ispace Books ¥5B Starship Cargo Deal for Moon Missions by 2030

ispace announced on July 8 it has purchased 500 kilograms of cargo capacity on a SpaceX Starship mission for ¥5 billion ($50 million), with a lunar landing target as early as 2030. The Tokyo-based company will resell this capacity through a new “Lunar Access Integrator” service and build a Mobile Cargo System rover to transport payloads across the lunar surface. This partnership expands ispace beyond its dedicated lander program, which suffered two failed landing attempts in 2023 and 2025.

ispace’s new shared-ride lunar service

ispace will aggregate smaller payloads from governments, research institutions, and commercial operators under its Lunar Access Integrator service. The company purchased 500 kilograms of capacity on a single Starship mission for approximately ¥5 billion. CEO Takeshi Hakamada called this “high-capacity, relatively low-cost lunar transport” essential for building a sustainable lunar economy. Traditional lunar delivery has cost far more on smaller dedicated landers.

Mobile Cargo System for surface delivery

ispace will independently develop a Mobile Cargo System, a rover designed to transport payloads from the Starship landing site to customer-specified destinations on the lunar surface. The company handles mission planning, cargo integration, Starship interface coordination, transportation, and surface operations. This addresses a critical gap: Starship can land massive payloads, but customers often need delivery to specific lunar locations, not just the landing zone.

Building on past SpaceX missions

ispace has previously worked with SpaceX on lunar missions. The company’s robotic HAKUTO-R rover launched on Falcon 9 rockets in 2022 and 2025, reaching lunar orbit both times but crashing during landing attempts. Starship has completed 12 test flights, all suborbital so far. The company also aims to soft-land three dedicated Ultra landers on the moon by 2030, including missions under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

What this means for ispace investors

Meyka rates ispace (9348.T) a B with a 12-month forecast of ¥199.79, suggesting moderate upside from the current ¥508 price. The stock trades at a negative P/E ratio due to ongoing losses, and technical indicators show oversold conditions (RSI 36.97, CCI -157.66). The Starship deal validates ispace’s pivot to lunar infrastructure, but execution risk remains high given past mission failures and Starship’s unproven lunar capability.

Final Thoughts

ispace’s ¥5 billion Starship contract signals confidence in shared-ride lunar logistics, but the company faces execution risk. With Meyka grading the stock a B and technical indicators oversold, investors should monitor the 2030 mission timeline and ispace’s Ultra lander progress before committing.

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