ispace Completes Success 7 of Mission 1 Milestones
TOKYO—December 14, 2022—ispace, a global lunar exploration company, is pleased to announce that it has successfully taken images and transmitted them to the HAKUTO-R Mission Control Center (MCC). ispace’s camera, located on top of the lander, will continue to record images throughout the mission. The lander continues to maintain a stable attitude and power supply.
Image of the Earth about 19 hours after separation from the launch vehicle.
The shape resembling a crescent Moon in this image is Earth, partially lit by the Sun. The lower right part of the image shows a plate, containing HAKUTO-R corporate partner logos (partners as of March 2022).
Along with the company’s lunar transportation service, which brings customers payloads to the lunar surface, the lunar data service is expected to become an important revenue stream. In the medium term, ispace plans to collect and process various lunar data (image data, environmental data, telemetry, resource information, etc.) and provide them to our clients for use in lunar surface development. The fact that data was recorded by an ispace-owned camera and then successfully transmitted to our MCC represents the first step towards realizing ispace’s planned data business. This technical milestone establishes the foundation for ispace’s future data business operations.
We also consider this to be a major milestone from a technological standpoint. In addition to the in-house development of an optical camera that can withstand the space environment, many of the lander’s own technological elements were also involved in the acquisition of this image data, including attitude control to aim the camera at the target and communications to transmit the image data to Earth.
ispace has further successfully acquired images taken by one of our Mission 1 payloads: the Canadensys camera system, which was awarded a contract within the Canadian Space Agency’s LEAP program. The camera system is mounted on the sides of the lander and will take images throughout the mission.
XXXXXXXXX
Image showing the Earth and the launch vehicle’s second stage, taken about 2 minutes after the lander separated from the rocket.
The lander is navigating about 440,000 km from the Earth as of 16:00 on December 14, 2022 (JST) and has already passed through the lunar orbit once. The customer payloads being transported by Mission 1 are currently being checked out one by one, and some of them have already been confirmed. We plan to share the achievement of Success 3 in our Mission 1 Milestones after completion of our all-customer payload check-outs.
Ongoing operations are being carried out to determine the optimal timing for the initial orbit control maneuver, which is planned to result in the achievement of Success 4. ispace will share updates on HAKUTO-R Mission 1 as they become available.
■ Position of the camera
Mission 1 Milestones
For Mission 1, ispace has set 10 milestones between launch and landing, and aims to achieve the success criteria established for each of these milestones. Recognizing the possibility of an anomaly during the mission, the results will be weighed and evaluated against the criteria and incorporated into future missions already in development between now and 2025. Mission 2 and Mission 3, which also will contribute to NASA’s Artemis Program, will further improve the maturity of ispace’s technology and business model. Future announcements on progress of milestone achievement are expected to be released once attained.
About ispace, inc.
ispace, a global lunar resource development company with the vision, “Expand our Planet. Expand our Future.”, specializes in designing and building lunar landers and rovers. ispace aims to extend the sphere of human life into space and create a sustainable world by providing high-frequency, low-cost transportation services to the Moon. The company has offices in Japan, Luxembourg, and the United States with more than 200 employees worldwide. ispace technologies U.S., inc. is part of a team led by Draper, which was awarded a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Program contract to land on the far side of the Moon by 2025 (as of December 2022). Both ispace, and ispace EUROPE S.A. (ispace EU) were awarded contracts to collect and transfer ownership of lunar regolith to NASA, and ispace EU was selected by ESA to be part of the Science Team for PROSPECT, a program which seeks to extract water on the Moon.
Established in 2010, ispace operated “HAKUTO” which was one of five finalist teams in the Google Lunar XPRIZE race. The company’s first mission as part of its HAKUTO-R lunar exploration program launched on December 11, 2022, from the United States on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and is currently expected to land on the lunar surface around the end of April 2023. ispace has also launched a lunar data business concept to support new customers as a gateway to conduct business on the Moon.
