ispace Completes Success 7 of Mission 2 Milestones

ispace, inc. (ispace) (TOKYO: 9348), a global lunar exploration company, announced today that its RESILIENCE lunar lander successfully entered lunar orbit on May 7, 2025, at 5:41 a.m. JST (May 6, 2025, 20:41 UTC). This marks the completion of Success 7 milestone of Mission 2 “SMBC x HAKUTO-R Venture Moon.”

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ispace engineers performed the injection maneuver from the Mission Control Center in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan in accordance with the mission operation plan. The orbital maneuver required a main thruster burn lasting approximately 9 minutes, the longest to date during Mission 2. RESILIENCE is now maintaining a stable attitude in its planned orbit above the lunar surface. Mission operations specialists are now preparing for final orbit maneuvers after reaffirming ispace’s ability to deliver spacecraft and payloads into lunar orbit. A lunar landing is scheduled for no earlier than June 5, 2025 (UTC) (June 6, 2025, JST).

“First and foremost, we are extremely pleased that the RESILIENCE lander successfully reached lunar orbit as planned today,” said Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of ispace. “We have successfully completed maneuvers so far by leveraging the operational experience gained in Mission 1, and I am very proud of the crew for successfully completing the most critical maneuver and entering lunar orbit. We will continue to proceed with careful operations and thorough preparations to ensure the success of the lunar landing.”

Previously, RESILIENCE completed all deep space orbital maneuvers at 10:00 UTC on April 24, 2025, returning the lander from deep space near to the Moon in order to complete the orbit injection. At its furthest distance, RESILIENCE was 1.1 million kilometers from Earth. Before that RESILIENCE completed a lunar flyby, verifying operation of the main propulsion system, as well as the related guidance, control, and navigation system. Following the flyby, the lander continued its deep space journey, spending approximately two months in a low-energy transfer orbit.

RESILIENCE was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 6:11:39 UTC, Jan. 15, 2025, and was successfully deployed from the rocket at 7:44:24 UTC. The RESILIENCE lander has completed the Earth orbit (Phase 1 in the figure) as well as the lunar flyby, known as Success 5. It has completed the low energy transfer orbit (Phase 2 in the figure) with completion of all deep space maneuvers and is now in lunar orbit.

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.

		Milestone	Milestone Success Criteria
Success 1	Complete	Completion of Launch Preparations	Complete all development processes of the RESILIENCE lunar lander before flight operations Contract and prepare launch vehicle, and complete integration of lunar lander into the launch vehicle Prove ability to flexibly manufacture and assemble landers in various geographic locations of the world
Success 2	Complete	Completion of Launch and Deployment	Complete successful separation of the lunar lander from the launch vehicle Reaffirm that ispace’s lander design and structure is capable of withstanding the harsh conditions during launch on its second mission, offering valuable information towards future development and missions
Success 3	Complete	Establishment of Steady Operation State	Establish communication link between the lander and Mission Control Center, confirm a stable attitude as well as start stable generation of electrical power in orbit
Success 4	Complete	Completion of first Orbital Control Maneuver	Complete the first orbit control maneuver, setting the lander on a course towards the Moon
Success 5	Complete	Completion of Lunar Flyby	Complete a lunar flyby approximately one month after launch Begin Deep Space Flight operations
Success 6	Complete	Completion of all Deep-Space Orbital Control Maneuvers before LOI	Complete all planned deep space orbit control maneuvers by utilizing gravity assist effects and successfully target the first lunar orbit insertion maneuver Reaffirm the deep-space survivability of ispace’s lander designs, as well as the viability of space’s lunar planning
Success 7	Complete	Enter Lunar Orbit	Complete the first lunar orbit insertion maneuver and confirm that the lander is in a lunar orbit Reaffirm the ability of ispace to deliver spacecraft and payloads into stable lunar orbits
Success 8		Completion of all Orbital Control Maneuvers in lunar orbit	Complete all planned lunar orbital control maneuvers before the landing sequence Confirm the lander is ready to start the landing sequence
Success 9		Completion of Lunar Landing Sequence	Complete the landing sequence, verifying key landing abilities for future missions
Success 10		Establish Steady System after Landing	Establish a steady telecommunication and power supply on the lunar surface after landing

Mission 2 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 Jan. 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. The company’s fourth mission, 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.

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