30 Sep, 2025
Rome, September 30, 2025 –Telespazio, a joint venture between Leonardo (67%) and Thales (33%), and ispace, inc., a global lunar exploration company, have signed a Letter of Intent to initiate a technical and commercial collaboration aimed at supporting the growth of the lunar economy and exploiting the capabilities of Moonlight Communication and Navigation Services.
Image of ispace’s OTV planned to be developed, showing generic satellite payloads being delivered into lunar orbit
As prime contractor of the European Moonlight Lunar Communications and Navigation Services (LCNS) program promoted by the European Space Agency (ESA), Telespazio is leading the development of a constellation of satellites designed to provide navigation and communication services supporting moon exploration. The Moonlight constellation will consist of five satellites, ranging between 400 and 600kg per satellite, launched in two separate stages, with the goal of establishing essential infrastructure to enable lunar exploration.
In this context, the collaboration between Telespazio, part of the Space Alliance between Leonardo and Thales, and ispace aims to evaluate the possibility of ispace’s technologies being used to provide transportation services for Moonlight satellites into lunar orbit. Building on its missions in 2023 and 2025, ispace has already demonstrated the technical capability to successfully reach lunar orbit.
The agreement also includes exploring potential services in connectivity, navigation, and lunar data utilisation, with the aim of identifying models and synergies that could boost the commercialisation of lunar communication and navigation services.
This collaboration has been facilitated through ispace-Europe, ispace’s European entity.
left to right: Julien Lamamy, CEO ispace-EUROPE, Gabriele Pieralli, CEO Telespazio
Massimo Claudio Comparini, Managing Director Space Division of Leonardo
Atsushi Saiki, Executive Fellow ispace inc., Giuseppe Aurilio, COO Telespazio
Gabriele Pieralli, CEO of Telespazio, said. “With this Letter of Intent, Telespazio reaffirms its commitment to exploring new commercial opportunities for international cooperation to support the Moonlight program and, more broadly, the development of the lunar Space Economy. The collaboration with ispace represents another step in building a global industrial ecosystem dedicated to deep space exploration.”
Julien Lamamy, CEO, ispace-EUROPE: “By combining ispace’s transportation and communication capabilities with the communications and positioning expertise of the Moonlight team, led by Telespazio, we see a real opportunity for us to work together to help drive Europe’s leadership in the next era of lunar exploration.”
Takeshi Hakamada, Founder and CEO, ispace inc.: “This Letter of Intent is an important step in exploring how European innovation and international collaboration can together create the services that future missions to the Moon will rely on.”
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 Telespazio (www.telespazio.com)
Telespazio, a Leonardo and Thales 67:33 joint venture, is one of the world’s leading operators in space services. Its activities range from the design and development of space systems to the management of launch services and in-orbit satellite control, from Earth observation, integrated communications, satellite navigation and localisation services to scientific programmes. The company plays a leading role in the reference markets, supported by its infrastructure and the technological experience acquired in over 60 years of activity, which include participation in space programmes such as Galileo, EGNOS, Copernicus, COSMO-SkyMed and Moonlight. Telespazio, which is Thales Alenia Space’s partner in the “Space Alliance”, generated sales of EUR 750 million in 2024 while employing 3,300 people in 15 different countries.