Axelspace

Axelspace is a Tokyo-based space venture company founded in 2008 by members of a Japanese university team that built and launched a 1 kg microsatellite — the first student team in history to do so. From that foundation, Axelspace has grown into a full-service microsatellite company employing approximately 160 professionals in its Nihonbashi office, which features an in-house cleanroom facility for satellite manufacturing.

The company operates across two main business lines. AxelLiner is a one-stop microsatellite development and operation service — Axelspace designs, builds, tests, launches, and operates microsatellites for corporate and government customers seeking their own in-house space assets. As of 2026, Axelspace has developed and operated 11 microsatellites under this program.

AxelGlobe is Axelspace's commercial Earth observation platform, built on a constellation of GRUS optical imaging microsatellites. GRUS satellites capture imagery at approximately 2.5 m resolution (with sub-50 cm available from newer variants), providing daily revisit coverage for customers in agriculture, environmental monitoring, infrastructure, disaster response, and financial intelligence sectors. The latest GRUS-3 batch of seven microsatellites was launched and acquired first signals in July 2026.

Axelspace also leads in sustainability through its self-initiated Green Spacecraft Standard, aimed at reducing environmental impact from satellite mass production and space debris generation throughout each satellite's lifecycle from launch to end of operations.