ispace
Draper bids on NASA commercial lunar lander competition
The organization that helped NASA’s Apollo spacecraft land on the moon a half-century ago is now working with an industry team that includes a Japanese lunar lander company to propose a commercial return to the lunar surface.
Japanese company ispace selects SpaceX for lunar missions
A Japanese company that has roots in the former Google Lunar X Prize competition announced Sept. 26 that it has selected SpaceX to launch a pair of missions to the moon in 2020 and 2021.
Chinese startups OneSpace, iSpace succeed with suborbital launches
Chinese launch startup OneSpace successfully performed its first launch from a national launch site Sept.7, following a similar feat by competitor iSpace days earlier.
Lunar X Prize competition to restart, without prize
Days after the decade-old Google Lunar X Prize competition expired without a winner, the X Prize Foundation announced it would “relaunch” the competition, albeit without a prize purse for now.
New fund to boost Japanese space startups
The Japanese government, working with private ventures, announced plans March 20 to establish a nearly billion-dollar fund to support the development of space startups in the country.
X Prize teams plan to keep shooting for the moon
The finalists in the Google Lunar X Prize competition say they will continue efforts to send spacecraft to the moon despite the expiration of the prize in March.
Google Lunar X Prize to end without winner
The foundation running the Google Lunar X Prize announced Jan. 23 that the $20 million grand prize for a commercial lunar lander will expire at the end of March without a winner.
Japanese lunar exploration company ispace raises $90 million
A Japanese company planning a series of robotic missions to the moon announced Dec. 13 that it has raised more than $90 million in one of the largest Series A funding rounds for any emerging space venture.
