JAPAN'S SPACE PROGRAM: BUILDING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
Japanese Accelerate Space Program for 21st Century
TOKYO Japan, already a major space power, has begun to gear its space program toward space station operations, development of an infrastructure for manned flight and the launch of spacecraft to the Moon, Mars and Venus. Completion of massive new launch facilities at Tanegashima, development of the new H-2 and M-5 boosters and the design of increasingly complex spacecraft symbolize Japan’s space intentions for the 21st century. Japan’s next launch, set for Aug. 24, will use an advanced Delta class H-l booster to place the BS-3A Japanese broadcast satellite into geosynchronous orbit. As Japan accelerates development of its space program, however, it is being forced to confront the high cost, delays and other challenges that come with establishing advanced space technology. With only about one-tenth the budget of the U. S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Japan offers lessons on efficiency about how to do more in space with less money and a smaller government workforce. Key to this efficiency is the separation of major space functions into two agencies. The National Space Development Agency (NASDA), with about a $1-billion annual budget, handles large boosters and applications satellites. The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), with about a $ 150-million annual budget, develops medium boosters and science spacecraft. NASDA is celebrating its 20th anniversary and its president, Masato Yamano, foresees the agency evolving into a key partner for multinational space projects in the 21st century. “Twenty years ago we were introducing technologies from the U. S. and trying to master those technologies,” Yamano said. “Over the last 10 years, however, we have developed our own technology based on what we learned from the U. S. “Now going into the 21st century, our technology will enable Japan to explore the Moon and planets. But it will no longer be a case where just one country promotes its own space development. The exploration of space will become a joint effort of humankind,” he said. “We believe Japan should promote such activities and contribute to the utilization of space—but based on Japan’s own technology and in a way that is suited to Japan’s national power,” Yamano told AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY. Japan’s space science agency, ISAS, has on the average launched a science mission annually for the last 15 years. Its director general, Jun Nishimura, told Aviation Week that he wants ISAS to remain relatively small to protect its efficiency. This, he believes, will enable ISAS to continuously launch missions that nurture and protect Japan’s space science infrastructure. But ISAS is not standing still. It is developing a new M-5 booster three times more powerful than its current launcher and also is developing a $ 100-million lunar penetrator mission to be launched to the Moon on an M-5 in 1996. NASDA also is expanding its interests to planetary missions. Managers are seeking government approval to develop a 2ton Mars orbiter spacecraft that would carry visible, near infrared and X-ray cameras to survey Mars from a 235-mi. (378-km.) orbit. Japan would launch the $400-million mission on board its new H2 booster in 1999. NASDA managers see the proposed mission as a major Japanese contribution to the U. S. Moon/Mars initiative. Japan’s powerful Ministry of Trade and Industry (MITI) also is playing an increased role as a third pseudo-space organization. Along with ISAS and NASDA, MITI is developing the 3.8-ton Space Flyer, Japan’s first large retrievable satellite. Another key factor in Japanese space growth is the increasing symbiotic relationship between Japan’s major space contractors and the space agencies. Such a relationship has the potential of creating an extremely powerful Japanese global space marketing and development capability for the 21st century. The development of space technology in Japan has created an unusually “contractor rich” environment where more individual components of a project are spread among the nation’s space and aircraft system manufacturers. Japan’s space contractors have become a powerful force with political clout. They also help generate new space system users. Some indicators of space support provided by Japanese industry involve: ■ Keidanren Space Activities Council— This powerful group, comprising 94 companies and trade associations involved in Japanese space development, has asked the Japanese government to double its $ 1.5-billion space budget to handle major new Japanese space programs such as the H-2, space station and HOPE spaceplane project. While the contractor group is pushing for a major budget increase, the agencies themselves also are asking for budget increases. By late August, NASDA will submit to the government Finance Ministry a request for about a 10-15% budget increase in fiscal 1991, while ISAS seeks a similar increase. The space station and H-2 programs face severe budget constraints. ■ Joint government/corporate organizations—Since 1985 the Japanese have formed six new cooperative organizations involving contractors and space agencies. The new organizations have received over $6 million in government and corporate support, according to a study by Euroconsult, a Paris-based group that has studied the Japanese space program extensively. All of the new organizations are tied to MITI, in addition to the other space agencies. They all involve the advancement of remote sensing, microgravity and communication developments. Dozens of the largest companies in Japan are participating in these groups. One organization, the Japan Space Organization Utilization Center, was founded by 42 major Japanese companies specifically to foster Japanese microgravity experimentation on Japan’s space station module. ■ Privatization moves—Two new Japanese corporations, founded by Japan’s largest industrial contractors, banks and insurance companies, have been created to privatize large portions of Japan’s space station activities and H-2 booster procurement and operations. Japan’s new Manned System Corp. is made up of 14 major space contractors led by Mitsubishi, Kawasaki, Toshiba and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI). It will receive contracts from NASDA to help stimulate station utilization, provide quality assurance oversight of hardware and train Japanese station astronauts. The second company, the Rocket Systems Corp., is being formed by a group of 77 Japanese high-tech contractors and financiers led by Mitsubishi, IHI, Kawasaki, Nissan Motors, Nippon Electric, Toshiba, Fujitsu and Japan Aviation Electronics, Ltd. This new company will buy the new H-2 boosters in block orders from Mitsubishi and sell them to NASDA at the lower price derived from bulk order manufacturing. It also will handle quality control and some launch site operations at Tanegashima. MAJOR PROGRAM DEVELOPMENTS The station and H-2 booster development are Japan’s two largest space efforts, but NASDA and ISAS have many other important space efforts under way, including: ■ Flight of the first Japanese astronaut on the shuttle in 1991, followed by two other Japanese astronaut flights on shuttle missions every two years. ■ Development of the NASDA ERS-1 radar remote sensing satellite for launch in 1992. ■ Development of the NASDA orbiting reentry experiment (OREX) for launch on the first H-2 in 1993 to demonstrate HOPE thermal protection insulation. ■ NASDA development of the massive ETS-6 engineering test satellite set for launch in 1993 or 1994 by an H-2 booster. ■ NASDA development of the Japaneseled Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS) with U. S. and French participation. It is set for launch in 1995. ■ ISAS development of the Solar-A and Geotail spacecraft to observe the Sun and study solar effects on the magnetosphere. ■ ISAS development of the ASTRO-D astronomy spacecraft and Muses B very long-range baseline interferometry (VLBI) spacecraft.
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