Colorado Springs, Colo., (ispace PR) – Yesterday, ispace, inc. (ispace) Founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada and ispace technologies U.S., inc. (ispace-U.S.) CEO Ron Garan released the following joint statement on the announcement by the governments of the United States and Japan upon the signing of the Lunar Surface Exploration Implementing Arrangement.
“As leaders of business organizations in Japan and the United States, we applaud the profound agreement between our two governments that will further space exploration and human settlement of the Moon.
“The United States and Japan share a deep history of working together in space from Space Shuttle missions to the International Space Station to today’s announcement of Japanese astronauts who join American astronauts on their return to the Moon.
“The ispace group aims to realize our vision of developing the cislunar economy, the economic zone between Earth and the Moon, through our three business entities in Japan, the United States, and Europe, as an integrated global company, taking advantage of the culture and diversity of each country and region.
“ispace, inc., and ispace-U.S. are leading the development of the cislunar economy by supporting both countries’ space policies and industries and contributing to the establishment of long-term human presence on the Moon through lunar transportation services.”
*** The Space Page Dot Com Editors’ Note – The agreement by Japan and the US included plans that include for when NASA returns to the Moon for the Artemetis mission, a Japanese astronaut will be one of the next people to walk on the Moon, which would be a historic first for any nation except for the US. ispace recently completed most of its milestones to land a spacecraft on the Moon earlier this year. However, the pivotal final milestone of landing the spacecraft on the Moon and transmitting data was unsuccessful.
About ispace, inc. (https://ispace-inc.com)
ispace, a global lunar exploration 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 250 employees worldwide. For more information, visit: www.ispace-inc.com and follow us on X: @ispace_inc.
About ispace technologies U.S.
ispace – U.S. is an American lunar exploration company providing transportation and infrastructure capabilities from Earth to lunar orbit and the surface of the Moon for government and commercial customers. ispace believes that the utilization of lunar resources is the catalyst to enabling human permanence and economic opportunity on and around the Moon and is committed to achieving this goal. The company’s U.S. headquarters serves as the central location for the development of its APEX 1.0 lunar lander, which is being designed, manufactured, and launched in the United States. In partnership with Draper, this lander will deliver a suite of multiple NASA-sponsored science payloads to the lunar surface as part of the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Initiative.
ispace – U.S. CEO, Ron Garan, is a former NASA Astronaut and a leading voice in the space industry. His executive team includes professionals that have served at the highest levels of the United States space program. For more information, visit www.ispace-us.com