Lunar Lampoldshausen: working with Japanese company ispace, reaching for the Moon is becoming a reality

This exciting Japanese company is using our German expertise to launch its Moon mission

Pioneering Japanese space tech start-up ispace is a Tokyo-based company which is really going places – all the way to the Moon, propelled by propulsion technology from ArianeGroup.

ispace is the genius behind a mission to send a lander to the Moon, planned for first launch in 2022, which aims to bring the Moon closer to home and open up a new chapter in the fabulous adventure of space.

© ispace 

The lunar lander is taking shape at ArianeGroup in Germany
A lunar spacecraft needs power and precision to get up to the Moon: the propulsion system. Following a rigorous international selection process, ispace chose ArianeGroup for the mission’s propulsion system. Because this is such an important and integral part of the spacecraft’s structure it was a practical engineering decision to build the lander at the same location as its propulsion system – the unique facilities of our site at Lampoldshausen, European center of excellence for space propulsion

© ispace

It will be the first craft powered by European technology to set foot on the Moon.

A crew of assembly specialists from ispace has already set up in our Lampoldshausen site, and activities are underway. 

The ispace lander is part of the company’s commercial lunar program – the first of its kind in the world – known as HAKUTO-R. With its legs deployed, it stands 2.3 m (7.5 ft) high and 2.6 m (8.5 ft) wide, and weighs about 340 kg (dry mass) with a target payload capacity of 30 kg.

© ispace 

International involvement
The program has already attracted attention around the world: government and commercial customers from Japan, Canada and the United Arab Emirates have signed up for rides on the first ispace lunar mission.

Stay tuned for more on this story…