Main Engine Cut OffA Different Kind of Schedule Certainty
Jeff Foust, for SpaceNews, on ispace signing up with SpaceX for two lunar flights:
Under the agreement, ispace will fly two HAKUTO-R missions, an orbiter and a lander, as secondary payloads on SpaceX Falcon 9 launches. The orbiter is scheduled to launch in a window that opens in mid-2020 and the lander in mid-2021. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
In an interview, ispace Chief Executive Takeshi Hakamada said that the company selected SpaceX over other, unnamed launch providers in part because of price but also because of SpaceX’s high flight rate gives the company a number of opportunities to launch its missions.
“Because we are aiming to provide a frequent lunar transportation service, starting relations with SpaceX is very important,” he said. “SpaceX offers a huge amount of launch opportunities, and this partnership can promote future collaboration with SpaceX.”
Typically, we see ULA chosen because the customer needs to know they can hit a specific timeline. In this case, SpaceX was chosen because ispace is confident SpaceX will be flying near where they need to go, sometime around when they need to go.