TOKYO: Tokyo-based space exploration startup ispace Inc. still aims to launch its second lunar lander in 2024 and a large lander the following year, CEO Takeshi Hakamada has told Jiji Press.

“We have a big advantage,” Hakamada said in a recent interview, noting that ispace was able to obtain data until just before its first lunar lander failed to touch down on the moon in April. If successful, it would have been the world’s first private-sector lunar landing.

The original lander was launched in December last year. Its development began in 2017.

Ispace’s failed moon landing attempt “has not had a major impact on our business results,” Hakamada said, adding that the drop in revenue linked to the failure was limited to around 100 million yen. Meanwhile, the company expects to receive insurance payments.

There has not been an impact either on orders received from Japanese and foreign government organizations and businesses, such as NASA and Japanese biotechnology company Euglena Co., to transport goods to the moon, Hakamada also said.

Ispace aims to realize a commercial service to transport goods to the surface of the moon.

Hakamada stressed his policy of raising funds for ispace’s projects from the private sector rather than relying on government funding.

“Projects to utilize space cannot continue unless there is economic rationality,” he said.

In 2026 or later, ispace plans to launch two or three lunar landers a year to establish a transport service system, Hakamada said.

JIJI Press