lunar orbit by the APEX 1.0 lunar lander prior to landing.

At the conclusion of the scientific investigations, the satellites will circularize into a High Circular Polar Orbit (HCPO) with near-global coverage with linger points at the polar regions. For Lunar South Pole landing sites, both relay satellites are expected to offer more than 70 percent simultaneous visibility of the lunar surface and the Earth, providing potential data service users with a significant opportunity to utilize such data.

Status Comment / Notes

https://ispace-us.com/2024/04/ispace-u-s-announces-official-launch-of-data-relay-service-enabled-by-two-relay-satellites/

Created: 2024-07-09

Updated: 2024-07-31

Sources


Most sources should be linked in the texts and headings as revealed by mouse-over, but here are they listed for visibility.

[1] https://ispace-inc.com/

[2] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ispace-inc_today-we-also-launched-our-lunar-data-business-activity-6702144195840356353-v3LO/

News, Research, Projects and Patents

Title Type Date Summary
Israel’s Helios Signs Agreement with iSpace to Produce Oxygen on the Moon News 2021-07-26
UNSW partners with ispace to accelerate a lunar economy News 2020-06-23 >

UNSW Sydney has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japanese lunar exploration company ispace, to jointly pursue research and development in space resources and infrastructure.
The global race to mine outer space News 2020-05-22
Lunar Ore Reserves Standards 101 (LORS-101), a First Code for the Reporting of Lunar Exploration Results, Lunar Resources, and Lunar Reserves Publication 2019-11-20 >

This work introduces the current development of the Lunar Ore Reserves Standards (LORS101). These standards aim to provide a consistent guide to Lunar resource explorers, miners, investors, and any concerned party interested in the estimation of Lunar resources (mineral and volatiles) quantities.

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