MOU establishes framework for cooperation on ULTRA lunar lander propulsion and AIT services, and explores expanded collaboration for future lunar spacecraft and missions

Türkiye—October 6, 2026—ispace, inc. (ispace) (TOKYO: 9348), a global lunar exploration company, and ArianeGroup, a French-German leader in space technology, have agreed to explore expanded cooperation supporting ispace’s current and future lunar spacecraft and missions. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on October 6 at the IAF’s International Astronautical Congress 2026 in Antalya, Türkiye.

Markus Thiel, Head of Engineering and Design at ArianeGroup GmbH, Timo Krone, Senior Business Development Manager at ArianeGroup GmbH, Dr. Stefan Ziegenhagen, Head of Orbital Products, Equipment & Services of ArianeGroup GmbH, Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of ispace, inc., Julien-Alexandre Lamamy, CEO of ispace-EUROPE, and Elizabeth Kryst, CEO of ispace-U.S., following the signing of the MOU at the 77^th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Antalya, Türkiye.

Building on ArianeGroup’s extensive flight heritage and experience in space systems, ispace has selected ArianeGroup pulsing thrusters and reaction control system (RCS) thruster hardware for integration into its ULTRA lunar landers. ArianeGroup is also contracted to provide related assembly, integration, and testing (AIT) services in support of the development.

Through the MOU, ispace and ArianeGroup intend to explore new opportunities to expand their collaboration beyond the ULTRA lander program. With ispace-EUROPE and ispace-U.S. as co-signatories, the agreement is expected to fortify current and future ispace missions in Japan, Europe, the United States, and other mutually agreed markets.

The companies will also evaluate long-term commercial agreements aimed at supporting stable lander production and enabling ispace’s targeted launch cadence. Through these arrangements, ispace and ArianeGroup aim to work together to further improve mutual lead times, reliability, and quality, and delivering consistent customer value as ispace continues to enrich its capabilities and offerings for future lunar missions.

The agreement builds on a longstanding relationship between ispace and ArianeGroup, including collaboration on propulsion components and assembly, integration, and testing for ispace’s Mission 1 lunar lander at ArianeGroup’s facility in Lampoldshausen, Germany. In 2021, ispace-EUROPE and ArianeGroup were also jointly selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to participate in a pilot phase aimed at establishing commercial partnerships for lunar transportation and exploration.

Through this expanded collaboration, ispace and ArianeGroup aim to leverage their respective capabilities and experience to support reliable spacecraft development and production, while exploring opportunities to work together across future lunar missions and spacecraft programs.

Statement of Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of ispace, inc.

“As ispace works toward a regular cadence of missions to the Moon, establishing strong, long-term relationships with experienced partners will be essential to scaling our spacecraft development and production capabilities. ArianeGroup brings extensive flight heritage and technical expertise, and we look forward to exploring how our respective capabilities can support not only the ULTRA lunar lander, but future ispace spacecraft and missions from our global organization,” said Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO, ispace, inc.

Statement of Julien-Alexandre Lamamy, CEO of ispace-EUROPE

“This agreement is an important step toward strengthening Europe’s role in the lunar economy. At ispace-Europe, we are committed to building strong industrial partnerships that advance Europe’s lunar ambitions. By combining our expertise, we can accelerate the delivery of competitive technologies and services for lunar exploration”

 Statement of Stefan Ziegenhagen, Head of Orbital Products, Equipments & Services of ArianeGroup GmbH

“The Orbital Propulsion Team from ArianeGroup is thrilled to continue the cooperation with ispace. This MoU reinforces the trusted relationship between our companies and underscores our common goal: combining technological excellence with the vision to explore the moon.”

Statement of Markus Abele, Sr. Business Dev. Manager of ArianeGroup GmbH

“This agreement marks a major new chapter in the relationship between our two companies. After eight successful years working together on cutting-edge technologies, we are expanding the collaboration in the area of future size lander systems as well as orbital applications.”

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.

About ArianeGroup

ArianeGroup is an industrial company delivering critical missions for the space and defence sectors. With 8,700 highly qualified employees in France and Germany, ArianeGroup has unique expertise in access to space, covering the full spectrum of civil and military launch systems, including design, development, manufacturing, integration, flight preparation, operational readiness and end-of-life decommissioning.

