10 Feb, 2025
4-part Mini-Series Details the Collaborative Efforts of ispace & the Luxembourg Space Agency to Develop and Send Europe’s First Lunar Rover to the Moon
TOKYO—February 10, 2025—ispace, inc. (ispace) (TOKYO: 9348), a global lunar exploration company, and the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA) today announced the unveiling of a new mini-series on the development of the TENACIOUS micro rover, Europe’s first-ever lunar rover designed, manufactured, assembled, tested in Luxembourg and launched to the Moon aboard the RESILIENCE lunar lander.
The four-episode documentary includes behind the scenes footage of the development of the TENACIOUS micro rover and interviews of officials and stakeholders. In Episode 1 Marc Serres, chief executive officer of LSA, and Julien Lamamy, CEO of ispace-EUROPE SA discuss the importance of public-private collaboration in lunar exploration. Future episodes will include officials from ispace, the Luxembourg government, the Luxembourg Space Agency and the European Space Resources Innovation Center (ESRIC).
While Episode 1 is online now, a new episode in the documentary series will be released each month during ispace’s SMBC x HAKUTO-R Venture Moon Mission 2. The episodes will be available on YouTube and other social media platforms as well as the LSA web site.
To date, ispace’s SMBC x HAKUTO-R Venture Moon Mission 2 has completed Success 4 of the Mission 2 Milestones. The next Success Milestone (5) is expected to be a Lunar Flyby where the RESILIENCE lunar lander’s orbit will bring it near to the Moon in a first ever maneuver by a Japanese private, commercial spacecraft.
“The collaboration between ispace and the Luxembourg Space Agency has always been positive. We look forward to taking you behind the scenes to see the development of TENACIOUS and sharing the insights from stakeholders in this short but powerful series,” said Julien Lamamy, CEO of ispace-EUROPE. “As Mission 2 continues, we look forward to the lunar flyby and upcoming landing.
“This project’s completion is an important milestone for Luxembourg, and it was key to show why, and how this could all happen. We are convinced that such a documentary will be instrumental in showing Luxembourg’s capabilities and in bringing Tenacious closer to the people – whilst on its way to the Moon!” confirmed Mathias Link, Deputy CEO of the Luxembourg Space Agency.
ispace-EUROPE is the European entity of ispace inc. (ispace), located in Luxembourg. ispace-EUROPE was established in March 2017, under a cooperative agreement with the Government of Luxembourg’s SpaceResources.lu initiative to support the commercialization of space resource development. With this initiative, Luxembourg aims to become a European hub for space resource exploration and utilization.
TENACIOUS was developed with co-funding from the Luxembourg Space Agency through a European Space Agency contract with the Luxembourg National Space Programme, LuxIMPULSE.
Future Missions
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. It is currently traveling to the Moon. During the mission, the TENACIOUS micro rover will be deployed on the lunar surface to conduct a 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. Mission 6, which will utilize the Series 3 lander, currently being designed in Japan, is scheduled to be launched by 2027.
About ispace
ispace, (TOKYO: 9348), 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 business entities in Japan, Luxembourg, and the United States with approximately 300 employees worldwide.
For more information, visit: www.ispace-inc.com and follow us on X: @ispace_inc.