ESA Exploration
ispace
9348.Tispace is a Japanese lunar exploration company developing commercial lunar landers and transportation services.
Tokyo, Japan Est. 2010 Commercial
- Founded
- 2010
- Headquarters
- Tokyo, Japan
- Stage
- Public
- Ownership
- Listed
- Market cap
- $390M-3.5% 30d
- Employees
- 300as of 2026
Quick Facts
Country
Japan
Founded
2010
Type
commercial
Status
public
About ispace
Updated 2026-09-10
ispace is a Japanese lunar exploration company developing commercial lunar landers and transportation services. The company's Hakuto-R Mission 2, named Resilience, launched on SpaceX Falcon 9 on January 15, 2025, successfully reaching lunar orbit on May 6, 2025. On June 5, 2025, the lander attempted to touch down at the lunar south pole but experienced a hard landing after its Laser Range Finder encountered delays obtaining valid measurements. The technical analysis confirmed the lander likely impacted the lunar surface.
Mission 2 carried TENACIOUS, the first European-built lunar rover (5 kg) designed and manufactured in Luxembourg with co-funding from the Luxembourg National Space Programme. After NASA and Draper ended the CLPS task order behind the ispace-U.S. APEX 1.0 lander in July 2026, ispace reset its roadmap: Mission 3 is now a Japan-built ULTRA lander targeting a 2028 launch on an H3 rocket, and Mission 4 a second ULTRA lander in 2029 carrying ESA's MAGPIE rover, while ispace-U.S. pursues NASA's CLPS 2.0 programme. The company continues working toward establishing lunar transportation infrastructure.
Products and product lines
| Product | Line | Note |
|---|---|---|
| ULTRA lander | Lunar lander (next-generation) | ispace's larger next-generation lander (about 3.6m tall, ~1,000kg dry, several hundred kg payload capacity), funded in part by a Japanese METI/JAXA SBIR-type grant; will fly on Mission 3 (2028) and Mission 4 (2029), and is slated to launch on Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' H3 rocket. |
| Alpine relay satellite (Mission 2.5) | Lunar communications relay orbiter | ispace-U.S.'s first orbital asset, a lunar relay satellite with S-band, Ka-band and X-band links intended to circularize into a High Circular Polar Orbit and support ispace's 'Lunar Connect' communications service, including coverage of the Moon's far side. |
| MAGPIE | Lunar rover (ESA science mission) | Europe's first lunar surface rover, with ispace-EUROPE (Luxembourg) as mission prime; ESA awarded a €65 million Phase 2 contract (announced 24 July 2026, officially signed 2 September 2026) covering development through operations, targeting launch on ispace's Mission 4 ULTRA lander in 2029. |
| CLPS 2.0 proposal | NASA commercial lunar payload services (pending) | After NASA and Draper mutually ended the CLPS CP-12 task order that had underpinned ispace-U.S.'s subcontracted lander mission, ispace-U.S. said on 15 July 2026 it will pursue NASA's newly announced CLPS 2.0 program instead. |
| Space Strategy Fund Phase 2 (high-precision polar landing) | Government-funded technology development | JAXA grant (selected 16 January 2026) of up to ¥20 billion, subject to stage-gate reviews, for high-precision lunar south-pole landing technology and a communications relay satellite, supporting Missions 3 and 4. |
| JSAT Space Line ground-network MOU | Lunar communications ground segment | MOU signed 16 July 2026 with SKY Perfect JSAT to evaluate its commercial tracking-network service as a communications link and potential backup ground network for ispace's ULTRA lander, planned for Mission 3. |
Timeline
- 2026 JAXA selects ispace on 16 January for Phase 2 of Japan's Space Strategy Fund, worth up to ¥20 billion, to develop high-precision lunar south-pole landing technology for Missions 3 and 4. [source]
- 2026 ispace-U.S. discloses on 15 July that NASA and Draper have mutually ended the CLPS CP-12 task order underpinning its subcontracted lander mission, and that it will instead pursue NASA's new CLPS 2.0 program. [source]
