ispace Partners with SpaceX, Stock Price Soars Nearly 19%

Japanese aerospace company ispace saw its stock price surge nearly 19% on Thursday, marking its largest single-day gain in six months. The company announced a partnership with SpaceX to utilize its Starship rocket for lunar payload transportation services. ispace will develop a mobile cargo system capable of transporting customer payloads under 500 kilograms across several kilometers on the lunar surface. This system is expected to be launched by Starship no earlier than 2030, with ispace having purchased 500 kilograms of payload capacity for this purpose. CEO Takeshi Kameda stated that there is significant potential demand for transportation services, which the company aims to capitalize on. He also committed to ensuring the success of the next landing. Previously, ispace's two lunar landing attempts failed, one in 2023 due to software issues and the other in 2025 due to hardware failures. According to the company's plans, the next lunar landing mission is scheduled for 2028, with a satellite launch planned for 2027.