The Japanese company ispace has officially announced delays in the development of a new engine for its future missions to the moon.
Basic details of the situation as of February 2026 year:
Engine problem: The delays are related to the development of the VoidRunner system – new engine with higher thrust, which is jointly created by the American subsidiary ispace U.S. and Agile Space Industries.
Impact on the schedule: Due to development difficulties and the need to revise the design of the APEX lander 1.0, launch of the Mission 3 (Mission 3), which is performed as part of the NASA CLPS program, transferred from 2026 year on 2027 year.
Financial consequences: Because of these delays, the company was forced to lower its net sales forecast by 2026 The financial year, as payouts for achieving mission milestones (milestone-based revenues) will be postponed.
Backup plan: ispace management noted, that they leave open the possibility of changing the engine (switch engines), unless the VoidRunner development issues are resolved soon.
Earlier, in June 2025 year, the second attempt to land the Resilience module failed due to a failure of the laser range finder at an altitude of approx 192 meters. The company is now focused on strengthening the reliability of the systems for the Missions 3 and 4, having allocated additional funds for this 1,5 billion yen (~$10 million).
Source: https://spacenews.com