Press Release
Proposed Date: 24 June 2024

ispace-U.S. to use Swedish Space Corporation’s Lunar
Ground Station Network for its M3 Lunar Mission(Photo credit: SSC)
ispace technologies U.S., Inc. (ispace-U.S.), an American lunar exploration company,
and Swedish Space Corporation (SSC Space US), a leading provider of ground station
services, have signed a collaboration agreement for ispace-U.S.’s upcoming Mission 3
with the APEX 1.0 lunar lander. SSC will provide critical communication links to themission through its advanced SSC Connect lunar ground station network capabilities.
With a proven track record of over 15 years of commercial support to lunar exploration
endeavors, SSC is slated to play a pivotal role in ensuring the success of ispace-U.S.’sMission 3 lunar mission.
“We are excited to embark on this journey together with ispace-U.S. While thiscollaboration underscores SSC’s long heritage and commitment to the global lunar
market, we are continuously making new investments to support the technicalrequirements for today’s modern lunar missions. The Misson 3 lunar mission is crucially
important for SSC, the U.S. space market, and the world – pushing the boundaries ofspace exploration,” says Erwin Mercado, President of SSC Space US.
“SSC’s cutting-edge technology coupled with their extensive lunar experience gives us
great confidence that SSC will contribute significantly to the success of our lunar
mission. This collaboration with SSC is one of many examples that demonstrates how
ispace-U.S. leverages its global perspective to increase the effectiveness of ourmissions,” says Ron Garan, Chief Executive Officer of ispace-U.S.

ispace-U.S.’s Mission 3 will provide lunar lander services to Schrodinger Basin on the farside of the Moon as part of the Draper-led NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services(CLPS) initiative. For the mission, scheduled for 2026, ispace-U.S. will transport andoperate government and commercial payload instruments for lunar surface science.
While the lander communicates directly with Earth during transit, ispace-U.S. will later
use relay satellites for communication during surface operations.
SSC will be the sole provider of the commercial communication system that the APEX
1.0 lunar lander will use during its transit to the lunar surface—for all commanding,telemetry, ranging, and doppler. To complete this advanced moon mission support, SSC
will leverage four SSC Connect deep space ground station sites.

About SSC
Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) helps Earth benefit from Space. Since the 70’s, SSC
has helped space organizations, companies, other commercial actors and research
institutes to get access to space. Through our local presence on all continents and close
to 700 committed employees, we offer specialist expertise in satellite ground station
connectivity, spacecraft operations, rocket and balloon systems, launch services, flighttest services and data analytics. Among our strongest assets are Esrange Space Centerin northern Sweden, set to begin launching satellites from Sweden in 2025, and our global
ground station network for satellite communications: SSC Connect, which provides
efficient spacecraft control and real-time data reception, from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) toLunar and beyond. https://sscspace.com/services/satellite-ground-stations/
About ispace technologies U.S.
ispace – U.S. is an American lunar exploration company providing transportation andinfrastructure capabilities from Earth to lunar orbit and the surface of the Moon forgovernment and commercial customers. ispace believes that the utilization of lunar
resources is the catalyst to enabling human permanence and economic opportunity on
and around the Moon and is committed to achieving this goal. The company’s U.S.
headquarters serves as the central location for the development of its APEX 1.0 lander,
which is being designed, manufactured, and launched in the United States. In partnershipwith Draper, this lander will deliver a suite of multiple NASA-sponsored science payloads
to the lunar surface as part of the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)
Initiative. ispace – U.S. CEO, Ron Garan, is a former NASA Astronaut and a leading voicein the space industry. His executive team includes professionals that have served at thehighest levels of the United States space program. For more information,
visit www.ispace-us.com.

Media Contacts:
Philip Ohlsson, SSC Head of Communications, +46 (0)70 721 70 26,
philip.ohlsson@sscspace.com
Miri Casey, Communications Specialist at ispace-U.S., +1 719 648 3018
m-casey@ispace-us.io