Japan space firm ispace teams up with SpaceX for lunar payload transport, shares surge nearly 20%

Odaily Planet Daily News: Shares of Japanese space exploration company ispace surged nearly 19% on Thursday, marking their biggest single-day gain in six months. The rally came after the company announced a partnership with SpaceX to utilize its Starship rocket for lunar payload transportation services. ispace will develop a mobile cargo system capable of transporting customer payloads weighing up to 500 kilograms across several kilometers on the lunar surface. The system is expected to be launched via Starship no earlier than 2030, and ispace has already purchased 500 kilograms of payload capacity for this purpose.

Company CEO Takeshi Hakamada stated, "There is significant potential demand for transportation services, and this is precisely the opportunity we aim to seize." He also pledged that the company would ensure the success of its next landing attempt. Previously, both of ispace's lunar landing attempts ended in failure—one in 2023 due to a software issue and another in 2025 due to a hardware malfunction. According to the company's plan, its next lunar landing mission is scheduled for 2028, with an orbital satellite launch planned for 2027 preceding it. (Jin Shi)