Moonlight, lunar orbit delivery service. Telespazio partners with ispace

Letter of intent signed between the Italian company and the Japanese firm to deploy communication and navigation satellites supporting lunar exploration (and the lunar economy).

EMILIO COZZI

It is a complex web that is being woven around the Moon, a testing ground for strategies and alliances alike.
The exploration of the cosmic continent, which promises to advance steadily over the coming decades, requires a solid architecture, because in space, and even more so around another celestial body, there is no room for error.

To achieve this, the void that humanity seeks to make more familiar must be filled with reliable infrastructure. The Moonlight Initiative is a major European program designed precisely for this purpose: to build a satellite network that will provide secure connectivity and positioning for future explorers, space agencies, and private companies reaching the Moon, with astronauts as well as landers, rovers, and robots. The Italian company Telespazio, a joint venture between Leonardo (67%) and Thales (33%), leads the program.

It hardly needs saying that lunar ambitions must contend with vast distances and inherent challenges before becoming reality.
Hence the signing of an initial letter of intent to rely on an operator capable of delivering the Moonlight satellites to their destination, the correct orbit around the Moon.

ispace is a Japanese company with a strong foothold in Europe. It has already played a leading role in lunar exploration, with two landing attempts in 2023 and 2025, both unfortunately unsuccessful. Nevertheless, it has demonstrated its ability to successfully enter orbit around our natural satellite, precisely the task it now aims to carry out on behalf of Telespazio.

ispace Europe, based in Luxembourg since 2017, embodies a philosophy of collaboration among companies, following the model long adopted by space agencies. With its expertise, ispace positions itself as a provider of transportation services to and from the Moon.

Space delivery

The approach follows the typical model of the new space economy: specialization or sectorization. This paradigm is opening up a new business opportunity in the field of orbital services, or in-orbit servicing. In other words, the possibility of relying on spacecraft capable of moving or maintaining satellites; placing them in the correct orbit (the Italian company D-Orbit is one of the most outstanding examples at the international level), docking with and repositioning them like space tow trucks, correcting their trajectories, or refueling them to extend their operational life. Alternatively, such vehicles can bring end-of-life satellites back into Earth’s atmosphere or transfer them to so-called “graveyard” orbits, freeing space for new equipment without increasing the number of drifting debris above our skies.

The future Orbital Transfer Vehicle (Otv) from ispace will be able to perform several of the tasks just described. The service covered by the letter signed by Julien Lamamy, Ceo of ispace Europe, and Gabriele Pieralli, Ceo of Telespazio, concerns the entire transport phase from Earth orbit to lunar orbit, where the Moonlight satellites will arrive integrated into ispace’s Otv, as if aboard a space taxi.

The service also includes the launch, which ispace will procure for Telespazio from one of the available providers on the market (for example SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, or Arianespace). After liftoff, once the launcher releases the Otv, it will use its own engines to leave Earth orbit and head toward the Moon. Then, in the final phase of the mission, it will deploy the Moonlight satellites into the correct orbit to begin their service.

All of this is expected to take place toward the end of this decade.

From Earth to the Moon and from the Moon to Earth

In the meantime, ispace is working on another use for its Otv, this time for the reverse journey. The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with Elevation Space for a private mission to bring back to Earth a sample of lunar soil as well as materials developed in space, for example a pharmaceutical compound.
The Otv will therefore have a version capable of re-entering the atmosphere with a heat shield designed to carry the payload intact from space to Earth.

Founded in Japan but with offices in Europe and the United States, ispace is an example of a company with global horizons whose engineering is ready, at least on paper, to face contemporary space challenges.
This is confirmed by two of the company’s milestones, both related to the Resilience mission, the lander involved in the second failed attempt to land on the lunar surface. On board, the vehicle carried the first European rover ever launched, built in Luxembourg by ispace. It was also the first European robot authorized to excavate and commercially use extraterrestrial material. The permit was granted by its flag state, Luxembourg, and the samples were intended for sale to Nasa.

ispace has not given up after the setback. Between 2027 and 2028, two more missions to the lunar surface are planned: Apex and Series 3. The first will even target the far side of the Moon, where communication with Earth will require a relay satellite. That satellite will be carried by ispace itself. This is exactly the kind of public service that Moonlight aims to provide a few years later to anyone, public or private, who wishes to explore a new world and contribute to an increasingly tangible lunar economy.