Interstellar Technologies Inc.
Japan's first private rocket to reach space
- Founded
- 2013
- Headquarters
- Taiki, Hokkaido
Overview
Interstellar Technologies Inc. (IST) is a private Japanese launch company headquartered in Taiki, Hokkaido. It was incorporated in 2013, growing out of an amateur rocketry group known as Natsu no Rocket-dan, and is associated with entrepreneur Takafumi Horie, the founder of Livedoor. Takahiro Inagawa serves as the company's representative director and CEO.
The company first developed MOMO, a small liquid-fuelled suborbital sounding rocket. In May 2019, MOMO Flight 3 reached an altitude of around 113 km, making IST the first private Japanese company to put a rocket into space, with two further successful spaceflights following in July 2021.
IST is now focused on ZERO, a two-stage expendable orbital launch vehicle designed to carry small satellites of roughly one tonne to low Earth orbit, alongside a planned larger vehicle called DECA. As of 2026 the company is actively developing ZERO and building a vertically integrated launch-and-satellite business, having signed customers for its first orbital flight.
Timeline
- 2013
Company founded
Interstellar Technologies Inc. is incorporated in Taiki, Hokkaido, building on the earlier Natsu no Rocket-dan amateur rocketry group.
- Jul 2017
First MOMO launch
The maiden flight of the MOMO suborbital sounding rocket is attempted but fails to reach space.
- May 2019
First Japanese private rocket in space
MOMO Flight 3 reaches roughly 113 km altitude, becoming the first privately developed Japanese rocket to cross into space.
- Jul 2021
Two further spaceflights
MOMO F6 and F7 both successfully fly to space within the same month, bringing IST to three successful suborbital spaceflights.
- 2024
ZERO orbital development
IST advances development of ZERO, its two-stage orbital launch vehicle, and books customers for its first orbital mission.