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Hoping to boost competiveness, Japan merges three main space

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 September 2003, 06:00 CDT

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's three main space agencies merged Wednesday to cut costs, bolster efficiency and boost this country's competiveness in the global satellite-launching business.

The merger is part of Japan's efforts to streamline its space program, which has scored impressive achievements -- a Japanese probe is now on its way to Mars. But it has been plagued in recent years with cost overruns and technical glitches.

Joining forces Wednesday were the National Space Development Agency, the National Aerospace Laboratory and the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. The new agency, called JAXA, has 1,800 employees and an annual budget of 180 billion yen (US$1.6 billion), said agency spokesman Junichi Moriuma.

Despite its relatively small budget, Japan's space program has had several high profile successes.

Its ``Nozomi'' probe, launched in 1998, is on its way to Mars and another is headed for a planned landing on an asteroid. Japanese probes have done fly-bys of Haley's Comet and helped glean significant X-ray astronomy data.

But Tokyo has yet to commercially launch a foreign payload, and is struggling to stay ahead of the competition.

With no manned space program of its own, could also soon lose important prestige points to China, which is preparing to launch its first astronauts into space as early as this month.

Officials have said that one of Japan's top priorities is to improve its satellite launching capabilities.

Last month, Japan announced plans to develop within the next decade a new rocket that will cost half as much as its current workhorse, the H2-A, and carry heavier payloads.

Though Japan has successfully launched its domestically designed H2-A five consecutives times, officials worry that the two-stage, 53-meter (170-foot) rocket is too expensive to compete with its European, Russian and American rivals in the commercial market.

Its latest launch, scheduled for last weekend, had to be postponed for a third time due to technical glitches. The rocket was to carry two spy satellites into orbit in part of a US$2 billion program created primarily to keep a watch over North Korea.

That program has raised concerns about the direction of Japan's space program.

Japan successfully put its first spy satellites into orbit in March. The launch triggered an angry warning from the communist nation, which accused Japan of escalating a regional arms race.

Critics in Japan have said the program violates a long-standing policy of strictly non-military uses of space. But officials say the spy satellites pose no threat to foreign countries and will also be used to monitor natural disasters and weather patterns.

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