ArianeGroup is lead contractor for the Ariane 6 European launcher for the European Space Agency (ESA), and for the French oceanic deterrent force M51 strategic missile for the French Defence Armament Procurement Agency (DGA). Internationally recognised for its innovative, competitive solutions, ArianeGroup has expertise in state-of-the-art technologies, from the chemistry of propellants and composite materials, to liquid, solid and electric space propulsion systems.

ArianeGroup also offers a broad range of space, defence and industrial equipment and services, both individually and together with its subsidiaries Sodern, Pyroalliance, Nuclétudes and APP. In the field of space launchers, ArianeGroup’s subsidiary Arianespace markets Ariane 6, and its subsidiary MaiaSpace develops and markets the reusable launcher Maia.

ArianeGroup, equally owned by Airbus and Safran, posted consolidated revenues of €2.6 billion in 2025.

• The MoU builds on existing cooperation between ispace and Telespazio further expanding the areas of potential cooperation also leveraging on Leonardo space capabilities in robotics and AI applied to space exploration, strengthening Europe’s and Japan roles in the emerging cislunar economy.
• The partnership will advance interoperability of lunar infrastructure and services to support global lunar exploration and explore ispace’s lunar transportation capabilities, with the European Space Agency’s Moonlight programme led by Telespazio, part of Leonardo Group, being the first opportunity to implement it.
  

Luxembourg / Tokyo / Rome, 6^th October 2026 – ispace-EUROPE S.A. (“ispace-EUROPE”) and ispace, inc. (collectively “ispace” – a leading global lunar exploration company), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Leonardo, a leading global aerospace, defense, and security player and Telespazio, a joint venture between Leonardo (67%) and Thales (33%), to explore collaboration on lunar communications, positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) infrastructure and services, and lunar transportation partnership.

Alessandro Ocera, SVP, Commercial, Digital Solutions & Transformation of Telespazio, Massimo Claudio Comparini, Managing Director of Leonardo Space Division, Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of ispace, inc., & Julien-Alexandre Lamamy, CEO of ispace-EUROPE, following the signing of the MOU at the 77th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Antalya, Türkiye. 

This new agreement expands upon the previous cooperation between ispace and Telespazio, originally built on their initial 2025 Letter of Intent, including the possibility to explore Leonardo’s space division capabilities in space robotics and AI applied to space exploration, as well as by broadening the scope of collaboration with additional strategic areas like interoperability, user access and service provision to expand lunar communications, navigation, and transportation services. Reflecting a shared commitment to support global lunar exploration missions, the partnership also focuses on the development of user terminals, space and ground segments to meet the demands of tomorrow.

Together, the parties will evaluate how integrated service offerings could provide expanded communications coverage on the lunar surface and to lunar orbit, expanded navigation capabilities, increased data capacity, and improved resilience for future lunar missions.  The MOU also includes exploring the potential transportation of Moonlight satellites to lunar orbit by ispace’s orbital transfer vehicle.

The inclusion of both ispace’s Japanese and European entities, alongside the international excellence of Leonardo and Telespazio, brings together complementary strengths from across Europe and Japan — enabling deeper international collaboration on the infrastructure, services and standards needed to support future lunar activity.

Takeshi Hakamada, Founder and CEO of ispace, said: “Through this collaboration with Telespazio and Leonardo we are bringing together complementary capabilities in transportation, communications and navigation to help build the foundations of a sustainable cislunar economy. We are proud to work alongside leading European partners to advance the infrastructure that will support the next generation of lunar missions.”

Julien-Alexandre Lamamy, CEO of ispace-EUROPE, said: “This collaboration is particularly exciting because it brings together some of the strongest lunar exploration capabilities across Europe and Japan to support a shared vision: enabling advanced lunar missions by both commercial and government actors that will achieve sustained exploration and long-term presence on the Moon.” By combining European expertise in telecommunications, navigation and space systems with ispace’s experience in lunar transportation, communications and surface mobility, we have an opportunity to help shaping the infrastructure that future missions will rely upon.”

Massimo Claudio Comparini, Managing Director of Leonardo Space Division said “The agreement with ispace marks a further step towards the development of an always more integrated and interoperable infrastructure capable of supporting the growing number of missions to the Moon. By bringing together complementary capabilities in communications, navigation and lunar transportation, robotics and AI, Leonardo, together with Telespazio and Thales Alenia Space, is contributing to the development of the services and technologies that will enable a sustained presence in the lunar environment, supporting the evolution of a global and interconnected cislunar ecosystem.”

