ispace Announces New Business Concept Utilizing its Own Lunar Orbiting Satellites

ispace Inc. (Tokyo, Japan, Representative Director & CEO: Takeshi Hakamada, hereinafter referred to as "ispace") (Stock Code: 9348) has announced a business concept for the launch of "Luna Connect Service," which will provide new communication and positioning services utilizing its own assets, such as lunar orbiting satellites planned for future deployment, in anticipation of the increasing economic activity in lunar orbit and cis-lunar space (the space between Earth and the Moon). This was announced at the company's business strategy update held on Friday, March 27, 2026, in Tokyo Nihonbashi.

In recent years, initiatives to build lunar infrastructure have been gaining momentum globally, led by NASA's Artemis program. Late last year, a U.S. presidential order was signed to promote the establishment of a lunar base and the development of a lunar nuclear reactor by 2030. Against this backdrop, the potential demand for services utilizing assets such as lunar orbiting satellites – including stable communication and positioning to support expanding lunar activities, wide-area lunar observation, and SSA (Space Situational Awareness) – is rapidly increasing.

Meanwhile, through its lunar landing missions in 2023 and 2025, ispace has twice demonstrated its capability to transport and deploy its own developed landers into lunar orbit and operate them in that orbit. Moving forward, ispace plans to proactively deploy its own assets, including satellites, into lunar orbit, with a plan to deploy at least five lunar orbiting satellites by 2030.

Furthermore, establishing ground stations on Earth for stable reception of large volumes of communication and data from the Moon is a crucial key to building the Luna Connect Service business. ispace has entered into a basic agreement with KDDI Corporation (Tokyo, Japan, Representative Director, President & CEO: Makoto Takahashi, hereinafter referred to as "KDDI"), a major ground station provider in Japan, to jointly explore ground station operation and utilization. Based on this agreement, KDDI will provide ispace with the necessary technical and business information regarding ground station functions and the future of communication services on the Moon, and both companies will work together to materialize future plans. KDDI was selected in November 2024 as a contractor for the "Lunar-Earth Communication System Development and Demonstration (FS)" technology development theme of the "Space Strategy Fund," and is currently conducting basic design of ground stations and ground station networks for the system, as well as feasibility evaluation for the construction of a lunar mobile communication environment. The two companies plan to discuss specific roles for each company in the joint provision of Luna Connect Service going forward.

Overview of the Luna Connect Service Business Concept

The business planned by ispace will provide services to customers operating on the lunar surface and in lunar orbit, utilizing assets such as lunar orbiting satellites.

・ Communication Service: A service providing stable and high-speed communication capabilities between the Moon, lunar orbit, and Earth, covering a wide range of the lunar surface and lunar orbit.

・ Positioning Service: A service providing positional information (latitude, longitude, time, etc.) with a certain degree of accuracy to various payloads operating on the lunar surface.

This service aims to comply with the standards of "LunaNet," an international framework for lunar communication and positioning systems led by NASA/ESA/JAXA, in the future. It also aims to ensure interoperability with constellation concepts for communication and positioning being pursued by various countries within the LunaNet framework, and to complement and strengthen initiatives led by individual countries with privately developed services.

Expansion of Data Services

Furthermore, the utilization of ispace's own assets, such as lunar orbiting satellites, is expected to expand data services, including lunar observation and SSA.

・ Observation Service: A service that captures images of designated locations on the Moon or continuously observes them over a certain period, providing the resulting data.

・ SSA Service: A service that observes and monitors the lunar surface, lunar orbit, and outer space for a certain period, analyzes the presence, size, type, orbit, and operational status of objects in space, and provides this data...