Lunar exploration company ispace-U.S. has inked a collaboration agreement with Sweden’s Space Corporation (SSC) to access its Lunar Ground Station Network for its M3 Lunar Mission.
SSC will support the M3 mission with the APEX 1.0 lunar lander and provide critical communication links to the mission through its advanced SSC Connect lunar ground station network capabilities.
“We are excited to embark on this journey together with ispace-U.S,” said SSC’s Erwin Mercado. “While this collaboration underscores SSC’s long heritage and commitment to the global lunar market, we are continuously making new investments to support the technical requirements for today’s modern lunar missions. The Misson 3 lunar mission is crucially important for SSC, the U.S. space market, and the world.”
ispace-U.S.’s Mission 3 will provide lunar lander services to Schrodinger Basin on the far side of the Moon as part of the Draper-led NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. For the mission, scheduled for 2026, ispace-U.S. will transport and operate government and commercial payload instruments for lunar surface science. While the lander communicates directly with Earth during transit, ispace-U.S. will later use relay satellites for communication during surface operations.
SSC will be the sole provider of the commercial communication system that the APEX 1.0 lunar lander will use during its transit to the lunar surface – for all commanding, telemetry, ranging, and doppler. To complete this advanced moon mission support, SSC will leverage four SSC Connect deep space ground station sites.
“SSC’s cutting-edge technology coupled with their extensive lunar experience gives us great confidence that SSC will contribute significantly to the success of our lunar mission,” says SSC CEO Ron Garan.” This collaboration with SSC is one of many examples that demonstrates how ispace-U.S. leverages its global perspective to increase the effectiveness of our missions.”
