RESILIENCE Lunar Lander Completes all lunar orbital maneuvers in advance of June 6, 2025 (JST) landing
TOKYO–May 31, 2025–ispace, inc. (ispace) (TOKYO: 9348), a global lunar exploration company, announced today that the RESILIENCE lunar lander has successfully completed all orbital maneuvers while in lunar orbit and is now being prepared for its landing attempt on June 6, 2025.
This marks the completion of Success 8 milestone of Mission 2 “SMBC x HAKUTO-R Venture Moon.”
RESILIENCE conducted a lunar orbital control maneuver at 5:27 p.m. JST (08:27 UTC) on May 28, 2025, to move into a circular orbit around the Moon in accordance with the mission operation plan. The operation required an engine burn of approximately 10 minutes, the longest to date on Mission 2. Since then, the lander has been in a 100 km orbit around the Moon and completes a full orbit every 2 hours. After RESILIENCE completed the orbital control maneuver, ispace engineers in the Mission Control Center in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan worked to confirm the precise orbit in advance of the landing sequence.
The RESILIENCE lander, which reached lunar orbit on May 7, 2025 (JST), orbited the moon in an elliptical orbit with a perilune (closest point to the moon) altitude of approximately 70 km and an apolune (farthest point from the moon) altitude of approximately 5,800 km. After performing three orbital control maneuvers, it reached a circular orbit around the moon at an altitude of approximately 100 km.
A lunar landing is scheduled for no earlier than June 5, 2025 (UTC) (June 6, 2025, JST). The RESILIENCE lander is scheduled to begin descent from its current circular orbit. During the descent phase, the lander will automatically fire its main propulsion system to gradually decelerate and adjust its attitude, with the goal of achieving a soft landing on the lunar surface.
“Having completed eight of 10 mission milestones, RESILIENCE is now ready to attempt a historic landing on the Moon, carrying not only the payloads of our customers but also the hopes of our employees, their families, our partners and all of our supporters,” said Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of ispace. “We have leveraged the operational experience gained in Mission 1 and during this current voyage to the Moon, and we are confident in our preparations for success of the lunar landing.”
LANDING EVENT LIVE STREAM DETAILS
ispace will host a global live stream event with coverage of RESILIENCE’s landing attempt on the Moon on June 6, 2025 (JST) (June 5, 2025, depending on location). The coverage will be broadcast in Japanese with English translation provided. Please see links below to watch.
When: Friday, June 6, 2025, JST
Livestream begins: 3:15 am JST (18:15 UTC) (tentative)
Landing: 4:24 am JST (19:24 UTC)
Links: English: www.ispace-inc.com/landing
Japanese: https://ispace-inc.com/chakuriku
Before the lunar orbit insertion, RESILIENCE completed all deep space orbital maneuvers on April 24, 2025, at 10:00 UTC, returning the lander from deep space near to the Moon 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 as well as the lunar flyby, known as Success 5. It has completed the low energy transfer orbit with completion of all deep space and lunar orbit maneuvers is preparing for the landing sequence.
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.
株式会社ispace(東京都中央区、代表取締役:袴田武史、以下ispace)(証券コード9348)は高砂熱学工業株式会社(本社:東京都新宿区、社長:小島和人、以下「高砂熱学工業」)と、将来の月面環境における水採取技術(以下「サーマルマイニング技術」)の月面実証に向けた計画検討に関する覚書を締結したことを発表しましたので、お知らせします。
本覚書は、最終的には高砂熱学工業が研究開発を進めるサーマルマイニング技術を、ispaceが開発する月面探査車に搭載し、将来的な月面での水資源の採掘を技術的に実証することを目標とした共同技術開発に向けた検討を行うものです。
高砂熱学工業は2019年12月、民間月面探査プログラム「HAKUTO-R」にコーポレートパートナーとして参画いただき、熱利用技術と水電解技術においてispaceと協業し、世界初の月面環境における水素・酸素生成の実証実験の検討を行ってきました。そして、2025年1月15日に打ち上げを完了し、今後2025年6月6日に月面着陸を予定しているMission 2 “SMBC x HAKUTO-R VENTURE MOON”(以下ミッション2)のRESILIENCEランダーには、同社が開発した月面用水電解装置が搭載され、現在月面に輸送中です。月面着陸後には水の電気分解を実施予定で、世界初の月面環境における水素ガスと酸素ガスの生成に挑戦します。
ispaceは、日・米・欧の3法人でそれぞれの地域の文化や多様性を活かしながら、1つの統合的なグローバル企業として宇宙開発を進めてまいりました。2025 年 1 月15日に日本法人が主導するミッション2の打ち上げを完了し、最短で2025年6月6日に月面着陸へ再挑戦の予定です。続く2026年には米国法人が主導するミッション3を実行していく計画で、2027年には、現在日本で開発中のシリーズ3ランダー(仮称)を用いたミッション4(旧ミッション6)を予定しています。世界中の政府、企業、教育機関からの高まる需要に応えるため、ispaceはミッション3およびそれ以降のミッションのペイロードサービス契約とデータサービスを提供してまいります。