Gabriele Pieralli, Chief Executive Officer of Telespazio said: “With this collaboration, Telespazio consolidates its leading role in lunar communication and navigation infrastructure, bringing together Moonlight’s expertise with ispace’s cislunar transportation and communication capabilities, mission interoperability and Leonardo’s technological depth. This step strengthens Italian and European industrial leadership, enhancing collaboration with ispace as primary industry in what is set to become a lunar economy — a strategic asset for science, industry, and institutional missions in the decades ahead”

As global lunar exploration transitions from individual missions to a sustained operational ecosystem, communications, navigation and transportation infrastructure are increasingly recognized as critical enablers of scientific, commercial and governmental activities on the lunar surface and in lunar orbit. The parties believe that collaboration and interoperability will be essential to creating a resilient lunar ecosystem.

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, orbital transfer vehicles 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, the United States and Saudi Arabia, with more than 300 employees worldwide. For more information, visit: www.ispace-inc.com and follow us on X: @ispace_inc.  

Certification for Outstanding Space Engineering Capabilities

Ryota Adachi Certified as the First “Black Belt Engineering Master”

TOKYO—August 6, 2026—ispace, inc. (ispace) (TOKYO: 9348), a global lunar exploration company, announced it has launched the “Engineering Master Program” as a new internal certification program to recognize engineers with outstanding space engineering capabilities and expertise.

This program recognizes the pursuit of mastery in specialized technical skills as a space engineer as a value. It aims to enhance the company’s internal environment so that engineers can pursue the ultimate level of expertise as a career path, thereby increasing intrinsic corporate value as an engineering firm.

Following a review by the company’s management, Mr. Ryota Adachi has been certified as the first recipient of the “Black Belt Engineering Master” (Japanese name: Kuroobi Engineering Master). Mr. Ryota Adachi currently serves as Manager of the Global Structure Design Group within the Global Design Office.

Since joining the company in 2019, Mr. Ryota Adachi has been consistently involved in the design of our RESILIENCE lander and is leading the mechanical design of the ULTRA lander, currently in development. He has made significant contributions to building the technological foundation for lunar landing missions. In receiving this recognition, he was commended for creatively solving advanced challenges—such as accelerating the design maturation process and developing an in-house landing impact analysis capability, which is key to lunar landing precision, throughout the evolution of our landers from RESILIENCE to ULTRA.

Ryota Adachi

安達 良太

Global Design Office 

Manager, Global Structure Design Group

Background

2007:               Worked at a Japanese company, primarily responsible for the design of industrial vehicles

2014:               Spent four years at the company’s U.S. office and factory as a design lead, working on quality improvements and manufacturing cost optimization for models intended for the U.S. market

2019:               Joined ispace. Assigned to the Structural Design Team, where he primarily worked on the structural design of the Mission 2 lander’s main structure

2023:               Appointed Manager of the Structural Design Team. Currently developing the main structure and landing legs for the lander for Mission 3 and beyond

The success of lunar missions requires advanced technologies that functions stably under the harsh, unique conditions of the lunar surface as well as engineering capabilities to creatively solve unprecedented challenges without being constrained by existing conventions or norms. The background behind ispace’s design of the “Engineering Master Program” is rooted in ispace’s management philosophy that “outstanding technical expertise is valued equally with the leadership required to guide an organization.”

Under the program, levels are established based on technical expertise and its impact both internally and externally to evaluate an engineer’s achievements. In addition to being awarded ispace’s official “Master” title, certified individuals will receive a stipend to support the further development of their expertise, as well as opportunities to share their knowledge. The “Black Belt Engineering Master” designation indicates a level at which an individual possesses advanced theoretical knowledge and highly specialized technical skills in a specific field, is capable of independently solving highly challenging R&D and technical problems, and can consistently and reliably produce results.

Statement of Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of ispace, inc.

 “The challenge of lunar development, a new frontier for humanity, cannot be realized without exceptional engineers. ispace’s new Engineering Master Program is designed to demonstrate to engineers that mastering technology is just as important as business and organizational management. We will continue to build the cislunar economy by creating an environment where talented engineers from around the world can gather and continue to take on new challenges together,” said Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of ispace.

# # #

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.