28 May, 2026
A first for ispace’s Legal Team & Japanese Space Start-ups
TOKYO—May 28, 2026—ispace, inc. (ispace) (TOKYO: 9348), a global lunar exploration company, today announced that it was selected as a finalist in the “Technology, Media and Telecommunications In-House Team of the Year” category at the “JAPAN LAW AWARDS 2026” organized by “Asian Legal Business (ALB),” operated by the Thomson Reuters Group.
The awards recognize corporate legal departments and law firms with outstanding achievements in Japan and enjoys a high profile within the legal industry both domestically and internationally. Notably, ispace is the first Japanese space startup to be selected as a finalist for this award.
As part of the selection, ispace’s Legal and Compliance Department was recognized for strengthening its global collaboration framework and successfully concluding numerous complex contracts, including multiple payload service agreements. Specifically, the legal team strengthened the company’s global export control systems and advanced its multinational collaboration framework to manage and utilize sensitive aerospace information and advanced technologies while complying with the law.
ispace’s legal and compliance function plays a critical role in supporting the organization’s business growth while maintaining compliance with various national regulations, guiding multinational technical collaboration, and executing global commercial contracts. ispace’s legal team is a small and relatively new, but the global team has worked closely together to adapt to requirements of the evolving space industry. The selection recognizes the team’s efforts and achievements.
Statement of Ryota Kaneko, General Counsel, ispace, inc.
“We are deeply honored to have been selected as a finalist for the internationally prestigious ALB Japan Award 2026. While the space industry is seeing accelerated technological innovation and international collaboration, it is also an area that requires appropriate legal regulations and export controls. Encouraged by this selection and guided by our long-standing principle of ‘being an enabler of business,’ our global team will continue to work together to support the sustainable development of the space industry and the realization of ispace’s mission.”
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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.