On March 07, 2025, ispace, Inc. and SpaceData Inc. signed a collaboration agreement to develop a digital twin of the Moon that recreates the Lunar surface. The collaboration seeks to reduce the costs and risks of lunar exploration through physical simulations specific to the lunar environment, like communication delays and reduced gravity.
The digital copy aims to be a high-precision topographical model of the Moon based on lunar data acquired by ispace’s exploration mission. It will allow users to verify robot operations like landing and roving, and test lunar technologies extensively and more effectively before they are used in real missions.
ispace and SpaceData Inc., a company specializing in big data applications for space development, announced a strategic collaboration to facilitate the creation of lunar digital twins to simulate the physical surface of the Moon!
— ispace (@ispace_inc) March 7, 2025
The collaboration is aimed at developing a… pic.twitter.com/X9F2g04yio
The Moon virtual replica is poised to enhance planning accuracy, foster global collaboration with space agencies and private companies, and sustain the expansion of the Cislunar economy.
Advertisement
Democratizing space by engineering digital twins
Based in Tokyo, SpaceData’s vision is to “transform space into a living space for human beings before population growth and environmental degradation make it impossible to live on Earth” by fostering a sustainable society in space. As a result, the state of Earth will also change for the better.
The company is working on the fusion of space and digital technology to achieve this vision, creating virtual twins of environments like the International Space Station and the Earth. Thanks to the partnership with ispace, the Moon will be the next digital twin in their portfolio.
“SpaceData’s mission is to ‘democratize space’ through the use of digital technology, and we aim to make space a more accessible and familiar place. Through this collaboration, we will contribute to reducing the cost and improving the safety of lunar exploration by utilizing the valuable lunar data acquired by ispace and developing digital twin technology”.
— Katsuaki Sato, CEO and Founder of SpaceData
Advertisement
A leading lunar economy company
With an active lunar mission, ispace is emerging as one of the leading lunar companies. Its vision closely aligns with SpaceData’s, making their partnership a natural fit.
The data collected from the first Hakuto-R mission, the current Mission 2, and future expeditions will be fundamental to recapturing the lunar surface accurately.
“We welcome SpaceData’s recognition of the value of actual data obtained from our lunar mission and their validation of it for future use. We hope it will make the potential for data apparent, leading to an expansion in the demand for real mission data, and an increase in the number of players conducting activities on the lunar surface, contributing to the further development of the cislunar economy.”
— Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of ispace