For more information, visit: www.ispace-inc.com; Follow us on Twitter: @ispace_inc.
# # #
Tokyo—November 17, 2022— Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd. (“MSI”), a subsidiary of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, Inc. based in Tokyo, Japan, has reached an agreement with ispace, inc. (ispace), a global lunar exploration company, to provide the world’s first “Lunar Insurance” policy that comprehensively covers risks arising from ispace’s Mission 1, from the launch of the rocket to the lunar landing.
The agreement marks the establishment of the world’s first comprehensive lunar insurance program, offered by Mitsui Sumitomo, to cover risks associated with lunar missions from launch until landing on the lunar surface.
The policy covers from the launch of the rocket carrying the lunar lander, through the establishment of communication and data transmissions between the lander and mission control following landing on the lunar surface.
Insurance coverage will play an important role towards the realization of high-frequency, low-cost lunar transportation provided by ispace given the inherent risks and high costs associated with spaceflight. Having been evaluated as possessing reliable technology and a dependable business model by the international space insurance market via MSI and global insurance broker and risk advisor Marsh, ispace will utilize such a policy from its first mission, planned to launch as early as this November.
In the future, ispace intends to broaden the scope of insurance coverage, deepening its commitment to promoting the development of insurance and other business initiatives that will contribute to the creation of the cislunar ecosystem. ispace believes that by 2040 the Moon will support a population of 1,000, with 10,000 people visiting every year, and, as part of this vision, the company aims to be a key orchestrator in the creation of this new industry.
Since 2019, when MSI joined ispace’s HAKUTO-R program as a Corporate Partner, the two organizations have been collaborating to develop the world’s first lunar insurance service. In April 2022, ispace signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which stated that ispace would utilize MSI’s new lunar insurance to cover risks arising in the lunar business named the “Lunar Insurance Plan.” Today’s announcement confirms a formal agreement has been reached and ispace will utilize this mutually developed insurance policy, with additional support from Marsh, for Mission 1.
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, Limited (https://www.ms-ins.com/english/)
Established in 1918, Mitsui Marine & Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. merged with Sumitomo Marine & Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. in 2001 to form Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd. In 2008, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance evolved into a holding company in order to diversify its business. In 2010, it then integrated management with Aioi Insurance Co., Ltd. and Nissay Dowa General Insurance Co., Ltd, leading to the creation of the MS&AD Insurance Group, which is now a top ten Fortune Global 500 company in insurance Property & Casualty category. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance is the core enterprise of the MS&AD Insurance Group and holds the leading position for non-life insurance market in Japan. In addition to automobile, fire and personal accident, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance also offers insurance services for satellite launches.
About ispace, inc. (https://ispace-inc.com/)
ispace, a global lunar resource development company with the vision, “Expand our Planet. Expand our Future.”, specializes in designing and building lunar landers and rovers. ispace aims to extend the sphere of human life into space and create a sustainable world by providing high-frequency, low-cost transportation services to the Moon. The company has offices in Japan, Luxembourg, and the United States with more than 200 employees worldwide. ispace technologies U.S., inc. is part of a team led by Draper, which was awarded a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Program contract to land on the far side of the Moon by 2025 (as of September 2022). Both ispace, and ispace EUROPE S.A. (ispace EU) were awarded contracts to collect and transfer ownership of lunar regolith to NASA, and ispace EU was selected by ESA to be part of the Science Team for PROSPECT, a program which seeks to extract water on the Moon.
Established in 2010, ispace operated “HAKUTO” which was one of five finalist teams in the Google Lunar XPRIZE race. The company’s first mission as part of its HAKUTO-R lunar exploration program is currently planned for as early as November 2022 and is expected to launch from the United States on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. ispace has also launched a lunar data business concept to support new customers as a gateway to conduct business on the Moon.
For more information, visit: www.ispace-inc.com; Follow us on Twitter: @ispace_inc.
# # #
