Photo credit: SSC
ispace technologies U.S., Inc. (ispace-U.S.), an American lunar exploration company, and Swedish Space Corporation (SSC Space US), a leading provider of ground station services, have signed a collaboration agreement for ispace-U.S.’s upcoming Mission 3 with the APEX 1.0 lunar lander. SSC will provide critical communication links to the mission through its advanced SSC Connect lunar ground station network capabilities.
With a proven track record of over 15 years of commercial support to lunar exploration endeavors, SSC is slated to play a pivotal role in ensuring the success of ispace-U.S.’s Mission 3 lunar mission.
“We are excited to embark on this journey together with ispace-U.S. While this collaboration underscores SSC’s long heritage and commitment to the global lunar market, we are continuously making new investments to support the technical requirements for today’s modern lunar missions. The Misson 3 lunar mission is crucially important for SSC, the U.S. space market, and the world – pushing the boundaries of space exploration,” says Erwin Mercado, President of SSC Space US.
“SSC’s cutting-edge technology coupled with their extensive lunar experience gives us great confidence that SSC will contribute significantly to the success of our lunar mission. This collaboration with SSC is one of many examples that demonstrates how ispace-U.S. leverages its global perspective to increase the effectiveness of our missions,” says Ron Garan, Chief Executive Officer of ispace-U.S.
ispace-U.S.’s Mission 3 will provide lunar lander services to Schrodinger Basin on the far side of the Moon as part of the Draper-led NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. For the mission, scheduled for 2026, ispace-U.S. will transport and operate government and commercial payload instruments for lunar surface science. While the lander communicates directly with Earth during transit, ispace-U.S. will later use relay satellites for communication during surface operations.
SSC will be the sole provider of the commercial communication system that the APEX 1.0 lunar lander will use during its transit to the lunar surface—for all commanding, telemetry, ranging, and doppler. To complete this advanced moon mission support, SSC will leverage four SSC Connect deep space ground station sites.
About SSC
Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) helps Earth benefit from Space. Since the 70’s, SSC has helped space organizations, companies, other commercial actors and research institutes to get access to space. Through our local presence on all continents and close to 700 committed employees, we offer specialist expertise in satellite ground station connectivity, spacecraft operations, rocket and balloon systems, launch services, flight test services and data analytics. Among our strongest assets are Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden, set to begin launching satellites from Sweden in 2025, and our global ground station network for satellite communications: SSC Connect, which provides efficient spacecraft control and real-time data reception, from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to Lunar and beyond. https://sscspace.com/services/satellite-ground-stations/
About ispace technologies U.S.
ispace – U.S. is an American lunar exploration company providing transportation and infrastructure capabilities from Earth to lunar orbit and the surface of the Moon for government and commercial customers. ispace believes that the utilization of lunar resources is the catalyst to enabling human permanence and economic opportunity on and around the Moon and is committed to achieving this goal. The company’s U.S. headquarters serves as the central location for the development of its APEX 1.0 lander, which is being designed, manufactured, and launched in the United States. In partnership with Draper, this lander will deliver a suite of multiple NASA-sponsored science payloads to the lunar surface as part of the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Initiative. ispace – U.S. CEO, Ron Garan, is a former NASA Astronaut and a leading voice in the space industry. His executive team includes professionals that have served at the highest levels of the United States space program. For more information, visit www.ispace-us.com.