Japanese space exploration firm ispace, inc. said on Sunday it will partner with in-orbit transportation startup ElevationSpace to develop a private lunar mission that would return samples from the Moon, marking a first for the country if successful.
The two companies plan to combine ispace’s orbital transport vehicle with ElevationSpace’s reentry capsule technology to enable the recovery of lunar material. “The reentry and recovery technologies being advanced by ElevationSpace are key elemental technologies for implementing lunar sample return,” ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada said in a statement. “We are confident that combining these with our orbital transport vehicle and operational technologies we are developing to deliver payloads to the Moon will bring us closer to realizing a sample return.”
The announcement follows ispace’s two unsuccessful attempts at soft landings on the lunar surface. Its HAKUTO-R Mission 1 lander crashed in April 2023 after running out of propellant during final descent, while Mission 2 in June 2025 ended in another hard landing that prevented a rover from collecting regolith samples. The company later identified a Laser Range Finder issue as the cause and said future landers will be equipped with additional sensors to improve landing accuracy.
Despite setbacks, ispace has remained focused on lunar resource utilization. The firm was among several awarded contracts by NASA in 2020 to collect regolith, with payments tied to milestones including proof of sample collection. The program is designed to establish precedents for extracting and using off-Earth resources rather than the material itself.
Under the new partnership, ispace will draw on technology developed for its HAKUTO-R landers, while ElevationSpace advances capsule systems to safely return materials to Earth. The companies said they will also explore feasibility studies and potential business opportunities tied to sample return.
