New Space and Tech

As Private Lunar Competition Heats up, ispace’s 3rd Moon Launch Moves to 2026

By David Ariosto

SpaceRef

September 29, 2023

Filed under ispace, Moon mission, NASA

As Private Lunar Competition Heats up, ispace’s 3rd Moon Launch Moves to 2026 — Ispace announces APEX 1.0.

Image credit: ispace livestream.

The Moon is open for business. That much is clear. What is not clear is which company will get there first. The Tokyo-based firm, ispace, whose Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander had crashed into the Moon’s Atlas crater earlier this year, announced on Thursday (September 28) that it had inked a $55 million NASA contract in a bid to do what three governments, though no private company, has yet to achieve: a lunar landing.

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David Ariosto

David Ariosto is a journalist, author, and the host and founder of the Space Watch Daily podcast. He has spent more than two decades covering emerging geopolitical issues, technological trends, and the forces between them, working across more than 50 countries. He is currently working on a Knopf-Doubleday book project focused on the gripping saga of the second great Space Race.