Whatever success Japanese startup ispace Inc. achieves with its current mission to become the first private-sector company to land a spacecraft on the moon this spring owes to the makeup of the people who work for it.

The Tokyo-based venture is only 10 years old and its workforce of less than 300 employees comes from 26 countries. The company, led by founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada, has outposts in Denver in the U.S. state of Colorado and Luxemburg.

Its lander, launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Dec. 11 carrying rovers, is expected to touch down on the moon in late April.

The development of the lunar lander came only four years after ispace competed in the Google Lunar X Prize competition with just a rover. At the end of the competition in 2018, with no winner announced, the company did not even have a spacecraft of its own.

Hakamada sat down with The Asahi Shimbun to explain his company’s swift evolution and vision. Excerpts from the interview follow:

Question: What was your approach toward the development of the ispace lunar lander?

Hakamada: My top priority was to demonstrate that we can put a lander on the moon after the shortest possible preparations.

Q: A government agency’s space exploration project normally takes at least 10 years from planning to completing the mission. How could you make it happen in such a short period?

A: A common perception is that you cannot get ahead in space development unless you develop new technologies. But when it comes to landing on the moon, it is achievable by combining existing technologies. To build an opportune system for a lunar landing in the shortest possible preparation time, we needed to acquire and introduce technologies and components from across the world.

For example, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in the United States, renowned for its participation in NASA’s Apollo project, provided us with the Guidance Navigation and Control System software for our spacecraft’s soft landing on the moon after it enters lunar orbit. As for the assembly of the craft’s engine and the body, ArianeGroup, a European leader of space launchers, collaborated with us.

Q: How could you get those big-name players aboard with a startup like yours with just a limited track record? Just asking them surely was not enough.

A: Our engineers come from across the globe, and some had previously worked with those organizations. It was my desire to team up with Draper but we did not have any connections with the laboratory. So, we had to negotiate with a different party over the software. Then one day, the individual who led our engineering team at the time remembered someone who had worked with Draper in a joint project before. We tapped this connection to get the laboratory involved in our project. 

Q: When you entered the Google’s Lunar X Prize competition, you were developing only a lunar rover. Now you have developed a lunar lander, a craft that poses far more technological challenges. How did it become possible?

A: From early on, I have been aware of the need to have our own spacecraft if we want to ferry payloads to the moon on a stable basis. The need for it became more urgent after a group contracted with us to transport our rover withdrew from the Google competition. But the problem was a lack of funds. It requires at least 5 billion yen ($39 million) to develop a spacecraft. In the end, we were able to raise 10 billion yen thanks to backing from investors. Their investment made a difference.  

Q: Your employees represent 26 countries. Did you start out with the intention of creating a pool of international talent from the outset?

A: It is only natural to pay attention to a pool of talent overseas, considering the market for commercial space activities. In addition, a startup cannot afford to nurture human resources from scratch. Recruiting the staff that we need, regardless of nationalities, led to the current workforce. When we offer positions, people apply as currently few businesses exist that set their sight on the delivery of cargos to the moon for the development of natural lunar resources.

Q: Isn’t it an arduous task to bring employees with such diverse backgrounds together for a shared goal?

A: Getting what I meant to be positive taken as opposite by our staff happens all the time. But isn’t it also the case between Japanese?

(This article is based on an interview by Shiro Namekata, editorial writer.)