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What will the new ispace module offer?
Japanese space company ispace has invested more than $ 40 million in its new U.S. subsidiary, seeking to tap into growing investment from NASA and the Pentagon in technology for the moon. "This level of investment demonstrates our strong commitment to the U.S. market," said CEO Takeshi Hakamada.
The American division of Ispace Technologies U.S., based in Denver, Colorado, and has more than 80 employees. Ronald J. Garan, a former NASA astronaut, was named the division's CEO in June.
Ispace also introduced a new module, called Apex 1.0, which will replace the previous version of the module, Series 2. Apex 1.0 is designed for short flights to the Moon and can carry up to 300 kg to the lunar surface. This is 10 times more than the company's first module, Series 1, which suffered a devastating impact on the lunar surface back in April.
Apex 1.0 will be launched as part of the third Ispace mission, which will be conducted in partnership with Draper Laboratory to deliver cargo to the far side of the Moon for NASA. Draper and Ispace, as well as General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems and Systima Technologies, received a $ 73 million contract last summer.
The consortium, known as Team Draper, is one of several that have won contracts under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic have also received awards under this program and are competing to be the first to land a commercial module on the moon.
"The updated schedule allows Team Draper and ispace-U.S. to address sensitive cargo requirements by leveraging the improved capabilities of Apex 1.0 for Mission 3, which aims to make a technically challenging landing on the far side of the Moon," the company said in a statement.
Japanese space company ispace has invested more than $ 40 million in its new U.S. subsidiary, seeking to tap into growing investment from NASA and the Pentagon in technology for the moon. "This level of investment demonstrates our strong commitment to the U.S. market," said CEO Takeshi Hakamada.
The American division of Ispace Technologies U.S., based in Denver, Colorado, and has more than 80 employees. Ronald J. Garan, a former NASA astronaut, was named the division's CEO in June.
Ispace also introduced a new module, called Apex 1.0, which will replace the previous version of the module, Series 2. Apex 1.0 is designed for short flights to the Moon and can carry up to 300 kg to the lunar surface. This is 10 times more than the company's first module, Series 1, which suffered a devastating impact on the lunar surface back in April.
Apex 1.0 will be launched as part of the third Ispace mission, which will be conducted in partnership with Draper Laboratory to deliver cargo to the far side of the Moon for NASA. Draper and Ispace, as well as General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems and Systima Technologies, received a $ 73 million contract last summer.
The consortium, known as Team Draper, is one of several that have won contracts under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic have also received awards under this program and are competing to be the first to land a commercial module on the moon.
"The updated schedule allows Team Draper and ispace-U.S. to address sensitive cargo requirements by leveraging the improved capabilities of Apex 1.0 for Mission 3, which aims to make a technically challenging landing on the far side of the Moon," the company said in a statement.
