Bangkok: Japanese space transportation company iSpace has announced a new, affordable lunar cargo service in partnership with SpaceX, utilizing SpaceX's powerful rockets and Starship lander. iSpace has invested $50 million (approximately 1.75 billion baht) to reserve a 500-kilogram payload space on its Starship, scheduled to land on the moon as early as 2030. iSpace will build lunar vehicles to carry equipment and transport cargo for individual customers worldwide who wish to share the journey on this flight. Executives have likened this new service to a "space bus," complementing the company's core business of building specialized landing vehicles or offering "space taxi" services to the moon.
According to Thai News Agency, although iSpace experienced failures in past lunar landings in 2020 and 2025 using the Falcon 9 rocket, the company is still moving forward with its new Ultra lander program, aiming to send three landers to the moon by 2030. One of these is part of NASA's commercial lunar landing program.
SpaceX welcomed the collaboration, stating that iSpace's services would open up opportunities for smaller customers to more easily send items to the moon. However, this agreement is not an exclusive arrangement, as NASA also plans to use the Starship in the Artemis project to return astronauts to the moon in 2028, and the startup Astrolab, which develops exploration vehicles, has also secured space on the Starship.