10 Jan, 2025
Korean and Japanese space exploration companies to promote realization of cislunar ecosystem
TOKYO – January 10, 2025–ispace, inc. (ispace) (TOKYO: 9348), a global lunar exploration company, and the HANCOM InSpace Co., Ltd. (HANCOM InSpace), a Korean company with business areas in ground station systems and satellite image analysis, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore collaboration on lunar exploration data analysis, the two companies announced.
From left: Kangsan Kim (Antonio Stark), Global Alliance Lead, ispace, inc., Masayuki Urata, Senior Manager, ispace, inc., Hojong Chang, Vice Mayor for Economy and Science, Daejeon Metropolitan City, and Dr. Myungjin Choi, the founder & CEO of HANCOM InSpace, at a signing ceremony held in Daejeon, South Korea.
Through the agreement, the two companies will seek the possibility of creating synergy between ispace’s lunar surface data collection capabilities and HANCOM InSpace’s software capabilities. The joint effort enables new levels of lunar resource utilization and that will develop a cislunar ecosystem based on precise lunar surface analysis and visualization. This effort will leverage ispace’s expertise in cislunar operations and hardware and HANCOM InSpace’s expertise in digital twin and data fusion technologies.
HANCOM InSpace has already demonstrated its technological capabilities in the field of lunar exploration through its successful development of ground station operations software and image processing technology for Korea’s first lunar probe, Danuri (KPLO). It also has the technology to fuse and analyze various satellite image data in real-time through its in-station platform.
The two companies also plan to launch HANCOM InSpace’s lunar orbiting satellites to be installed on a future ispace lunar lander and will collect and analyze data through a camera. In addition, following this agreement, the city of Daejeon expressed its supportive position to promote global relationships between Japanese and Korean private companies based on collaboration in lunar exploration and lunar exploration data collection technology.
“We are pleased to cooperate with HANCOM InSpace on lunar data collection and analysis,” said Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of ispace. “The cislunar economy will be dependent on organizations working together and capitalizing on their strengths. ispace will continue to support the goals of various companies and organizations from around the world to further the development of the lunar economy.”
“This collaboration will open a new paradigm for lunar exploration data analysis through joint research with ispace,” said Dr. Myungjin Choi, Founder & CEO of HANCOM InSpace. “We will secure unrivaled competitiveness in the global space exploration market with high-resolution visualization technology based on Digital Twin.”
“Daejeon is the center of innovation in Korea’s space industry and will actively support global cooperation of private space companies,” said Hojong Chang, Vice Mayor for Economy and Science of Daejeon Metropolitan City, at the signing ceremony. “We look forward to seeing HANCOM InSpace and ispace achieve greater success in the global market through this cooperation.”
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 and TENACIOUS micro rover, is led by ispace Japan and is now scheduled for launch on January 15, 2025. Mission 3, debuting the APEX 1.0 lunar lander, is led by ispace-U.S. and is expected to launch in 2026. Mission 6, 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.