Collaboration Agreement Reached for Lunar Transportation and Operations
JAL Group and ispace Focus on Development of the Cislunar Economy
A memorandum of understanding to collaborate on “building transportation systems and infrastructure to support sustainable future activities on the Moon.” has been signed between ispace and JAL Group, which includes Japan Airlines, JAL Engineering and JALUX, JAL Group’s trading company.
“We are encouraged to advance collaborative discussions with the JAL Group members regarding future lunar transportation and operations.”
Takeshi Hakamada, ispace
The agreement outlines an effort to accelerate discussions to build the cislunar economy to connect the Earth and the Moon.
Dating back to the Google Lunar XPrize, JAL supported Team HAKUTO and more recently served as a corporate partner to ispace’s HAKUTO-R lunar exploration program. As a corporate partner, it contributed to the development of components for ispace’s lunar landers used during Mission 1 and Mission 2 as well as its rovers. The partnership has involved air transport of ispace’s lunar lander components and rover, as well as technical support provided by JALEC, including welding of fuel lines, assembly, and testing.
“We are encouraged to advance collaborative discussions with the JAL Group members regarding future lunar transportation and operations,” said Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of ispace. “By combining the safety and quality expertise cultivated in commercial aviation with ispace’s experience, we will create new experiential value and drive its societal implementation toward realizing the cislunar economy.”
The new agreement outlines the co-creation of systems and infrastructure supporting future lunar bases with high-frequency transportation to the lunar surface. Leveraging maintenance technology, air traffic control, and operations management expertise developed by JAL and JALEC in the aviation field, the two companies will aim to advance a sustainable presence on the Moon.
With the addition of JALUX to the partnership, the companies will explore new collaborations regarding space-related services for the public within the JAL Group. Consideration will also be given to sales cooperation for payloads sales utilizing ispace’s lunar transportation service. By combining ispace’s lunar transportation via its lander with the JAL Group’s aviation expertise and customer network, the partnership is expected to provide lunar transportation opportunities to diverse stakeholders.
“The JAL Group has supported ispace’s endeavors for over a decade. With the signing of this agreement, we will deepen our collaboration toward building a new economic sphere connecting Earth and the Moon,” said Takao Suzuki, Executive Officer, Senior Vice President – Innovation, Japan Airlines. “Together with ispace’s vision of ‘making Japan a country that is unafraid to fail,’ in order to advance we will challenge ourselves to create new value in space transportation. Together, into space.”
Additionally, ispace and the JAL Group expect to advance concrete initiatives from the perspectives of business development, technology, and transportation services, aiming for a future where space transportation becomes more accessible. This collaboration represents a crucial first step in establishing the foundational infrastructure for the social implementation of lunar transportation and operations as part of the cislunar economy. The effort will be undertaken in sequential phases.
Leveraging their respective strengths, the four companies will aim to co-create the infrastructure essential for sustainable lunar activities.
This partnership is fascinating. JAL's aviation maintenance and operations expertise translating to lunar infrastructure is a smart pivot, especially since they're already familiar with ispace from HAKUTO-R. The emphasis on "high-frequency" transportation suggests they're planning beyond one-off missions to something more like regualr routes, which would be a genuine shift in how we think about cislunar logistics.