Japan Space Resources Act permit to ispace for Mission 2 (RESILIENCE) (2024)
On 17 December 2024 Japan's Prime Minister (Cabinet Office) granted ispace, inc. permit No. 衛星24-025 with a business activity plan to collect lunar regolith on the RESILIENCE lander's footpads during Mission 2 and transfer its ownership to a customer (NASA). The lander was lost in a likely hard landing on 6 June 2025 and ispace concluded the mission, so the planned collection and transfer did not take place.
Facts
- Country
- Japan
- Authority
- Prime Minister of Japan (内閣総理大臣), administered by the Cabinet Office National Space Policy Secretariat (内閣府宇宙開発戦略推進事務局)
- Instrument
- Space resources authorization宇宙資源の探査及び開発の許可 (permit number 衛星24-025)
- Holder
- ispace, inc.Named on the instrument as 株式会社ispace
- Granted
- 2024-12-17
- Recorded status
- GrantedCabinet Office permit list (dated 令和6年12月17日, No. 衛星24-025, 株式会社ispace). No revocation found. Operator states the lander likely hard-landed and the mission was concluded. Current validity is not confirmed by an official register.
- Linked mission
- SMBC x HAKUTO-R Venture Moon (ispace Mission 2, RESILIENCE lander)Flew. Outcome: failure
- Legal basis
- Japan: Act on the Promotion of Business Activities Related to the Exploration and Development of Space Resources (Act No. 83 of 2021), Japan: Act on Launching of Spacecraft, etc. and Control of Spacecraft (Space Activities Act, Act No. 76 of 2016)
- Provisions cited
- Space Resources Act (Act No. 83 of 2021) Art. 3(1)-(3) and Art. 5; Space Activities Act (Act No. 76 of 2016) Art. 20(1)
- Resources covered
- Regolith
What it covers
Business activity plan (Cabinet Office): collect lunar regolith that passively accumulates on the lander footpads at touchdown, confirm it with images from the micro rover's camera, and transfer ownership to the customer before end-of-operations measures, with no physical handover; planned for about 14 days after landing in the first half of 2025. Japan's Article XI notification names the customer transaction as one with NASA for lunar regolith acquisition.
Open evidence gaps
No open evidence gaps recorded for this record.
Sources
6 sources令和6年12月17日 衛星24-025 株式会社ispace
月面着陸ミッション 2(以下「M2」という。)において、月面における堆積層(以下 「レゴリス」という。)を採取し、カスタマ相手の取引を行うことを目的とする。
ispace は堆積したレゴリスの存在を撮影画像により確認した上で、その所有権につい て運用終了措置実施以前に ispace からカスタマに移転する商業取引を行う。運用中に物理 的な受け渡し行為を伴うものではない。
During the mission, ispace is expected to collect regolith that accumulates on the footpad of the landing gear of the RESILIENCE lunar lander during the touchdown on the surface, photograph the collected regolith with the TENACIOUS micro rover and conduct an "in-place" transfer of ownership of the lunar regolith to NASA.
Special consideration: commercial transaction with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States of America for lunar regolith acquisition
Based on these circumstances, it is currently assumed that the lander likely performed a hard landing on the lunar surface.