ispace Partners with SpaceX to Launch Low-Cost Lunar Cargo Service
Japanese moon transport company ispace announced on Wednesday its plans to initiate a new, lower-cost lunar cargo business utilising the Starship heavy rocket and lunar capabilities. Lander developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Tokyo-based ispace has acquired 500 kilograms of capacity for $50 million on a Starship, which is scheduled to land on the moon as early as 2030. The company plans to develop a lunar surface vehicle capable of hosting payloads from clients globally who will share their journey on the Starship to the moon, as stated by the company.
The new “lunar access integrator” service provides moon-bound “buses” and can complement ispace’s ongoing development of dedicated lunar landers, or “taxis”, to the moon’s surface, stated ispace Executive Vice President Hideari Kamiya. In earlier lunar missions, ispace relied on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets for attempts at lunar landings that did not succeed in 2023 and 2025. The Tokyo-based company now aims to soft-land three landers, called Ultra, onto the moon by 2030, including a mission that is part of Nasa’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services programme. While ispace continues its Ultra missions, the partnership with SpaceX will “exponentially” accelerate its growth in the lunar infrastructure market, Chief Executive Takeshi Hakamada stated.
SpaceX has announced the enhancement of its partnership with ispace to conduct missions aboard Starship. “Their integration services provide ??a valuable pathway for smaller payloads to secure a ride to the Moon today, and we look forward to supporting ispace and their customers as they help expand access to the lunar surface,” Stephanie Bednarek, SpaceX’s vice president of commercial sales, said in a statement.
