TOKYO—August 7, 2026—ispace, inc. (ispace) (TOKYO: 9348), a global lunar exploration company, today announced that it has been awarded a grant for its “High-Precision Landing Technology in the Lunar Polar Regions” project, which was selected on Jan. 16, 2026, under Phase 2 of the Space Strategy Fund Program administered by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Project Title: High-Precision Landing Technology in the Lunar Polar Regions
Technology Development Objectives: High-precision landing near the South Pole of the Moon and payload deployment in the polar regions utilizing lunar communication relay satellites
Grant Amount: 11.6 billion yen
The maximum grant amount remains 20 billion yen. Since this figure is subject to change based on stage-gate reviews and other factors, it is not yet certain that the full amount will be received.
Background
Led by the United States, lunar exploration is currently accelerating rapidly. Following a December 2025 presidential executive order announcing the U.S. intention to develop a lunar base by 2030, in April 2026, NASA disclosed its plan for 20 lunar landing missions by 2028, and more than 70 missions during the next decade. Water resources are highly likely to be present in the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar south pole, and enabling high-precision landings at these locations is expected to advance future resource exploration and infrastructure development.
Ispace will conduct Mission 3 scheduled for 2028, utilizing its ULTRA lunar lander currently being developed with funding from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant. Subsequently in 2029, the company will launch Mission 4 also with an ULTRA lunar lander, with the aim to acquire stable, high-precision landing technology for a landing near the lunar south pole. The area is believed to hold high scientific and economic value.
As part of the project, ispace intends to conduct a technology demonstration landing near the lunar south pole, an area extremely challenging location on the Moon. The technology developed and applied during the mission will be subsequently used for high-precision landings on a variety of other terrains and locations on the lunar surface. One expected usage is for landing in underground caves known as “lunar pits,” which exist in mid-latitude regions. These areas are attracting attention for their potential use as future living spaces and for their underground resources; high-precision landings near these pits could lead to new development opportunities.
Mission 4 will focus on developing advanced technologies for the long-term operation of ispace’s lunar lander fleet. During Missions 1 and 2, operations would have been limited to the lunar day when sunlight was available (approximately 14 days); however, in Mission 4, the goal is to conduct long-term operations (lunar night survival) in an environment near the South Pole where solar irradiation is expected from a horizontal direction regardless of day or night—similar to the conditions of the Arctic’s “white nights.”
Mission 4 is also expected to deploy a communications relay satellite into lunar orbit. The deployment will further establish the foundation for a communications infrastructure to support lunar activities, including the formation of a multi-satellite constellation and the provision of the “Lunar Connect Service” for data relay.
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About ispace, inc. (https://ispace-inc.com)
ispace, a global lunar resource development company with the vision, “Expand our planet. Expand our future.”, specializes in designing and building lunar landers and rovers. ispace aims to extend the sphere of human life into space and create a sustainable world by providing high-frequency, low-cost transportation services to the Moon. The company has business entities in Japan, Luxembourg, and the United States with more than 300 employees worldwide. For more information, visit: www.ispace-inc.com and follow us on X: @ispace_inc.