- 2026 ispace and SKY Perfect JSAT sign an MOU on 16 July to evaluate JSAT Space Line ground stations as a communications link, and potential ESA-network backup, for the ULTRA lander planned for Mission 3. [source]
- 2026 ispace and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries agree on 29 July to launch ispace's Mission 3 ULTRA lunar lander on an H3 rocket, targeted for 2028 — the first pairing of a Japanese-made lander with a Japanese-made rocket. [source]
- 2026 ESA and ispace-EUROPE officially sign the agreement for Europe's first lunar polar ice-exploration rover, MAGPIE, under a €65 million Phase 2 contract, to fly on Mission 4 in 2029. [source]
- 2026 ispace secures approximately $19 million (¥3 billion) in three-year bank financing from Shizuoka Bank on 9 September to fund mission development and strengthen liquidity. [source]
Key People
Takeshi Hakamada (CEO, Founder)
Team
- Takeshi HakamadaFounder, Founder and CEO · source
Signals
- Market cap, 90 days
- -12.4%
- Verification
- Verified 2026-09-10
Categories & Capabilities
Industry Categories
Latest from Agency Feeds
1 mentions across NASA, ESA, JAXA, ISRO, JPL & SpaceX
Auto-matched by name from primary national-agency RSS feeds. See full live feed →
Stock Performance
9348.T · Daily close data
Funding
Market Cap
$390M
Location
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Frequently asked about ispace
Quick answers to the questions readers most often search for.
- When was ispace founded?
- ispace was founded in 2010 in Japan.
- Where is ispace headquartered?
- ispace is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
- What does ispace do?
- ispace is a Japanese lunar exploration company developing commercial lunar landers and transportation services. The company's Hakuto-R Mission 2, named Resilience, launched on SpaceX Falcon 9 on January 15, 2025, successfully reaching lunar orbit on May 6, 2025. On June 5, 2025, the lander attempted to touch down at th…
- Is ispace publicly traded?
- Yes. ispace trades under the ticker 9348.T on Tokyo.
- What sector does ispace operate in?
- ispace works in lunar, Spacecraft and Robotics, plus 2 other space-industry sectors.
Sources
The structured fields on this page (founding year, location, sector, status, listing) and the profile text are drawn from the sources below. How profiles are drafted and checked is described in our methodology.
- Official website (ispace-inc.com)
- Market data via Yahoo Finance (9348.T) · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Company LinkedIn page
- Wikidata / Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-09-04
- Merged duplicate entry ispace-lunar · retrieved 2026-09-05
- ispace: Mission 3 overview page · retrieved 2026-09-10
- ispace: ispace Receives Grant for Japan's Space Strategy Fund Project (7 Aug 2026) · retrieved 2026-09-10
- ispace: ispace-U.S. Update on Contract with Draper (15 Jul 2026) · retrieved 2026-09-10
- ispace: ispace and SKY Perfect Sign MOU (16 Jul 2026) · retrieved 2026-09-10
- MHI News: ispace and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries agree to launch Mission 3 ULTRA aboard H3 (29 Jul 2026) · retrieved 2026-09-10
- ispace: ESA and ispace-EUROPE Mark Official Signing of Europe's First Lunar Polar Ice Exploration Rover Mission (2 Sep 2026) · retrieved 2026-09-10
- ispace: ispace Secures Approximately $19 Million in Bank Financing from Shizuoka Bank (9 Sep 2026) · retrieved 2026-09-10
Data Accuracy Notice: Information about ispace is compiled from publicly available sources including company websites, press releases, regulatory filings, and industry reports. Data is reviewed periodically but may not reflect the most recent developments.
Matched to OpenCorporates, Wikidata · data pass September 10, 2026
Editorial owner: Dr. Donovan, Editor-in-Chief Company representatives may submit corrections • This page does not constitute an endorsement or affiliation • Learn about our data methodology