Ispace technologies

ispace Inc. is a Japanese publicly traded company specializing in lunar exploration and resource development. Founded in September 2010 by Takeshi Hakamada, the company's objective is to provide high-frequency, low-cost transportation services to the Moon, enabling clients to discover, map, and utilize lunar resources. Hakamada, who serves as the company's CEO, was inspired by science fiction as a child and holds a Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering. He initially led the Japanese team HAKUTO, a finalist in the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition, before establishing ispace to continue the pursuit of commercial lunar missions.

The company's business model is centered on two primary services: Payload Services and Data Services. The Payload Service offers transportation for customer payloads, such as scientific instruments, technology demonstrators, and commercial products, to lunar orbit and the lunar surface using its robotic landers and rovers. The Data Service aims to collect and provide valuable lunar data to support mission planning and surface development for government agencies, research institutions, and private companies. ispace develops its own robotic lunar landers and rovers, employing agile development methods and commercially off-the-shelf products to reduce costs and shorten development cycles.

ispace is known for its HAKUTO-R program, which consists of a series of lunar missions. Hakuto-R Mission 1 launched in December 2022 and, despite an unsuccessful landing attempt in April 2023, it successfully completed eight of ten mission milestones, providing valuable data. The subsequent Hakuto-R Mission 2 also experienced a hard landing in June 2025. Future missions, starting from Mission 3 scheduled for 2026, are planned to establish a regular and cost-effective transportation system and to begin the development of lunar water resources. The company has secured contracts with NASA as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program and with the European Space Agency (ESA).

Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, ispace has expanded its global presence with offices in the United States and Luxembourg. The company went public in April 2023 and has raised significant funding from various investors, including the Development Bank of Japan, Suzuki Motor, and Toyota. As of January 2026, the company employed around 300 people.

Keywords: lunar exploration, payload delivery, lunar lander, lunar rover, space resources, cislunar transport, HAKUTO-R, Takeshi Hakamada, commercial spaceflight, lunar data, space robotics, resource utilization, moon mining, aerospace engineering, CLPS, lunar missions, space economy, robotic exploration, lunar surface exploration, commercial lunar lander