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Japan Article Calls for Realistic, Effective Strategy for Space Programme

Posted on: Monday, 6 September 2004, 06:00 CDT

Text of report in English by Japanese newspaper The Daily Yomiuri web site on 6 September; subheadings as published

The nation's space programme has hit a snag.

The Cabinet Office's Council for Science and Technology Policy recently compiled a basic strategy for the development and use of outer space. The council looked at the current situation in the harsh light of reality, and mapped out a 10-year course of action for the nation's space development programme.

In light of a series of setbacks in the space programme, such as the failed launch of the rocket booster H-2A, the engine trouble with Nozomi, Japan's first probe to Mars, and the suspended operation of the environmental research satellite Midori-2, the council has put priority on restoring confidence in the nation's space-related technology.

The council has listed ways to strengthen space-related industry and has also initiated a policy of launching basic research, in consideration of the possibility of implementing manned space missions in the future.

But the current state of affairs is critical.

Since the failure in November of the H-2A, there has been little prospect of its relaunch. In research areas such as planetary exploration, which normally bring out those with vision, there are no new programmes in the pipeline, due chiefly to failures such as that of the Mars probe.

Without cooperation among industry, government and academia to solidify our foothold in space development, any new strategy is just so much pie in the sky.

Rapid changes force review

The same council drew up a similar strategy two years ago. Due to rapid changes both at home and abroad, however, the council was forced to review it.

US space shuttle flights, which Japan counts on for its manned space missions, remain suspended after the disaster involving the space shuttle Columbia last year.

The United States changed its space policy early this year. It has decided to retire the shuttles in 2010 and develop a new spaceship, shifting emphasis to such activities as manned probes to the moon.

In Asia, China in October succeeded in sending a man into space.

For Japan, whose presence in this field has waned internationally, the new strategy meets only the minimum requirements to remain active. But space development reflects the technological power of a nation, and also helps related sectors expand. More effort is needed to turn this into a true national strategy.

National security role vital

In addition, satellite information-gathering and telecommunications activities, as well as the global positioning system, play an important role in the area of national security.

The issues of space development and national security tend to trigger ideological debates, because the government interprets the 1969 Diet resolution that limits the use of the nation's space development programme to peaceful purposes as meaning the nonmilitary use of space.

Even the use of communications satellites by the Self-Defence Forces gave rise to controversy at one time. Japan currently plans to launch its own GPS satellite. As there is a possibility that such a satellite could work in conjunction with its US counterpart, which was developed for military use, further controversy may erupt.

As to the peaceful use of space, the Outer Space Treaty, signed in 1967, calls for no nation to make use of outer space to launch attacks on other countries.

Even though the treaty does not ban using space for national security purposes, the Cabinet Office's new strategy only calls on relevant organizations to discuss the issue.

The nation's basic strategy on space development aims to secure public safety, pursue economic development and create knowledge. This is a national strategy. Now it needs to be rewritten to make it a realistic and effective strategy as well.

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