Japanese space exploration company ispace is preparing to make history with the upcoming landing of its RESILIENCE spacecraft on the Moon, scheduled for no earlier than June 5, 2025 (CEST). Part of ispace’s second lunar mission, titled “SMBC x HAKUTO-R Venture Moon,” the spacecraft was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base on January 15, 2025. The targeted landing site is Mare Frigoris, a region on the Moon’s northern hemisphere.
Operating from its Mission Control Center in Tokyo, ispace monitors the RESILIENCE spacecraft’s status, including its health, velocity, position, and internal temperature. The team also transmits operational commands as the mission approaches its most critical phase — a soft landing on the lunar surface.
ESA Provides Vital Communications Support
The European Space Agency (ESA) is playing a pivotal role in ensuring communication between RESILIENCE and ispace’s mission control. ESA’s deep-space Estrack network is handling radio links that allow for the transmission and reception of key data across space. This network, operated from ESA’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Germany, includes three 35-metre antennas located in Spain, Argentina, and Australia, as well as a 15-metre antenna in French Guiana. Additional support comes from the UK-based Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd., which is integrated into the extended Estrack network.
European Space Agency (ESA) ground stations have been providing continuous support since the spacecraft’s launch, facilitating data flow during its months-long journey via a low-energy transfer orbit. Now in lunar orbit, RESILIENCE is preparing for its descent to the Moon’s surface. During this critical phase, ESA’s antennas will track the spacecraft and transmit vital telemetry data needed to confirm a successful landing.
TENACIOUS to Mark Europe’s First Lunar Rover Mission
One of the most groundbreaking aspects of the mission will come after landing, when the RESILIENCE lander deploys TENACIOUS, the first European-built lunar rover. Developed by ispace’s Luxembourg division, the micro rover was designed and assembled with financial backing from LuxIMPULSE, a program under the Luxembourg National Space Programme managed by the Luxembourg Space Agency and executed in collaboration with European Space Agency (ESA).
Ispace Europe operates from Luxembourg, where it has established a dedicated lunar operations facility that includes a test yard, a clean room, and a control centre. This centre will oversee TENACIOUS’s operations during its two-week mission on the Moon. The rover will conduct scientific experiments and collect data as part of broader commercial and institutional collaborations, including contributions to NASA’s Artemis programme for lunar exploration.
Commands for TENACIOUS will be transmitted from Luxembourg to ESOC in Germany, and from there, relayed through European Space Agency (ESA’s) antennas to the Moon. Data collected by the rover, such as imagery and telemetry, will follow the same path back to Earth, marking a major step forward in European lunar exploration.
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