Interstellar Technologies

Interstellar Technologies Inc. is a Japanese private space transportation company with the mission of empowering society through space infrastructure. Headquartered at 149-7 Memu, Taiki, Hokkaido, with a Tokyo office, it is building Japan's first vertically integrated business that combines launch vehicles with communication satellites. The company grew out of a volunteer rocket group active since 2005 and was the first private company in Japan to reach space, with its suborbital sounding rocket MOMO. As of September 2026 it had 386 members, including 288 employees, part-timers and interns.

Rockets

MOMO flew seven times, with MOMO-3 becoming the first Japanese privately developed rocket to reach space and two later flights reaching space consecutively. The company is now developing ZERO, an orbital launch vehicle for small satellites that will offer dedicated launches and rideshare to the customer's target orbit on the customer's schedule. ZERO's engine combustor tests succeeded, and it is the first private rocket to use liquefied biomethane as fuel. The customer for the first ZERO vehicle has been decided, and a business partnership with Toyota Motor and Woven by Toyota is helping establish a scalable production system. Launches take place from Hokkaido Spaceport Launch Complex 1.

Satellites

The satellite business aims at high-speed, high-capacity broadband that connects directly to smartphones, vehicles and other devices, developed inside a launch company for synergy. It passed a stage gate of JAXA's Space Strategy Fund programme on high-precision satellite formation flying, completed a ground proof-of-principle test of a formation-flying unwired phased-array antenna, and research commissioned by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications received an IEICE best tutorial paper award.

Funding and leadership

Interstellar secured 47.24 million US dollars from Japan's SBIR programme, with an additional allocation of 3.93 billion yen, and completed a Series F round of 20.1 billion yen (129.7 million US dollars). Takahiro Inagawa is representative director and chief executive, Satoshi Nakayama representative director and president, and Takahiro Tsuji director and chief financial officer.

Shows

Interstellar Technologies appears in the exhibitor lists of the Small Satellite Conference 2027, Space Tech Expo Europe 2026 and SPEXA Space Business Expo 2027.

Contact

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