COLORADO SPRINGS — Redwire and ispace U.S. have agreed to collaborate on future lunar missions, seeking to tap into what the companies see as growing interest from companies and governments.
The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding during the 40th Space Symposium April 8, agreeing to jointly pursue lunar missions such as those though NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
Ispace U.S., the American subsidiary of Tokyo-based ispace, is currently working on its APEX 1.0 lunar lander for Draper Laboratory that will go to the far side of the moon for a CLPS mission in 2026. Future landers will take advantage of Redwire technologies such as cameras and deployable systems, as well as Redwire assembly, integration and test facilities co-located with ispace in Colorado, said Mike Gold, president of civil and international space at Redwire, in an interview.
“We share a vision for a cislunar economy and being able to put infrastructure on the moon,” said Ron Garan, chairman of ispace U.S.
The companies will initially pursue NASA CLPS awards. Redwire is one of the companies with CLPS contracts through its acquisition in 2020 of Deep Space Systems, one of the nine original companies selected by NASA to participate in the program in 2018.
The two companies will also work on spacecraft beyond lunar landers. Garan noted that the CLPS mission ispace is developing for Draper will include two satellites to serve as data relays for that lander that will be available for other missions and applications. He said ispace is discussing with Redwire sensors it could provide for those satellites to support cislunar space situational awareness.
He argued that, so far, NASA has been the only entity large enough to be an anchor customer for a lunar lander mission. “We are seeing demand signals that this might be changing and that we might be able to have truly commercial missions,” he said, including those interested in lunar resources like rare earth elements and helium-3.
“Government in the near-, and possibly mid-, future is going to remain extraordinarily important relative to supporting these activities,” Gold said. But he added Redwire has seen growing interest from companies interested in lunar missions for resources and other applications. “We are seeing new customers that we weren’t seeing a few years ago.”
“This partnership is not just about CLPS,” he said. “It’s about building a new economy.”
