Telespazio, a joint venture between Leonardo and Thales , and ispace, a global lunar exploration company, have signed a Letter of Intent to initiate a technical and commercial collaboration aimed at supporting the growth of  the lunar economy and exploiting the capabilities of Moonlight Communication and Navigation Services.

As prime contractor of the European Moonlight Lunar Communication and Navigation Services (LCNS) program promoted by the European Space Agency (ESA), Telespazio is leading the development of a constellation of satellites designed to provide navigation and communication services supporting moon exploration. The Moonlight constellation will consist of five satellites, ranging between 400 and 600kg per satellite, launched in two separate stages, with the goal of establishing essential infrastructure to enable lunar exploration.

In this context, the collaboration between Telespazio, part of the Space Alliance between Leonardo and Thales, and ispace aims to evaluate the possibility of ispace’s technologies being used to provide transportation services for Moonlight satellites into lunar orbit. Building on its missions in 2023 and 2025, ispace has already demonstrated the technical capability to successfully reach lunar orbit.

The agreement also includes exploring potential services in connectivity, navigation, and lunar data utilisation, with the aim of identifying models and synergies that could boost the commercialisation of lunar communication and navigation services.

This collaboration has been facilitated through ispace-Europe, ispace’s European entity.

Gabriele Pieralli, CEO of Telespazio, said. “With this Letter of Intent, Telespazio reaffirms its commitment to exploring new commercial opportunities for international cooperation to support the Moonlight program and, more broadly, the development of the lunar Space Economy. The collaboration with ispace represents another step in building a global industrial ecosystem dedicated to deep space exploration.”

Julien Lamamy, CEO, ispace-EUROPE: “By combining ispace’s transportation and communication capabilities with the communications and positioning expertise of the Moonlight team, led by Telespazio, we see a real opportunity for us to work together to help drive Europe’s leadership in the next era of lunar exploration.”

Takeshi Hakamada, Founder and CEO, ispace inc.: “This Letter of Intent is an important step in exploring how European innovation and international collaboration can together create the services that future missions to the Moon will rely on.”