Japan’s ispace Readies Second Moon Landing Attempt with “Resilience” Lander

The target site is Mare Frigoris, a region in the Moon’s northern hemisphere on the near side. Engineers revised the landing time following an orbital adjustment maneuver on May 28, which lowered the spacecraft to a 100-kilometer orbit. A post-maneuver review confirmed that the spacecraft and landing sequence were performing as expected.

A Second Chance at Lunar Success

This marks ispace’s second attempt to land on the Moon. The company’s first mission in April 2023 ended in failure when a software error caused the spacecraft to misjudge its altitude, ultimately crashing into the surface. CEO Takeshi Hakamada said the experience has fueled the team’s determination.

“We are now at the dawn of our next attempt to make history,” Hakamada stated on June 4. “We’ve used every lesson from our previous mission to move forward with resolve.”

Launched in January aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9—the same rocket that carried Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost 1—Resilience followed a low-energy trajectory that took it 1.1 million kilometers from Earth before returning to lunar orbit on May 6.

Scientific and Commercial Payloads

Resilience carries a diverse mix of scientific instruments and commercial payloads. These include a water electrolyzer, a food production experiment, and a radiation detection project from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. The combined commercial payload contracts are valued at $16 million, according to ispace financial filings.

Also aboard is Tenacious, a small rover developed by ispace’s European division. The rover will scoop up lunar soil (regolith) to fulfill a $5,000 contract with NASA, helping establish legal precedent for space resource ownership.

One of the mission’s more unusual payloads is Moonhouse, a miniature model of a Swedish red cottage developed by artist Mikael Genberg. Built using 3D-printed aluminum and coated in space-rated red paint, the model house will be deployed by the rover and photographed against the Moon’s backdrop—ideally with Earth visible in the distance.

“All culture boils down to trying to communicate what it means to be human,” Genberg said at a press briefing. “A red house on the Moon offers a fresh perspective on that question.”

Deploying Moonhouse—just 12 by 10 by 8 cm in size—required extensive testing at ESA facilities to ensure it could be safely dropped the final 8 centimeters to the surface. Project lead Emil Vinterhav said that final moment was as tense for them as the lunar landing is for ispace.

The Resilience mission is just one part of ispace’s broader expansion plan. The company is developing two more lunar landers: Apex 1.0, built by its U.S. subsidiary for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, and Series 3, a newly designed lander supported by $80 million in Japanese government funding. Both missions are scheduled for 2027.

The Series 3 mission will also launch a satellite funded by JAXA’s Space Strategy Fund to hunt for water ice and metals beneath the lunar surface—an essential step in future lunar infrastructure.

Ispace projects three more missions in 2028 and 2029, depending on the success of partnerships, particularly with Redwire, a CLPS contractor with which ispace U.S. signed a collaboration deal in April.

Despite its technological momentum, ispace remains financially in the red. The company reported ¥4.74 billion ($32.9 million) in net sales for the fiscal year ending March 2025, alongside a net loss of ¥11.9 billion. For the current fiscal year, it forecasts slightly higher revenue but still expects to post a ¥8.3 billion loss. These gaps are being bridged by loans, including $105 million from Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.

“Our goal is to build the cislunar economy—where the Moon and Earth are economically and socially connected,” Hakamada said. “This landing is only a steppingstone.”

By Azhar