ispace Announces New Business Concept Utilizing its Own Lunar Orbiting Satellites

ispace Inc. (Tokyo, Japan, CEO: Takeshi Hakamada, hereinafter referred to as "ispace") (Stock Code: 9348), anticipating the future activation of economic activities in cis-lunar space (the space between the Earth and the Moon), has announced a business concept for the launch of the "Luna Connect Service." This new service will leverage ispace's own assets, including lunar orbiting satellites planned for sequential deployment, to provide communication and positioning services. This announcement was made during ispace's Business Strategy Update held on Friday, March 27, 2026, in Nihonbashi, Tokyo.

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

Meanwhile, through its lunar landing missions in 2023 and 2025, ispace has twice demonstrated its capability to transport and deploy its self-developed landers into lunar orbit and operate them within 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 critical key to building the Luna Connect Service business. ispace has entered into a basic agreement with KDDI Corporation (Tokyo, Japan, President and CEO: Makoto Takahashi, hereinafter referred to as "KDDI"), a major domestic ground station provider, 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 lunar communication services, 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." KDDI is currently conducting basic design of ground stations and ground station networks for the system and evaluating the feasibility of establishing a lunar mobile communication environment. Both companies plan to discuss specific roles for 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, high-speed communication capabilities between the Moon, lunar orbit, and Earth, covering a wide area on the lunar surface and in 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. Furthermore, within the LunaNet framework, ispace aims to ensure interoperability with constellation concepts for communication and positioning being pursued by various countries, and to complement and strengthen country-led initiatives with private-sector services.

Expansion of Data Services

The utilization of ispace's own assets, such as lunar orbiting satellites, is also 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 specific areas over a 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...