Japanese company ispace has unveiled a powerful Apex 1.0 landing module that will travel to the back side of the moon in 2026

The Japanese company ispace has presented a new landing module for flights to the Moon. It is planned that it will land on the surface of the satellite in three years.

Here's What We Know

The new module is called Apex 1.0. It is designed for the third mission of the Japanese company and will be able to deliver up to 300kg of cargo. The landing module is an order of magnitude more powerful than the previous version, which has the name Series 2 and crashed while trying to land. This is the HAKUTO-R mission.

The purpose of the third mission is to deliver cargo to the back side of the Moon. If all goes according to plan, the launch will take place in 2026. Although the mission was originally scheduled to launch in 2025. The reason for the postponement was precisely the landing module.

The Japanese company is fighting for the right to be the first to deliver a commercial descent vehicle to the Moon. The project has attracted NASA investment under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme. Ispace's competitors are Intuitive Machines, Firefly Aerospace and Astrobotic, which are also partnering with the space agency.

Source: ispace