ispace switches to Japan's H3 rocket for 2028 lunar lander mission
ispace · Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
ispace and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries signed a launch contract putting ispace's next lunar lander on Japan's domestic H3 rocket in 2028.
what happened
ispace and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries signed a launch-services contract on July 29 for ispace's Mission 3 lunar lander to fly on Japan's H3 rocket in 2028, per MHI. The mission will carry ispace's new "Ultra" lander, sized to carry up to 200 kg to the lunar surface, about seven times the payload capacity of ispace's earlier landers, per Nikkei; Ultra is being developed with funding from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Small Business Innovation Research grant, per MHI. It marks ispace's first mission not launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9, per Nikkei.
why it matters
CEO Takeshi Hakamada framed the switch as a competitiveness and security move, saying, per Nikkei, it will become "Japan's competitive advantage globally" and has "significant meaning for national security." Pairing a Japanese-built lander with the domestic H3 rocket ends ispace's reliance on SpaceX for its most closely watched mission and gives Japan's launch and lunar-lander industries a fully domestic flagship mission.
for who
Japanese space-industry suppliers and national security space planners
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- ispace, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
- Category
- science
- Impact
- notable
- SNR
- 5 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-07-29
- Published
- 2026-07-29 05:31 UTC