APEX 1.0

Mission specifications

Operator

ispace

Prime contractor

Draper

Launch

2027 (NET)

Landing site

Schrödinger Basin, lunar far side near south pole

Customer

NASA-CLPS

Payload

300 kg surface payload capacityas of 2026-05-28^[1]~10× capacity of Series-1/Series-2 landers; deploys 2 relay satellites pre-descent

Contract value

$73Mas of 2022-07-21^[2]Team Draper CLPS Task Order CP-12 for 3 NASA payloads

Key findings

• 1.Aims to be ispace's first mission using the larger APEX 1.0 lander architecture, led in the U.S. by Team Draper under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) task order CP-12, valued at about $73M (with a further $7.7M added by Draper in March 2025).
• 2.Targets a landing in Schrödinger Basin on the lunar far side near the south pole — a scientifically prized, never-before-landed region — with launch currently no earlier than 2027, having slipped from a 2026 target after ispace switched to a newly developed lander engine ('VoidRunner') announced in May 2025.
• 3.Would offer roughly 300 kg of surface payload capacity, about 10x that of the Series-1/Series-2 landers, and plans to deploy two data-relay satellites (Alpine and Lupine) into lunar orbit to enable far-side communications.
• 4.Intends to deliver three NASA CLPS instruments: the Farside Seismic Suite (FSS) for the first seismic data from the Moon's far side, the Lunar Interior Temperature and Materials Suite (LITMS) to probe interior heat flow and electrical conductivity, and LuSEE-Lite, a suite of electric- and magnetic-field sensors supporting a magnetotellurics study of the deep interior.
• 5.Would advance NASA's far-side geophysical and Endurance rover science goals and demonstrate a commercial far-side landing-and-relay capability the U.S. does not yet have.

Mission outcome

ispace Mission 3 is a planned, not-yet-flown mission that would mark the debut of the company's larger APEX 1.0 lander, built with Team Draper for NASA's CLPS program (task order CP-12) to reach Schrödinger Basin on the lunar far side. It is currently targeted for launch no earlier than 2027, having slipped from 2026 after ispace adopted a new lander engine, and would carry three NASA science instruments (FSS, LITMS, and LuSEE-Lite) while deploying two relay satellites, Alpine and Lupine, to maintain communications with the far side. If successful, it would deliver the first seismic data ever returned from the Moon's far side and prove out a commercial far-side landing-and-relay capability; because the mission has not launched, no results, landing, or discoveries can yet be claimed.