Overview
- ispace, which announced the change Friday, postponed its NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services lander to 2030 after dropping its planned Agile engine and unifying its spacecraft into a single Ultra design.
- The delayed U.S. mission, led by Draper under NASA’s CLPS program, slips three years from a 2027 target, and ispace said it is awaiting formal NASA approval for the new schedule and hardware.
- The company will shift near-term work to a Lunar Connect Service with five orbiters by 2030 that provide communications, navigation, and imaging, starting with a 2027 satellite launch arranged through Argo Space.
- Chief financial officer Jumpei Nozaki said the redesign and consolidation could add several million dollars in costs, prompt a fresh equity raise, and cut a few dozen jobs as global teams merge.
- Japan-backed lander flights in 2028 and 2029 will still use the Ultra design, keeping ispace’s landing line active as NASA plans up to 30 uncrewed lunar surface missions from next year and private U.S. firms set the pace for commercial landings.