ispace

Space · Aerospace · Lunar Exploration

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Ispace taps Mitsubishi Heavy's H3 rocket for 2028 moon lander launch

The bet swaps a reliable Falcon 9 for a rocket that has failed twice in eight flights, wagering national space independence over track record.

• ispace signed a contract with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to launch its Mission 3 Ultra lunar lander on Japan's H3 rocket in 2028, the first pairing of a Japanese-made lander with a Japanese-made rocket.
• ispace is a Tokyo-listed lunar exploration company whose first two landers launched on SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets in 2022 and 2025, and both missions failed to complete a soft landing.
• ispace's CTO said the H3's payload capacity, launch environment and fairing flexibility drove the switch, after engineers worked with MHI to fit the lander's landing legs inside the rocket's fairing.
• The H3 has suffered two failures across eight launches to date, including one in December 2025, underscoring the reliability trade-off ispace is accepting for the 2028 mission.
• CEO Takeshi Hakamada said the yen's depreciation is making dollar-priced launches like Falcon 9 increasingly costly for Japanese firms, a key factor behind choosing a yen-priced domestic rocket.
• The Ultra lander is being developed with funding from Japan's METI SBIR grant program and is intended to enable a higher-frequency, lower-cost lunar transport service beyond this single flight.
• The deal marks Japan's first attempt at a fully domestic lunar transportation chain, reducing reliance on U.S. launch providers for future commercial and national-security lunar missions.