30 Apr, 2025
Scientific Consortium to Develop & Deploy Water Sensing Satellite Around the Moon
TOKYO– April 30, 2025 –ispace, inc. (ispace) (TOKYO: 9348), a global lunar exploration company, announced today that it was selected as part of a team by Japan’s Strategic Space Fund for the “Development and demonstration of lunar water resource exploration technology (sensing technology).”
The project team, led by the Institute of Science Tokyo, includes ispace, The University of Tokyo, Hokkaido University, Osaka Metropolitan University, as well as other organizations.
“This project marks ispace’s first initiative under the Space Strategy Fund and we are pleased to contribute to the Japanese government’s groundbreaking lunar resource exploration program. Not only will ispace be responsible for transporting the satellite to lunar orbit, but based on its experience in developing lunar landers, it will also play a central role in the development and operation of the exploration satellite. We believe this is a testament to the high regard in which our engineering capabilities are held,” said Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of ispace. “Contributing to lunar water resource exploration is of great significance for the realization of the ispace vision to expand human presence beyond Earth and develop the cislunar economy. We intend to continue to actively engage in the Space Strategy Fund program, which provides us with opportunities for collaboration and development.”
As part of the team, ispace will be primarily responsible for the transportation and deployment of a lunar exploration satellite, weighing 100 kgs or less, equipped with a terahertz wave sensor system, weighing 10 kgs or less, capable of observing the brightness temperature distribution on the lunar surface at multiple frequencies and acquiring data to estimate the distribution of water and ice on the Moon.
The satellite system will be placed into lunar orbit to observe the lunar surface, with the intention of analyzing the data in combination with observation data from other spacecraft such as LUPEX. The goal will be to estimate potential areas of water ice as well as other valuable resources on the lunar surface.
Japan’s Space Strategy Fund is a 1 trillion yen fund established to support bold technological development efforts by private-sector startups, universities, and others over a period of up to 10 years, aiming at three key goals: “expanding the space market,” “solving global and social issues,” and “pioneering frontier” across three focus areas: “space transport,” “satellites” and “space exploration.” The fund is based on policy guidelines set forth by the Cabinet Office, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
About ispace
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 approximately 300 employees worldwide. For more information, visit: www.ispace-inc.com and follow us on X: @ispace_inc.