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Headquarter

Sumitomo Fudosan Hamacho Building 3F, 3-42-3, Nihonbashi Hamacho,
Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Japan 103-0007

+81 3 1234 5678
DENVER, US

Colorado 12876 E Adam Aircraft Circle, Centennial,
CO 80112, United States
Denver, US

+81 3 1234 5678
LUXEMBOURG

5 Rue de l’Industrie 1811,
Luxembourg

+81 3 1234 5678

ispace Mission 3

Mission Outline

Through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, ispace-U.S., as part of a team led by Draper, will deliver a suite of CP-12 NASA payloads to the lunar surface. The APEX 1.0 lunar lander is slated to launch from Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX Falcon 9 and softly touch down in the Schrödinger Basin on the far side of the Moon.

PAYLOADS

NASA CP-12 Science Payloads

Team Draper’s ispace-U.S. APEX1.0 lunar lander will deliver three NASA CLPS payloads to Schrödinger Basin.

The Farside Seismic Suite (FSS), one of the two payloads to be delivered to Schrödinger basin, will carry two seismometers: the vertical Very Broadband seismometer and the Short Period sensor. FSS will return the agency’s first seismic data from the far side of the Moon, helping scientists to understand tectonic activity there. This may reveal how often the lunar far side is impacted by small meteorites and provide new constraints on the internal structure of the Moon.

 

  • Type of Instrument: Seismometers
  • Key Measurement: Determine if the seismicity is different on the far side of the Moon than what was measured by Apollo on the lunar near side.
  • Task Order: CP-12
  • Lead Development Organization: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  • Payload PI: Dr. Mark Panning

The Lunar Interior Temperature and Materials Suite (LITMS), also headed to the Schrödinger basin, is a suite of two instruments: the Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LITMS-LISTER) pneumatic drill and the Lunar Telluric Currents (LITMS-LTC) electrodes. This payload will investigate the heat flow and electrical conductivity of the lunar interior in the Schrödinger basin, giving an in-depth look at the Moon’s internal mechanical and heat flow. The Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) is therefore a virtual instrument composed of data from LTC and LuSEE-Lite.

  • Type of Instrument: Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder and Heat Flow Probe + Sounder and Drill
  • Key Measurement: Determine the heat flow in thick lunar crust and the electrical conductivity of the interior.
  • Task Order: CP-12
  • Lead Development Organization: Southwest Research Institute
    Payload PI: Dr. Robert Grimm

LuSEE-Lite uses plasma wave measurements to characterize the lunar ionosphere and the interaction of the solar wind and magnetospheric plasma with the lunar surface and crustal magnetic fields. The payload uses DC electric and magnetic field measurements to study the conditions that control the electrostatic potential of the lunar surface, which in turn plays a controlling role in dust transport.

  • Type of Instrument: LuSEE-Lite is a suite of sensors and electronics designed to measure and characterize the electric and magnetic field environment of the lunar surface from DC to 20 MHz. The payload consists of a fluxgate magnetometer, a search coil magnetometer, and a 7-meter-tall vertical monopole.
  • Key Measurement: Lunar ionosphere – plasma waves, surface geospacer interactions – plasma waves, lunar surface electrostatic potential/sheath, dust/electrostatic field interactions, support for LMS/LITMS electromagnetic sounding, electrical structure of the upper mantle
  • Task Order: CP-12
  • Lead Development Organization: University of California, Berkeley
    Payload PI: Dr. Stuart Bale

MISSION 2 PAYLOAD CUSTOMERS

Commercial Payloads

The Italian Space Agency (ASI)  Laser Retroreflector Array (LaRA2)
Control Data Systems SRL (CDS)

Satellites

The APEX 1.0 will deploy two relay communication satellites (Alpine and Lupine) to communicate back to Earth from the far side of the Moon. ispace-U.S. will offer lunar communication services capitalizing on the extended lifetimes of the satellites.

MISSION GOAL

APEX 1.0 is designed to accommodate numerous commercial payloads to fly with a suite of NASA scientific payloads to the lunar surface.

MISSION PHASE

These phases include a 5-day launch window each month, a dedicated launch on board a reliable and flight proven launch vehicle, a Geosynchronous Transfer “parking” Earth Orbit, a direct-injection cislunar transfer, and descent and landing algorithms proven by a heritage ispace mission.

Got questions
about our mission?

ispace is a global lunar exploration company with the vision, “Expand our planet. Expand our future.” It specializes in designing and building lunar landers and rovers. ispace aims to extend the sphere of human life into space and create a sustainable world by providing high-frequency, low-cost transportation services to the Moon. The company has business entities in Japan, Luxembourg, and the United States with approximately 300 employees worldwide.

ispace is a global company with business entities in Tokyo, Luxembourg, and Denver. Visit our regional pages for more info.

ispace designs, manufactures, and assembles highly capable lunar landers and rovers that carry customer payloads to the Moon. We also have a data services program to assist customers with mission design and a partnership program that integrates commercial companies without space heritage into this new and exciting sector.

PLease contact us through our contact page here. A representative will contact you to follow-up on your inquiry.

We are looking for the most talented and ambitious from around the world to join us in our quest. Please see job listing here.

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