15 Jan, 2025
Mission Control Center Establishes Communication with RESILIENCE Lander
TOKYO –January 15, 2025 – ispace, inc. (ispace) )(TOKYO: 9348), a global lunar exploration company, announced today that mission operations specialists in the HAKUTO-R Mission Control Center in Nihonbashi, Tokyo have established a communication link with the RESILIENCE lunar lander and confirmed a stable attitude as well as stable generation of electrical power in orbit.
RESILIENCE was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 6:11 UTC, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025 (U.S. Eastern Time) and was successfully deployed at 7:44:24 UTC.
An image of the HAKUTO-R Mission Control Center located in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan.
“We have established communication with the RESILIENCE lander, and have stabilized its attitude and power supply,” said Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of ispace. “We will make full use of the knowledge and experience gained in Mission 1 to prepare for the first orbit control maneuver scheduled in the near future. While the lander carries 6 payloads including the TENACIOUS micro rover, no deficiencies in the lander’s core system have been identified.”
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from Launchpad 39A carrying the RESILIENCE lunar lander & TENACIOUS micro rover.
The establishment of a communication link and stable attitude completes Success 3 of the Mission 2 Milestones.
Mission 2 Milestones
Ispace has released a transparent set of criteria known as Mission 2 Milestones between launch and landing and aims to achieve the success criteria established for each of these milestones. The results from this mission as part of the HAKUTO-R lunar exploration program, will be weighed and evaluated against the criteria and lessons learned will be incorporated into future missions already in development.
Payloads
On board the RESILIENCE lunar lander will be commercial customer payloads including:
- Water electrolyzer equipment: From Takasago Thermal Engineering Co.
- Food production experiment: A self-contained module from Euglena Co.
- Deep space radiation probe: Developed by the Department of Space Science and Engineering, National Central University, Taiwan
- Commemorative alloy plate: Developed by Bandai Namco Research Institute, Inc. and modeled after “Charter of the Universal Century” from the animation Mobile Suit Gundam UC
- TENACIOUS micro rover: Developed by ispace-EUROPE, this rover will explore the landing site, collect lunar regolith, and relay data back to the lander. It will be equipped with a forward-mounted HD camera and a shovel.
- Moonhouse: A model house by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg that will be mounted on the rover.
The RESILIENCE lander will serve as a cultural artifact, carrying a UNESCO memory disk that preserves linguistic and cultural diversity.
ispace is leveraging its global presence through its three business units in Japan, the U.S., and Luxembourg, for the simultaneous development of upcoming missions. Mission 2, featuring the RESILIENCE lunar lander, is led by ispace Japan and was launched on January 15, 2025. In this mission, TENACIOUS micro rover developed by ispace Europe SA to be deployed on the lunar surface to conduct technological demonstration of regolith extraction as well as mobility on the lunar surface Mission 3, debuting the APEX 1.0 lunar lander, is led by ispace-U.S. and is expected to launch in 2026. Mission 6, which will utilize the Series 3 lander, currently being designed in Japan, is scheduled to be launched by 2027.
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 business entities in Japan, Luxembourg, and the United States with more than 300 employees worldwide. For more information, visit: www.ispace-inc.com and follow us on X: @ispace_inc.