Ispace's Lunar Lander Redesign and Moon Mission Delay: Japan's Moon Market Investment
Ispace U.S., the American subsidiary of Japanese company ispace, has unveiled a revised design for its lunar lander, APEX 1.0, which will be used on a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) mission. The redesign was necessary to accommodate the needs of NASA payloads, and the lander will now be able to host up to 300 kilograms of payloads, expandable to 500 kilograms. The launch of the mission has been pushed back to 2026 due to the lander redesign. Ispace anticipates growing demand for lunar landers and has lowered its sales forecast for the current fiscal year.